Subjects: APEC; Doha round; terrorism; talks with President Bush; Iraq; Moscow; Singapore free trade agreement.
E&OE...........
PRIME MINISTER:
Well APEC in Los Cabos is over. The meeting focused naturally a great deal on terrorism, but I';ve covered that in the news conference I had yesterday. You will have seen the Leaders' Declaration. There seemed to be a strong recommitment to the Bogor goals. There was a recognition that although the world faces a number of economic challenges in the next 12 months, there was some particularly positive areas. I was quite impressed with the report given on the Russian economy by the Russian Prime Minister and I came away from the meeting feeling that people collectively remained committed. There is certainly very strong support expressed for a successful Doha round. Agriculture is very much the key to that as far as Australia is concerned and as far as many other countries are concerned, and in turn the key to fixing the agricultural problem lies in the hands of the European Union. I have to say that the performance of the European Union to date on that subject is not encouraging but we live in hope and it may well be that the pressure of negotiation as we get closer will prise open some kind of movement so far as the Europeans are concerned. Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard can you give us an assessment of I guess the impact of this terrorism communique?
PRIME MINISTER:
The terrorism issue hung over the whole meeting. I may have said to you last night that where as in Shanghai last year people were still trying to collect their thoughts… would you like me to start again Mr Walker?…As I indicated last night, terrorism had hung over the whole meeting whereas last year 11th of September had just happened and people were trying to come to terms with what it meant. There was a united rejection of it. This year I think people were cognisant of the fact that terrorism is now something of a worldwide mess and it has to be tackled on a world basis and we need to take every opportunity to form partnerships with other countries to fight it, but there is no alternative to individual countries that have a terrorist threat within their own borders being serious both in words and deeds in tackling that problem. And that was a view that I have put repeatedly over this weekend, both publicly and privately, and I mean it, every country has to look to its own responsibilities in tackling this problem. Obviously some countries have a bigger challenge than others but in the end all the international agreements under the sun and all the international synergies under the sun will not substitute for or equal the accumulated effects of measures taken by individual countries.
JOURNALIST:
How does it impact consumers like air travellers, companies, online transactions?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can';t predict precisely what impact it';s going to have. It will probably result in people travelling to different places. It might even result in our case some Australians holidaying more at home rather than going abroad, although I suspect they will still go abroad a lot but perhaps to different places.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you feel that there's now a greater resolve amongst APEC countries to taking concrete measures against terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think collectively people are very exercised about it, very much so. But it remains the case that the proof of that pudding will be in the eating and what individual action is taken by countries that have particular challenges.
JOURNALIST:
Just on terrorism, last time and this time suggests that APEC';s role is changing?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it just suggests that people are being realistic about something that is quite frightening and quite unsettling. That';s what it means. I don';t think APEC is being diverted from its role. I haven';t detected any weakening in the resolve of people to pursue the APEC goals, but you can';t meet as the leaders of the countries we represent at the time we had in the wake of what happened in Bali, while that attack was occurring in Moscow, in the wake of the attacks that have occurred in the Philippines, without that hanging heavily over the whole meeting.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, I';ll go to point three of the communique [inaudible] about appealing to member countries to combat terrorism within their own borders. Was that your initiative?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let me put it this way – I thought it essential that it be there. But there are plenty of other countries who have that view as well. That would certainly be the view of the United States.
JOURNALIST:
…President Bush again today [inaudible] different negotiations to what he had yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we';re not negotiating anything. Look I had a brief talk with him last night. We had a lengthier discussion today, and it surrounded largely matters relating to Iraq and the progress of the UN resolution. I';m not going to go into the detail of it. It';s a matter for the United States to talk about it. It';s their resolution. But we did have quite a comprehensive discussion today and I certainly am fully across what is occurring.
JOURNALIST:
Simon Crean said on Sunday in Australia that he didn';t want the SAS involved in Afghanistan [inaudible] Iraq. [inaudible] working in the region. Is that a sentiment that you';d endorse?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we haven't been asked to make a military contribution by the administration to Iraq. So, it's an academic question and I'm not going to… I';m not going to deal in academic, hypothetical questions.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] in terms of trade, do you think Korea …to sign up on the communique, do you think that isolates the EU and pressured them in terms of agriculture reform and Doha [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, wait and see what happens. Well look, in the end the only way you'll get the Europeans to shift will be if all the other centres of economic power come together, themselves put something on the table and thereby force the Europeans to come to the party.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Bear in mind that their agriculture protection is quite high in Japan and it has a few peaks in the United States, too.
JOURNALIST:
Well, they have taken President Bush's stance or views on Iraq, [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
The views he'd expressed at the meeting?
