Subject:
School bus safety, policies, economic management
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen I'd like to welcome you here to this very important, practical announcement which is of a policy that we have decided to implement immediately. We won't be establishing a committee to tell us how to implement it, we're going to implement it immediately and it is a $40 million program to provide a capped subsidy of up to $25,000 a bus for the installation of seat belts in new school buses or the retrofitting of them into existing buses. We are particularly targeting bus services in country and regional areas of the nation because, for reasons everybody will understand, buses in these parts of Australia travel longer distances and at faster speeds and therefore the potential for accidents is greater, and therefore the relative need is great. But in saying that let me renew my call on state and territory governments who have the prime responsibility, incidentally, in this area, and in some parts of Australia have been lagging very badly, let me call on them to make sure that there are seat belts in every bus in every part of Australia under their care and their jurisdiction. This scheme will operate immediately so any new bus from today or any bus that wants to....the owner of which wants it to be retro fitted from today will be eligible on application. It's a very simple scheme. It'll be up to $25,000. We calculate that in many cases that will be total cost or more than the cost, in some cases a very substantial part. And it will see seat belts, so I'm advised, installed in at least 375 school buses each year and at least 1,500 buses in country and regional Australia will benefit from this scheme over a period of four years. And it will improve the safety travelling conditions of about seven and half million school student bus trips a year. So it's a very practical scheme. I want to thank my Minister Jim Lloyd and of course welcome Gary Nairn, the Federal Member for Eden Monaro and Special Minister of State and Joanna Gash the Member of Gilmore, all of them of course represent regional parts of Australia and have lobbied very hard for this scheme. And can I particularly acknowledge the presence of Gloria Staniford who runs the Bus Action Group....sorry Glenda rather, not Gloria, Glenda, I apologise, runs the Bus Action Group because she's been campaigning very, very hard for this scheme. So it's practical good news for parents and school children in rural and regional Australia and can I thank Mr Deane and his company for allowing us to make this announcement. Most of the operators, in fact I think just about all of the operators of bus services in country and regional Australia are private companies. They provide a wonderful service, but of course this facility is available for both the public and the private sector, we're not discriminating, but it just so happens that most of the buses in country and regional Australia are privately operated and this particular company provides a wonderful service and I thank Dennis and his company very warmly for allowing us to come onto their premises to make this very important announcement.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard you told the Party Room yesterday that the election might not be until late November, do you intend to do Mr Rudd slowly?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't intend to adopt the rhetoric of other people. I certainly don't intend to do that. I intend to engage Mr Rudd in serious discussion, dialogue and debate about the future of our country. I'm not into gimmicks and stunts and slogans and committees and agencies and new departments, I'm just interested in asking the Australian people to, particularly at this time of international economic challenge, to reflect upon the value of having the Australian economy in strong experienced hands. What is happening in the United States is a reminder that you cannot take economic prosperity for granted. It's a reminder that economic management is always a finely balanced challenge and that at a time like this there is a real premium on strength, experience and a track record, and when there are some storm clouds gathering internationally, it's not a wise time to experiment with inexperienced people. That's the message that I will be delivering to the Australian people. I won't be engaging in cheap slogans, I don't admire cheap slogans, I respect substance and my Government has delivered substance over the last 11 and a half years and we have the substance to deal with international economic challenges and we won't be dealing with those challenges through rhetorical responses and stunts and committees and boards of review, we'll be dealing with them with good policies.
JOURNALIST:
How many buses do you expect to be fitted under this scheme?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this will mean that 375 buses a year can be and I would expect anything up to that number. I mean this is a very valuable subsidy and I stress that the reason that we are focussing on country and regional bus services is that you all realise they travel much longer distances. I mean it's part an parcel of the daily life of a school boy or girl in country Australia that you get on the bus and you travel a long way to school. Compare that with my experience of travelling, sort of, 10 minutes or a quarter of an hour from Earlwood to Canterbury at a snail's pace, and of course in those days people stood up and there were no seat belts at all. But it was a different world, we're very conscious of the need of these seat belts and they are needed in every school bus but there is a particular problem, and the accident rate suggests that there is a particular problem in regional Australia and that's why we're focusing and I think it's an excellent practical scheme, it will start now. I mean this is a policy that starts now. So I say to the bus owners of Australia, in regional areas, get your seat belts fitted, apply immediately to Mr Lloyd's department and the subsidy will come, simple, no committee, no review, it will just happen.
