DIX:
Mr Prime Minister, you couldn';t have timed this any better.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it';s a start.
DIX:
You';ve timed it to perfection. You';ve walked in through the door and we';d like to welcome you to Radio 4ZR, Roma and the Maranoa';s very own.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it';s great to be back and particularly with my colleague John Anderson, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Bruce Scott of course, the Member for Maranoa.
DIX:
Yes, welcome also to you John and Bruce. We';re very familiar with Bruce Scott. He spends a lot of time out here talking to people in Roma and the Maranoa on our radio station. And it is a pleasure to have you here Mr Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
DIX:
We';ve actually asked the public to fax in some questions and we';re not obviously going to get to them all. We';ve been inundated.
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s good. Interested customers.
DIX:
That';s exactly right.
PRIME MINISTER:
Try and make them happy too.
DIX:
Well that';s the hard part I suppose, but obviously the issues that are on everyone';s agenda and the tip of their tongue would be drought declared Exceptional Circumstance, Telstra and land clearing and vegetation management, and I';m sure that you';d like to speak to everyone in Roma and the Maranoa and more or less to rural Queensland about these issues.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I go to country Australia on a regular basis and as soon as Parliament got up, I resolved to come as quickly as I could to part of Queensland. I especially wanted to talk to Agforce and other rural groups in Queensland about the land clearing issue. It';s not an easy issue. We do need to make gains on the environmental front, and tree clearing is making a negative contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, so action is needed, and significant action is needed, but it';s got to be done in a way that is fair to the landholders and it';s got to be in a way that recognises their rights. And I';m sure that we can find a way through this issue which is fair to the landowners, to the farmers, to the rural people, but also makes a contribution. Now this purpose of my meeting this afternoon is to listen, and John Anderson will be with me and we';re both very committed to finding a solution to this which is fair and balanced, but takes the whole country forward in the area of greenhouse gas emissions. Now it won';t be easy but this afternoon I';ll be listening. We won';t be making any decisions this afternoon, but the very purpose of my coming here and John coming here is to demonstrate that we are serious, that we';re determined to achieve an outcome that meets those objectives.
DIX:
Okay, if I can Mr Prime Minister just address this question that was faxed in by Nick van Wright. He is part of the Karri Park in Mitchell. He';s a 25 year old rural land developer. He asks - are you and your party making consideration towards people who have invested heavily in the land development industry? A lot of our equipment and machinery will be worthless if tree clearing laws are tightened any more.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, it';s that sort of thing, and the recognition that if people make an investment based on the expectation that certain conditions will obtain for some years into the future, they have a right, if that alters, they have a right to complain. That';s one of the things that we will take into account as to precisely what his position is and what impact various combinations would have on him. Obviously I can only speculate about that. But that is one of the issues that has to be taken into account. We have to simultaneously look after interests like that, but also make progress because tree clearing is a negative as far as greenhouse gas emissions are concerned. There is no point in pretending otherwise and we do have to do something about that because this country, like every other country, has to play its part in reducing the rate of growth of greenhouse gas emissions. Now we have said to the rest of the world we';re not going to sign the Kyoto Protocol because in its present form it would damage Australia, but we';ve also said that we will try and meet the greenhouse gas emission targets set for countries like Australia by Kyoto to demonstrate that we are in world terms a good environmental citizen. It';s not an easy balance but if you try hard enough and you bring good will and commonsense to an issue, then you can get the right outcome.
DIX:
Sure. Now Roma and the Maranoa and particularly this Saturday we are having a community tree planting day.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that';s terrific.
DIX:
Yes. Green Corps and all their team members, or team leader, are going to be up at Campbell Park here near Lake Neverfill and they';re going to be planting trees and helping make Roma more appealing to locals and to visitors. And so we';re obviously making steps to replant trees in Roma and the Maranoa, and there is a concern here that the Green Corps members have put forward, and they would be honoured if you would plant a tree with them on Saturday, but you';re probably…
PRIME MINISTER:
I have to unfortunately go somewhere else on Saturday.
DIX:
Well maybe we might be able to get you to just have a [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I';ve got some family matters to attend to on Saturday.
DIX:
Fair enough. But they';re concerned that the trees that they';re planting now… will they be cut down in 10 or 20 years time for timber, and what are your opinions on preserving the environment for the future? I know you talked about land clearing and so forth, but in a general…
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I think tree planting is one of the great things that we can do for our environmental future and some of the most environmentally sensitive people I have met in my travels around this country have been farmers. This idea that there is some kind of natural conflict between the farmer and the environmentalist is completely wrong. Landcare, one of the great environmental movements of recent years, the strongest supporters of that are rural people. The farmers understand better than most Australians the damaging effects of environmental neglect. They understand the devastation of salinity and soil erosion and all of those other things. So I think you can bring the two together in a very effective fashion.
DIX:
That';s what Peter and Sue Jollis have faxed me in and they';ve made a statement here, but underlined it with ‘landholders are conservationists';.
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course they are.
DIX:
And they';ve learned to live on the land through experience.
