Subject:
Japan-Australia relations; economic management; polls; clean coal technology
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen, I don't have a great deal to report since we last spoke, I saw some of you on my morning walk. I have had a meeting with the Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party Mr Nakagawa who, of course, is a very significant political figure in this country. We talked a great deal about the relationship between Australia and Japan. He was one of those who was quite instrumental in persuading the Japanese Government to begin the process of a comprehensive negotiation for a Free Trade Agreement and you are familiar with my program for the rest of the day and I will be happy to answer any questions.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you believe that the Government needs to change its tack in light of the latest opinion poll, the third in 10 days showing Labor soaring and the Government declining?
PRIME MINISTER:
Paul, in the past when I have confronted a bad poll, I have said that it only encourages me to work harder and walk faster in the interests of the Australian people and that is certainly my response in relation to this. But I can't ignore the fact that we've had quite a series of bad polls over the past few months and I ask myself why is it that the polls are so bad for the Government at the present? I think one of the reasons, one of them, is that the Labor Party has successfully created the impression that it doesn't matter who is in Government, the economy will continue to grow. They have successfully created the impression that somehow or other the economy runs on an autopilot and it's got nothing to do with good governance. That, of course, could not be further from the truth. The strong economy we now have is in large measure due to the reforms the Government has carried out over the last 10 years. The Labor Party opposed virtually all of those reforms, certainly the important ones. And I will be focussing, and my colleagues will be focussing very heavily in the weeks and months ahead on the way in which Labor has sought to frustrate the very prosperity they will seek to exploit in their pre-election promises. Their starting point will be the strong economy which they opposed arriving and I will be focussing on that and I will be certainly focussing very heavily on the risk that Labor represents to the Australian economy, particularly in the area of workplace relations where the destruction of our changes will set the economy back, reinstall the unions as the driving force in the management of labour relations in this country and return the spectre of unfair dismissal laws for small business. Now we will be focussing on those things, but we'll continue to hold the Labor Party and individuals in the Labor Party to account.
JOURNALIST:
You're not tempted to make any change to the workplace relations laws are you?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no look I don't retreat in any way from those workplace relations laws. I believe in WorkChoices. I believe very strongly in WorkChoices. I think WorkChoices is the future. The repeal of WorkChoices is the past and Labor is offering a return to the past by saying that it's going to repeal WorkChoices. I believe in it as a policy instrument because I believe in a more flexible labour market, I've believed in that all my political life and I believe the economic conditions of the 21st Century and the competitive world environment in which Australia operates requires that we keep faith with a more flexible workplace. The evidence to me is that the economy has benefited. We have the lowest unemployment in 32 years. We are seeing the dramatic reduction in long term unemployed. In the 12 months to January of this year the number of long term unemployed people in Australia fell by 24.7 per cent. It's now at its lowest level since those figures began to be collected. Now that tells me that the strong labour market is eating into the lean meat of long term unemployed in this country. So, so far from changes of substance, I mean I have said all along that if any fine tuning were needed; but I believe very strongly in those laws. But you can't simultaneously and with credibility do as Labor is doing, oppose all the measures we took to get the economy in the wonderful shape everybody thinks it is at present and then say oh but of course we will help ourselves to the proceeds of a strong economy we didn't want.
JOURNALIST:
This suggestion from Labor about the economy is not a new one. Why is it that Kevin Rudd has succeeded where Mark Latham and Kim Beazley didn't? Is Mr Rudd a more serious challenge to you than the previous two occupants of that position?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know that the tactics adopted by Mr Latham and Mr Beazley were the same.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think there's a touch of the Teflon about Mr Rudd at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, that is really in the realm of commentary. But look, I have answered, you know, you wanted an answer from me in relation to the polls, you've got it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, will you continue to pursue Kevin Rudd over his integrity and honesty even though the early evidence would suggest that it's backfired against the Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, I am not going to make a judgement about the connect between particular polls and other particular events. I think it's fair to say that the polls have been running strongly in Labor's direction for some time now and the observations I made a moment ago were related to that trend.
