BARR:
Prime Minister Howard good morning to you, thanks for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Natalie, Nick.
BARR:
Now, you've seen the worst of it, what struck you about this fireball?
PRIME MINISTER:
The loss of so many homes in what we could all describe as a normal suburban setting. To lose, or have severely damaged, close to 400 homes in a suburb of Canberra, you translate that into Sydney or Melbourne terms you're looking at thousands of homes, given the difference in population size, and that gives you an idea of the dimension of it and puts it into some kind of context for people living in the major metropolitan areas of Australia. It is an event without parallel in the history of Canberra, it is on a scale of property damage and intensity the worst bushfire to hit a suburban area. the Chief of the Police in Canberra yesterday who was involved in the Ash Wednesday fires in South Australia back in 1983 said that this particular event in Canberra had reminded him most of the devastation of Ash Wednesday. It's remarkable to me that there's wasn't a greater loss of life and it's a tribute to the common sense of Australians and also to the bravery of firefighters and police and others that there wasn't an even greater death toll.
MCCARTLE:
Now Prime Minister you've also spoken to a lot of families and their stories must be devastating.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they are and it's very important that people who've gone through something like this have an opportunity to talk not only to their friends but also to other people about it. You have remarkable stories of heroism, of people who have taken great risks to try and save their valued possessions. There are some extraordinary stories, one on television last night of a lady describing the bursting of the hot water service that put the fire out, the poignant image of a World War II digger holding the charred remains of his medals, they can be thankfully replaced. But again and again and indeed only a moment before I came on air here people said we've lost our homes but we've got each other and that of course is part of the Australian sense of perspective and common sense approach. They've lost many things, that none of us would want to lose, but they have each other and their families and their pets and they're going to rebuild. And that's terrific, they will.
BARR:
Mr Howard, what assistance is the Federal Government in a position to give to these people who've lost their homes?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have a standing arrangement with the states and territories. The first little bit of emergency personal assistance is picked up by the state or territory, when it goes beyond a little bit it's a 50/50 share and then it's a 75 per cent by the Federal Government. So when this is all over the Federal Government will have shouldered a very significant part of it and on top of that the Chief Minister will, I understand, be raising particular things with me so there are all sorts of different ways in which we assist.
BARR:
Mr Howard can we just move onto the pressing of Iraq while we've got you this morning? World wide protests over the weekend against a war, opinion polls showing only six per cent of Australians support a war without UN support. Can we justify standing next to America, going to war if the UN doesn't okay it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in a situation like this it's good to deal with reality and not to hypothesise. Interestingly a few days ago the Secretary General of the United Nations said that the weapons inspectors would not in his opinion be in Iraq if it hadn't been for American pressure. People who condemn America and then in the same breath say they want it to be resolved by the weapons inspections through the United Nations should remember that had it not been for American pressure, including the American military build-up, then the weapons inspectors would not now in all probability be in Iraq. And one way in which you achieve a diplomatic solution of something like this is to indicate a capacity to use force if a diplomatic solution is not achieved. I want it solved through the United Nations, I don't want a war, nobody does, George Bush doesn't, nobody in their right mind wants military conflict. But you can't walk away from this issue, you can't just rub your hands and say well I'm going to forget about it and let them keep their capacity to develop nuclear weapons, the world is not as forgiving as that and we'd be stupid if we imagined that that is a solution. I want it solved by the UN and if Saddam Hussein genuinely co-operates with the weapons inspectors there's no reason why there should be military conflict. But people who argue that in some way you are contradicting a desire to solve this diplomatically by having a military build-up are flying in the face of what the Secretary General of the United Nations said when he said the military build-up has exerted pressure and is assisting the possible diplomatic solution and has made possible the return of the weapons inspectors.
BARR:
But if the UN does not give the okay will we, will Australia, join a war in Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't deal in hypotheses when you're talking about something as serious as this. I want it solved peacefully, I believe the military build-up and the military deployments are making it more likely that the issue will be resolved peacefully because in the words of Kofi Annan it's applying pressure to Saddam Hussein, it has made possible the return of the weapons inspectors, and let's not kid ourselves, there would be no weapons inspectors in Iraq now had it not been for the pressure applied by the United States. We're all saying what a great thing it is to have the weapons inspectors there and in the next breath condemning the Americans. I think we've got to stop and understand cause and effect and the cause of the weapons inspectors being there is a United Nations resolution and the thing went back to the United Nations because of the pressure applied by the United States and others.
MCCARTLE:
Prime Minister Howard, thank you very much for taking time out on a busy morning to join us on Sunrise this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]