Subjects: LNG contract; High Court decision.
E&OE...........
JONES:
Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Alan.
JONES:
It doesn';t get any better than this for Australia.
PRIME MINISTER:
This is a terrific contract. It';s not only big in its own right, but it opens the door potentially to further contracts because China is a huge country with a growing economy. It demonstrates that we have a close and sensible relationship with that country. We have our differences, big differences, but it does show that we can work together for the common good. I want to thank the joint venture partners. I congratulate them. I want to thank our Ambassador in Beijing, David Irvine, who did a fantastic job. It was a team Australia effort, if I can use that… almost a clich. And it does show that when you are dealing with certain countries a heavy involvement by the national government is always necessary, respecting of course the commercial considerations of things for companies. We do, as a Government, need to get behind our companies. I take a very nationalistic view of these things. We were fighting very tough competition and we needed a single-minded marshalling of Australian effort in order to win and that';s what happened. And it';s going to underwrite the economic relationship between Australia and China for years into the future.
JONES:
Yes it';s interesting isn';t it, to see, to read, that China';s decision to choose us was based on security of supply as well as price and much was made of the fact that the North West Shelf has delivered over 1,000 shipments of gas to China since 1989, all on time and all to quality.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that';s right. We offered the better product and we did offer that reliability. When you are a politically and economically stable country, you have an enormous amount to offer and the reputation of the North West Shelf is very high in energy circles all around the world. And those things are a very relevant consideration and what we now must do, of course, is to make sure that every particularity of this contract is delivered, that that reputation is maintained because there';s plenty of competition out there. There are lots of other countries and you';re dealing with large multinational companies that have interests in different parts of the world and they pursue all of those interests at the same time. And what we must do, having won this contract, is to maintain the quality of our performance in this area in the years ahead and I have every reason to believe we will.
JONES:
It';s only 12 months ago Prime Minister that you were being criticised as a Prime Minister and a Government who wasn't prepared or able to embrace the new economy, and they were referring of course to the IT stocks and all the rest of it. And of course above all else, you couldn';t engage Asia. Twelve months is a long time, isn';t it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that was always nonsense. My view Alan, is that this country has interests in Asia, it has interests in Europe, it has interests in North America, and the idea that you can';t pursue all of those interests simultaneously was always wrong. I have never believed in taking this country away from Asia, but I';ve always believed that our engagement with Asia should not be to the detriment of our engagement with North America and with Europe. And what the foreign policy of this Government has been is to pursue our interests in those three constellations of economic and political influence around the world. We need, as a great trading country, but a relatively small country, we need to access opportunities wherever they arise and not be hung up by some consideration that our first and only interest is in one part of the world.
JONES:
I tell you what, Australians are thanking you today and on behalf of many Australians I do thank you. You went over there and it was a very important initiative taken by you and the Government and this is a very, very big economic bonus for Australia. Just before you go, can I just ask you about this High Court ruling yesterday that two Indonesian asylum seekers had been treated unfairly by the Refugee Review Tribunal. It';s now being said that these two were taken to the High Court as test cases for 7,600 other cases. Does this mean that this is a bottomless pit that Australians are now going to have to look forward to funding this until the end of time?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Alan, the decision only came down about 4.30 yesterday afternoon. I have not as yet been fully briefed on the implications of it and until I am, I';m not going to say yes or no to these suggestions about 7,000 cases. I';ll need, which I will get today, some more information. But what happened plainly is that in relation to these two, the High Court has said procedural fairness was not observed and those two cases have been sent back to the Refugee Tribunal. It could have implications, cost wise, time wise, length wise, in the future conduct of our refugee system. I';ll need to look at that. Mr Ruddock is overseas at the moment and I';ll be talking to him, I hope, in the next 24 hours and when I have something more on it, either he or I will have something to say.
JONES:
Good on you. Good to talk to you. Thank you for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Alan.
[ends]