Subject:
APEC; Mersey Community Hospital; equine flu.
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this news conference. I'd like to start by thanking the people of Sydney for their forbearance today. The security arrangements are obviously some dislocation and I do thank them not only for their forbearance today but in anticipation as the security arrangements become more intense as the week goes on with the arrival of various world leaders. I also take this opportunity of congratulating the New South Wales Police for the very good job that they have done. It's a very big task and I compliment the new Commissioner on his work and the work of the men and women.
I will be having of course, as well as the APEC Meetings, a series of bilateral meetings this week. I will have bilateral meetings with President Bush on Wednesday, with President Hu Jintao of China on Thursday and President Putin of the Russian Federation on Friday. As the Leaders of those three countries are paying bilateral visits to Australia as well as attending the APEC Meeting. The Business Summit will take place on Thursday and Friday. There will be a tri-lateral breakfast meeting involving myself, the Japanese Prime Minister and the United States President on Saturday morning.
The first Leader's Retreat will be at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday and it will focus on climate and energy and the Doha Round. The second Leader's Retreat will be on Sunday, which will take place at the New South Wales Government House and it will focus on regional economic integration including behind the border regulatory issues and proposals for a free trade area of the Asia Pacific. On Monday I will meet President Yudhoyono separately and lunch with him at Kirribilli before travelling to Canberra for the bilateral visit to this country of the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr Harper. He will address the Parliament on Tuesday as part of his bilateral visit. I am also intending to have a series of bilateral meetings with other leaders who visit Australia as part of the APEC gathering.
The arrangements for this very important meeting are well in place and I do take this opportunity as well as thanking the police, thanking the members of the APEC Taskforce for the extraordinary amount of work that they have put in to getting the various sites and venues ready for this meeting and the very considerable patience they have demonstrated over a period of some months in preparing for this meeting.
Before inviting any questions you want to ask me about APEC or indeed any other matter, I do want to make some comments about a letter that I have sent to the Tasmanian Premier this morning regarding the Mersey Hospital. I am very pleased to say that as a result of some positive discussions between the Tasmanian Health Minister and Mr Abbott, this matter is now proceeding as desired by the Commonwealth Government.
I have written to Mr Lennon confirming that we wish to proceed with the purchase and enclosing draft Heads of Agreement, and advising that the Commonwealth wishes to proceed with the transfer of ownership of the hospital as proposed by Mr Lennon no later than the 1st of November of this year. We're proposing that the Tasmanian Government; and this was our original proposal, run the hospital on a full reimbursement basis until the Trust that we are forming in discussion with the local community takes over in full by July of next year.
I have also confirmed to the Tasmanian Premier that the purchase and Commonwealth direct funding for the Mersey Hospital will not affect Tasmania's entitlements under current and future Australian Healthcare Agreements. This is conditional on the funding windfall to Tasmania being spent on health services for Tasmanians, especially but not exclusively in the North and North West of the State where needs are very acute.
Can I say I welcome the willingness of the Tasmanian Government to proceed with its Mersey Hospital Plan and I look forward to Mr Lennon's response in the very near future. I believe that this arrangement can be fully and effectively implemented and I thank Mr Abbott for the speed of his discussions with the Tasmanian Health Minister. And I am sure that this announcement will give great assurance to the people of Northern Tasmania who welcomed this proposal and were concerned about the prospect of losing a full public hospital facility in their part of that state. Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard Ambassador McCallum this morning confirmed there would be some sort of defence, increased defence arrangements (inaudible) you and President Bush on Wednesday. Can you expand anymore on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I am not going to expand any more except to say that a lot of issues will be discussed by the President and me including defence issues. And we have a very close relationship with the United States in those matters and that relationship can always in a practical way be made closer. But beyond that I don't have anything further to say.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are APEC Leaders planning to make a timetable for when the Doha Round should be finalised?
PRIME MINISTER:
I doubt that we will lay down a strict timetable but APEC is a marvellous forum for the world trading community to be reminded of the importance of the Doha Round. We are still wedded to the view that if you can get a good Doha outcome that is the best possible way of dealing with trade issues and it offers the best hope for Australia particularly in areas like agriculture. But absent the sort of progress we would like in Doha, we naturally are willing to enter into bilateral trading arrangements and in any event, any bilateral trading arrangements we entered into are consistent with Doha principles. So we have a very pragmatic attitude towards trade. What works and provides benefit for Australia we will embrace, whether it's a multilateral arrangement or a bilateral arrangement. Doha is still the best general hope for the world in trading matters and APEC is a good opportunity to put the Bunsen burner under the process and I hope that will happen.
JOURNALIST:
Is Mr Lamy from the World Trade Organisation coming to APEC specifically to...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes he is.
JOURNALIST:
...try and twist arms on Doha?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think Mr Lamy is coming to stir the possum, rattle the cage, whatever clich