Subjects: Telstra; industrial relations reform; trade.
E&OE...........
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you mentioned the necessity for continued economic reform in your speech today. John Anderson has said at home that he believes there will be a review of Telstra services in the bush by the end of the year. Is that your timetable?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we don';t have an agreed timetable but clearly services in the bush are getting better and when they are up to scratch, I';ve always said that we will look at the sale of further shares in Telstra. And we';re getting closer to that scratch. But I think that John was expressing the view of many, that he sees progress and that at some point there will be some kind of stocktake of how far we have progressed. If facilities in the bush are brought up to scratch, then we would be able to look at going further. But it remains an essential precondition. Nothing has altered on that and I';m determined that the people living in non-metropolitan Australia are satisfied, reasonably satisfied, and they';re getting a fair go. And when we get to that point, then we can look at further progress.
JOURNALIST:
Are you pleased that the Queensland Nationals particularly seem to be coming your way. They seem to accept the argument you';re putting.
PRIME MINISTER:
The services are getting better. There is no doubt about that. There will be argument about how much better. There will be argument about how much further they need to go before they are judged to be up to scratch. But they are clearly getting better and it';s encouraging that that is occurring. It fulfills a commitment we made in the election campaign and I want country people to understand that we';re not going to indecently rush this. But when we do get to a point where we are properly satisfied that services are up to scratch, well it';s fair in terms of what we promised, that we have a look at selling further shares.
JOURNALIST:
Before the end of the year?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t want to commit myself to a time. There is nothing to be gained by that. As soon as reasonably practicable given the progress that';s made.
JOURNALIST:
Is that stocktake another Besley style inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we haven';t settled on that. It could be. It could be something else. It could be a series of consultations. It could be some other kind of inquiry. But look we have kicked around amongst ourselves possible ways of doing it and after I get back and dealt with a few other things, we';ll have a yarn about what should be done. Now I want again to make the point that we';re not going to indecently rush this but equally, once we are reasonably satisfied that the services are up to scratch in the bush, there is no reason why we can';t go on to the next stage.
JOURNALIST:
… Coalition partner [inaudible] that would put pressure then on the Senate to accept the Government';s…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there';s always pressure on the Senate to do sensible things and I would hope that one of the things that the Opposition parties in the Senate might understand is that they can be part of the better economic future of this country by cooperating more constructively with the Government instead of opposing it every inch of the way. And I don';t think it';s doing them any good with the public. I think the public is tired of negative behaviour in the Senate. The public wants the Government to be allowed to get on with its job and the Labor Party and the Democrats ought to take notice of that.
JOURNALIST:
Any more scope for getting Telstra through given the official change in the Senate on July 1?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t want to make any wild predictions about that. As you know Glenn, I tend to be fairly cautious in these things and work away in the hope that you get the odd breakthrough.
JOURNALIST:
Bob Brown has another colleague, and we know what his real thinking is.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I know what his real thinking is. And he doesn';t have any credibility anymore when he attacks the Government';s position. And the only intellectually sound position on all of this is the Government';s position. You can';t forever have a body that is half owned by the Government and half owned by the public. But you do need to meet the commitment I made before the election and I am determined that country people will have that commitment delivered in full.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, tomorrow you';re meeting Mr Berlusconi. Do you expect that you will be talking industrial relations reform with him?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it will come up in the discussion, yes. Because in a very general way some of the changes that are being planned here are not dissimilar from what we have done. But I respect the fact that what happens in Italy is his business and what happens in Australia is my business. I haven';t come here to deliver any lectures to the Italian Government. But I imagine in a wide-ranging discussion that inevitably we';re going to have, that that issue will come up.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, on trade, today in your speech you welcomed the indication that there was movement towards reform on the Common Agricultural Policy. What are those indications, and now you are in Europe are you now more confident of reform on the CAP than before you left Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don';t think I';ve changed my view. I do welcome the fact that there are suggestions coming out of the Commission';s review that they may move from production subsidies to income support. And whilst the amount of the support in those circumstances might be the same, because it was decoupled, it might be decoupled from production, it might over time work more efficiently than does the present system. I think I may have said last night that it is a bit like trying to turn an ocean liner down. I mean I';m still sort of waiting for some evidence that the coal is no longer being stoked.
JOURNALIST:
So you';re saying subsidise the farmer on the basis of need rather than…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what I';m saying is that if you were to go down that path, that might over time lead to a better outcome. But it is still a long way to go and I don';t want anybody to think for a moment that I have relaxed or in any way pulled back from what I';ve been saying about this. I will be arguing strongly in Brussels tomorrow our case and the case for a comprehensive trade round. I';ll be putting the argument that we have an efficient farm sector and that our farmers are grievously treated by the world trading system. And I won';t be reluctant in saying that. It';s also fair to say that our relationship with the European Union is not just in relation to agriculture. That we do have quite an important relationship in other areas of economic activity.
JOURNALIST:
The effect of moving away from production, that would help our farmers where?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it might over time… if the subsidy is not tied to production, you may not over time see a generation of such large surpluses, which could in turn have an impact on competition in third countries. That';s where it might, and I indicate - underlined in red, five times -, it might possibly have an effect. I have to say this because it';s been an argument that has been going on for a long time. When I came to Europe nearly 25 years ago, many of the same arguments were taking place. And I look back over that 25 years and I don';t see an enormous amount of progress. And what is worrying is the way in which the Americans with their Farm Bill have in a sense partly blamed the Europeans for that. And the Europeans are criticising the Americans and Australia is losing out in the process. Thank you.