FAINE:
Mr Howard good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Jon.
FAINE:
Terrible news first of all in Sydney.
PRIME MINISTER:
I am absolutely dismayed and very saddened by what appears to be a quite terrible accident. I can express my sorrow and dismay and sympathy for those who've lost people and a sense of anxiety about those who are still trapped and those who've been injured. It's not been a happy start to this year in different ways for Australia and this is the latest in a series of challenges that we have. But such a loss of life in travelling to and from work is always a particularly chilling thing.
FAINE:
Certainly is, let's hope the emergency workers can get their job done effectively.
PRIME MINISTER:
It's a very precipitous part of the outskirts, it's quite a precipitous bit of country.
FAINE:
I have a friend who lives down that way and I've caught the train with him from Wombarra up to Sydney, it's a beautiful, it's scenic.
PRIME MINISTER:
It is beautiful and scenic but quite precipitous and the emergency workers will have a very tough task indeed. Once again we are reminded of the invaluable service that these people render to our communities, whether it's bushfires or train disasters or all sorts of other challenges we have, they really are a remarkable group of people and I can't speak too highly of the work that they do in so many ways.
FAINE:
There's a special phone number that's been established by the New South Wales police and emergency services for information, if you've just tuned in there's been a train crash south of Sydney, there's a phone number for information, it's train travelling south, not north into Sydney, but a train travelling out of Sydney to Port Kembla that's crashed, there are seven people dead, 16 injured, 16 trapped. The phone number is 1800 227 228, 1800 227 228. Prime Minister, to turn to Iraq, you're working overtime, you've hit the airwaves yesterday and today to try to persuade the Australian people that your support for George W Bush so far is appropriate. Is there any evidence that people are being persuaded?
PRIME MINISTER:
That ultimately is something that will work itself out. Public opinion is very important and I owe the Australian public the full courtesy of explaining to them as often as I can and as best I can the reasons for the Government taking the position it's taking. In the end of course you can't determine this by looking at the latest opinion poll, in the end you have to do what you believe is right. I believe that the course of action that we are taking is right. I don't believe it is in Australia's interests to allow countries like Iraq to retain chemical and biological weapons and to retain a capacity to develop nuclear weapons. If we don't do something about Iraq other countries with similar levels of irresponsibility and aggression will copy Iraq. It will be very difficult, as I said several days ago, to control North Korea if North Korea observes Iraq getting away with thumbing her nose at world opinion. I hope it is possible for this matter to be resolved through the Security Council and the best hope of peace will be if everybody gets behind a strong statement by the Security Council that it intends to enforce completely compliance with Resolution 1441. Now, if that were to happen that would actually give you, give the world, a better chance of peace than any alternative. So I think it can be said that the more the world is equivocal the less likely, in a way, we are to ultimately achieve a peaceful outcome because I still find it difficult to believe that in the end that if everybody is saying through the Security Council to Iraq -