JOURNALIST:
Do you find it curious that while people don't necessarily think that Kevin Rudd has been truthful in the Brian Burke matter that they don't think it counts in the long run?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think we should over-analyse the connection between the Burke issue and the polls.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, beyond the economic sales drive that you say Labor's done, do you detect anything else going on there in voter sentiment, and if so, what is that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've given a view and I am not going to elaborate on it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, do you see the months ahead as your biggest political challenge?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh every month's a challenge for me. Every day is a new challenge, and as I say, I work harder and walk faster.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, there have been further criticism of Mr Abe's handling of the issue of comfort women in the Asahi Shimbun today. Do you think that he has gone far enough in satisfying the issue of rewriting history and so forth?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't read that particular criticism but I have read the text of what he said yesterday and what he said is this: that I have been consistent in my remarks in the last year's Diet session, this year's session and on other occasions, standing by the Kono Statement, that's the 1993 apology, is my consistent stance. I'm expressing my sincere apology to comfort women, whose hearts were wounded and who experienced this painful period. Now it was an appalling episode in a tragic period in the history of the world and Australian women suffered as a consequence, although the nationals of other countries suffered in much greater number and there can be no quibbling about what happened and there can be no quibbling in my view about the level of coercion that was involved. I mean any suggestion that there was not coercion is completely repudiated by me and it's been completely repudiated by other Allied countries. Now I think that is quite a strong statement from the Prime Minister but my concern about any quibbling in relation to this matter is known to the Japanese Government and I'm sure, in one way or another, it'll be mentioned tomorrow.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister Mrs Ruff-O'Hearn in an interview with our news today has urged you to raise the matter in your meeting with the Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think it's fair to say Paul, as I said a moment ago, the issue will come up.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard do you think it's time to stop continually pressing the Japanese Government and the Japanese people for apologies for what happened in that World War II era, or do you think there is still a value in symbolic apologies?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the problem with this is that an apology had been given and then some doubt was raised as to whether there was a retreat from that apology, I think that was the issue. It's not something that.....I mean, and I believe what has been said by the Prime Minister reaffirms that apology.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard Peter Garrett has set 2030 as a target date for the elimination of coal emissions....
PRIME MINISTER:
...the coal industry or coal emissions?
JOURNALIST:
No not the coal industry, but damaging coal emissions, Labor backing it up with a half a billion dollar commitment to clean coal technology, do you think that's a.....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well isn't that a re-announcement of what Mr Rudd said a couple of weeks ago and isn't that curious that it's come on the day that we are actually announcing, not a plan, but an investment of another $100 million in a clean coal project in Victoria, that's being announced by Mr Turnbull and Mr Macfarlane. I think Mr Garrett is just trying to get in the same news cycle with a re-announcement.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard do you think MPs should know personally people for whom they provide references?
PRIME MINISTER:
Do I?
JOURNALIST:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I think it's a pretty smart idea. I think it's a very smart idea, I really do.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister back on energy.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
You've got the North West shelf folk here today....
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I have, yes, I'm seeing some of them this afternoon.
JOURNALIST:
Is one of the reasons that they're here to reassure the Japanese that any FTA would ensure or guarantee gas supplies? Because, of course, they're concerned about not just energy but also food supplies, given the growth of.....
PRIME MINISTER:
No I thought they were here as just part of a series of negotiations with the Japanese buyers, that was my understanding. I don't think it bears any particular relationship to the Free Trade Agreement.
JOURNALIST:
Could there be any guarantees within the FTA on energy....
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, you can't do more than acknowledged the sovereignty of the market. We believe in negotiations between private entrepreneurs and utilities and we naturally are reliable suppliers and we have lots of long term contracts with the Japanese. And the only assurance I can give is that Australia is a long standing, reliable, genuine friend of Japans and I'm sure that Australian companies will always be fair and transparent, but tough as you would expect, in their negotiations with Japanese purchasers, as we will be with purchases from other countries. There should be no impression in anybody's mind that Australia is going to start picking and choosing and playing favourites between Japan and China and other countries, we don't do that, the companies don't do that and the Government doesn't do that. We value very greatly the economic association we have with Japan and we want to see it grow even stronger, but we also value the relationship we have with China and we're not going to adopt an either or approach, that would be foolish.
JOURNALIST:
You're meeting Mr Kyuma tomorrow, Vice President Cheney wouldn't meet when he came to Japan, did you have any reservations about meeting the Defence Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister would you have hoped the defence declaration...security declaration deal you'll sign tomorrow, would you have hoped that it would be more, that it would be....
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I think given the sensitivities flowing from Japan's current constitution, I think it's pretty good, I think it's pretty sensible. Whether it leads to something more I don't know, but once again it's the substance rather than the formal architecture that matters and the substance of this declaration will be very good. But given all the circumstances I think it's a very good outcome, or will be a good outcome if it finally arrives and I expect it will tomorrow.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard last night you said that it might ultimately lead to a treaty...
PRIME MINISTER:
It could.
JOURNALIST:
Could you talk about what kind of circumstances it might....
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no I just make that observation, that's all, it's just a statement of possibility rather than a projection of a probability, it's just a statement of a possibility. One more question then I must go.
JOURNALIST:
Just on that, would your afternoon meeting with Foreign Minister Taro Aso, might that have an influence on the wording of the declaration or are you past the point of influence?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I would never, I would never want to play down for a moment the influence on the wording of treaties by Foreign Ministers, I'm very respectful towards Foreign Ministers including my own who's done a wonderful job for 11 years. But I think the wording's fairly well advanced but if there's a particular bilateral will I'm sure it will prevail. Thank you.
[ends]