JOURNALIST:
You heard a lot in the Party Room about the problem of housing affordability, your backbenchers were concerned, what is your reading of how serious that problem is and can we expect action fairly soon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Michelle I'm not going to comment on what my colleagues told me in a private party meeting. I don't do commentaries. I announce policies when appropriate and I implement decisions. I don't do policies. I don't do slogans. I don't do stunts. I do things of substance for the future of this country.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Kevin Rudd is continuing to claim that you are conducting a scare campaign, a smear campaign, are you or is this just the normal cut and thrust of policies...scrutiny in an election campaign?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's not a scare campaign or a fear campaign to point to facts. I mean Mr Rudd does not have a tax policy and that was revealed on the AM program this morning. He was asked what his tax policy was, he said he had a plan for the future of Australia's economy, he doesn't have a tax policy. We do. We unveiled it in the Budget. For the fifth Budget in a row we cut income tax and we've cut income tax dramatically and that policy is rolling out as we speak, and there'll be another instalment of it and it'll come into operation on the 1st of July next year. So if Mr Rudd regards it as a criticism of him as a smear campaign then he's got a very thin skin. I mean it is perfectly legitimate to attack somebody's lack of substance. A smear campaign is when you say things about somebody's private life which is unrelated to the performance of his public duties, and I'm not into that, I've never been into that. But it is not smearing somebody to say they have no policy. It is not smearing somebody to attack their policy when they do have one. It's not smearing somebody to say all you ever announce is committees. All you ever promise to do is react to a review that you might get some time in future, if you are elected and after a process of consultation. I mean what the Australian people want to know from me and they want to know from Mr Rudd over the weeks and months ahead are how can we preserve, expand and further deliver the prosperity of this nation for the benefit of future generations of Australians? Which side of politics is better able to protect our economic security in this time of international economic doubt? Which pair of hands are stronger and safer and more experienced in looking after the Australian economy as some of these storm clouds gather in other parts of the world? Now they're the sort of issues that need to be debated. Not stunts, not slogans, not American-style policy launches where you, you know, you test the tele-prompter or whatever you call those things that look like rear vision mirrors, which I've never used and I never will use. I mean if you can't deliver a speech to the Australian people without the assistance of those things, I don't think you're in Australian politics.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, you criticised Kevin Rudd for no substance, but on tax he backed your policy, he said.....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he didn't last year, he voted against it.
JOURNALIST:
This year, this Budget, he has hasn't he?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I tell you what the Opposition is going to this election saying that they have a better alternative then ours, well you...if all you're saying is well we backed the Government in relation to a, b and c but as to rest we're silent, they clearly don't have an alternative and they clearly don't have a better alternative.
JOURNALIST:
On the Feds intervention in US, do you think that Australia....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it wasn't an intervention, it was rate cut.
JOURNALIST:
Is Australia's economy and the banking sector strong enough to ward off that sort of action being needed in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not going to speculate about future movements in interest rates, they are in the hands of the Reserve Bank, I make that first point. It's very obvious that our financial institutions are strong, our banks are very stable, they're well regulated, they're very profitable and that is a good thing at a time of international economic stress. It's very important to have profitable financial institutions. We do not have anywhere near the percentage of sub-prime loans, it's about one per cent in this country versus 15 per cent in the United States. So we don't from a home grown perspective have that kind of problem. But such is the nature of international financial linkages you cannot isolate this nation from what happens in other parts of the world and that's where domestic economic management comes into the equation. We need strong experienced hands in charge of the economic tiller in this part of 2007 to make sure that just as we warded off other international crises, the difficulty coming out of the United States does not unduly damage Australia. Now that is the challenge and what people have to focus on is what are measures, what are the people, what are the policies that are best able to bring about that result. You can't completely isolate Australia and we haven't been isolated because markets are inter-connected and they flow around the world and there are consequences. But the important message I have for the Australian public is that we don't have such a high percentage of delinquent loans because our lending practices are more tightly regulated. And secondly our financial institutions are strong and stable and profitable and that's reassuring. And thirdly we have a strong budget position. We haven't taken risks with this economy in the past and hot having taken risks will stand us in very good stead in the weeks ahead.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, on the bus announcement, aside from what you have just announced, do you think that state governments should make the use of seat belts in buses compulsory?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah I do. I think some of them have or are close to it, but I just think this is something where the safety of children is first, second and third and I think it's essential that they be made compulsory, of course.
JOURNALIST:
Why not offer the money to the state governments then, for their buses?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look why wouldn't we deal directly with the private operators? I mean if I've got a choice between dealing directly with a private businessman or woman who's running a business than dealing with a state government, I'll always deal directly with the private business operator. I mean we are in favour of dealing directly with people rather than going through other forms of government. That doesn't mean to say you don't deal directly with state governments on certain issues where they run the services. But the crying need in this area is to rapidly accelerate the number of seat belts installed in buses in country and regional Australia because that's where the long distances are and that's where the slightly higher speeds are achieved and therefore the risk is greater. And that's why this program focuses on that. I mean it's something the state government should have fixed ages ago, but they haven't, and we're going to plug the gap, we're not going to muck around and have a committee and have a meeting with them and channel the money through them, we'll have half of it creamed off in bureaucracy. We're going to deal directly with people like Mr Deane and he puts in the seat belts and we pay the money, up to $25,000 a bus.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are you open to the idea of increasing the first home buyers grant in terms of the housing affordability issue and the use of super for deposits, are you open to those ideas?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't speculate about those things. If we have things to say, additionally in relation to what has already been said by the Treasurer on that issue, well then we will say them, we don't speculate on those matters.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard every seats obviously important to you, but this one's is a little bit special, it's a noted bellwether seat, how important is it for you to hold this seat?
PRIME MINISTER:
Every seat I have is important to me, every seat, I love them all and there are a lot of new ones I hope to love in the future. But the three around me I have a special affection for and I don't want the others to be offended, their love is not unrequited....
JOURNALIST:
And your own....
PRIME MINISTER:
...including my own, but they came in, in the, three of them, came in in 96....
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard does is distract you from your own campaigning and your own seat when you've got to look after Mr Nairn and Ms Gilmore and others?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look....Mrs Gash.
JOURNALIST:
Miss Gash.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, Mrs Gash.
JOURNALIST:
Sorry.
PRIME MINISTER:
This...it is never a distraction to announce a practical measure to help secure the safety of children in country and regional Australia.