JOURNALIST:
To you, yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
From what?
JOURNALIST:
Well, do you think that he was a bit more, a bit less inclined to take pre-emptive action if the UN process fails?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, he's working to get a UN resolution. I've said before that he doesn't want military conflict anymore than I do and he's working hard to get a resolution and he has our total support.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] supporting his strong stance in getting a UN resolution …any joint resolution…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I';m not going to deal with hypothetical situation. We're working hard to get a resolution. It doesn't serve the purpose of getting that resolution, for people to speculate [tape break] what attitude might be if we don't get a resolution.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] may be a coalition of forces going in that is not strong enough, would you support that action?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to speculate on a hypothetical situation. We are trying to get a resolution and it doesn't serve the purposes of getting that resolution to speculate as to what we might do…
JOURNALIST:
… President Bush just focus on the UN resolution in relation to Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that was the main part of it. But look, I'm not going to give the details of that. We had a brief discussion yesterday and last night and then we had a lengthy discussion today. I talked about the… the main area of that discussion, but beyond that I';m not going to …
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm simply not going to. I mean, the resolution is being handled by the United States. It's for them to talk about how their resolution is going, not me.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] community sentiment about it, you know like…?
PRIME MINISTER:
…there are certain discussions that leaders are entitled to have that don';t' have to be the subject of a bald description.
JOURNALIST:
Can I ask you a general question about the Iraq issue - in the discussions with other leaders, do you think they are moving towards the US position, in the position that Australia might support of the United States. Do you think this was a useful exercise in persuading people of the necessity of pressing harder at the United Nations?
PRIME MINISTER:
The only thing I'll say in response to that Tony, is I thought the presentation that President Bush made at the meeting in relation to this issue was quite strong and had an impact. But as to the attitude of other countries, it's not for me to say what it is - you should ask them.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] President Megawati, you said yesterday that you understood her position. Does she understand yours?
PRIME MINISTER:
I saw no reason to take that issue further, if you're talking about the travel advice. She didn't… we didn't have any further discussion about that. I mean, we've put a position on that, and it's a perfectly sensible position. I understand her concern. She didn';t raise the matter again at the meeting.
JOURNALIST:
… make any reference in conversation today to the emerging picture [inaudible] to their part in the Moscow hostage drama [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
…presentation of the meeting was about the Russian economy. We had a private discussion about what happened at Moscow.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, overall are you happy with the measures which the APEC leaders have adopted re counter-terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think as a collective yes but what really matters is what individual countries do about terrorism within their own borders.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
No, not collectively no.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] individual countries like Indonesia have the resources [inaudible] with the big terrorism problem to tackle it on their own? [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we';ve already provided some financial assistance. But the most important thing in fighting terrorism is of course the strength of the political commitment to it and when you have a terrorism threat then resources are important. But we have not been, I';m not aware of any reasonable approaches to us from countries in the region in relation to fighting terrorism that have been knocked back.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the Sydney Morning Herald has today revealed that you ignored a military assessment of the medical condition of two asylum seekers on board the Tampa last year. [inaudible] did you ignore that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven';t read the article. I did receive some questions in relation to an article which I was told was going to be written by the Sydney Morning Herald and it referred to an answer I gave in the Parliament. The answer I gave in the Parliament was based on advice that I had at the time and in any event was heavily conditional. So I would regret completely any suggestion that I set out to mislead the Australian public on that issue. It';s a fairly old story.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, of all the counter-terrorism measures proposed, are there any one or two that you would single out as perhaps more important than the others, more pressing as far as….?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t think it';s helpful for me to start listing the order of effectiveness. I don';t think it helps anything and I';m not going to try and do it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard in the document the reference to perhaps any organisations [inaudible] to make sure that they';re not being used to [inaudible] fund terrorists. Was there any further discussion or anything that you can add to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
It was alluded to but it was not something that was the subject of heavy discussion.
JOURNALIST:
Have you been asked about the Singapore free trade agreement?
PRIME MINISTER:
Have I been asked about it, what do you mean?
JOURNALIST:
At this point, [inaudible].
PRIME MINISTER:
Your colleagues asked me about it.
JOURNALIST:
But could I ask about it now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is still being negotiated and I';m hopeful but I';m very insistent that there be a good deal for services for Australia and if we can get a good deal on services then there';s every prospect that we can reach agreements.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] sticking point?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';d want to be satisfied that we';re getting a good enough deal on legal services.
JOURNALIST:
Legal services?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, well particularly legal services.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you';ve been to a few of these APEC events now. Are you enjoying them more, would you like to come back for more?
PRIME MINISTER:
Alright, see you later.
[ends]