PRIME MINISTER:
Everybody is an environmentalist now. This idea that environmental concern is something still at the fringes of Australian public life and Australian politics - that';s completely wrong.
DIX:
Now Prime Minister, if we may, we can talk a little bit about Telstra?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sure.
DIX:
Obviously it';s at the forefront of people in the bush and the coverage and what they get out of it, and if we';re going to be talking about Telstra, obviously we';ll be talking about the sale of the remaining 51 per cent.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well a couple of comments about Telstra. The first is that the level of service in country Australia has improved dramatically over the last few years. It really has. I mean there has been a difference. And that is the message I get from people in different parts of rural Australia. And this idea that everybody in the country is against what the Government has in mind in relation to Telstra is wrong. That is not my mail. Some people are, I understand that, and some people always will be. There are some people in the city, many people in the city, who oppose for I guess reasons of habit rather than anything else, the sale of Telstra. But what people must understand it that the level of service is not determined by who owns it. The level of service is determined particularly when it comes to providing basic services in outback Australia, those levels of service are the product of what the Governments says must be delivered. And you can own no shares as a Government, you can own no shares in something, but by law you can tell the service provider it must provide this and this and this and this. And that essentially is what we';re saying and on top of that we';re going to invest something in the order of a billion dollars in upgrading the infrastructure of Telstra in country Australia. John Anderson announced only a short while ago another almost $200 million which will deliver in full all of the recommendations made by the Estens Inquiry. Now the Estens Inquiry came out of the undertaking I gave during the last election campaign that we would not consider selling further shares in Telstra until conditions in the bush were up to scratch. And in order to see if they were up to scratch, we asked Dick Estens, who is a very respected independent Moree cotton farmer and who does great work in indigenous employment, who is a very respected Australian, to carry out the inquiry. He made a lot of recommendations. We';re implementing all of those recommendations. What that does is to put in place the arrangements that we';ll deliver on that commitment. And what we';re asking the Parliament to do over the next few months is to give the Government the authority to sell the rest of the shares. We won';t be selling them, even if we got the bill through in the next few months, we wouldn';t be selling those shares until it was commercially appropriate to do so, and it';s not commercially appropriate to do so now. I don';t know when it will be, but clearly we';d have the interest of the taxpayer in mind. But just two points on Telstra. The idea that you have to own it to tell it what to do when you';re the Federal Government is wrong. You don';t have to own it to tell it what to do. You can tell it what to do without any shares in it, because the Government can pass a law. And on top of that, people who say well what guarantee can you give about the future? The best guarantee you can give about the future with these things is to point to what we have done already, to point to the improvements - the mobile phone access, not perfect - not perfect in parts of the city either…
DIX:
Yeah that';s right.
PRIME MINISTER:
But enormous improvements. The availability of untimed local calls has been expanded, the internet availability is dramatically… I was talking to somebody last night who said look, compared with 10 years ago, it is just an unbelievable difference. And he said I';ve got everything that I could possibly ask for on a country property. So I acknowledge that that is not the case everywhere, but I also have to make the point that not every country person I meet is saying that Telstra has done nothing to improve services. In fact I';m meeting increasing numbers of country people who say gee, they have lifted their game and Telstra Country Wide has worked very well, and can I pay special tribute to what John Anderson and Bruce Scott and others have done in arguing the cause of country people, and Ron Boswell here in Queensland. What they basically said to me a few years ago was look, the whole question of whether we proceed further on Telstra is about whether we can demonstrate our bona fides in delivering upgrades. If we can do that, well you';ve got a whole new ball-game. And that';s what we';ve set out to do.
DIX:
Now you';ve just mentioned that you have met a lot of people in rural Queensland. You';re going to meet a lot more today and I imagine a lot of them will be applicants of drought declared Exceptional Circumstances. There is a concern that the process is can I say slow, and they are asking the question - is the Federal Government going to speed up the EC process?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have made it… sorry.
DIX:
And so that the drought-stricken farmers can receive help when it';s actually needed.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it';s not a perfect scheme but like all schemes that involve both Commonwealth and State Governments, it never works particularly efficiently. You always get something… you can always deliver something more quickly if you are the only government. I mean, we provide more than 90% of the money for Exceptional Circumstances - more than 90%. But the applications in effect have to come through the State Governments, and you have to involve State Government departments in assessments. Now, we have speeded up the usual [inaudible] process quite a lot. For example, we introduced late last year a system whereby if you put an application in, and on the surface of it it looked okay, then you started immediately to get some income support in advance of the application being gone through with a fine tooth comb, and that was to prevent that lag between when people properly felt they had established a need and the actual decision. Now that has provided a lot of relief for people. We are in fact always looking at the eligibility criteria. I mean one of the things I';m going to announce later this morning is a loosening of the criteria in relation to the small business relief that is available under Exceptional Circumstances. We brought in some new criteria some months ago, and there hasn';t been a big take-up. That may well be that the need is not quite as great as we imagined. It may also mean that the criteria perhaps was a little tight, so we';re going to make the criteria easier, which is just something that I';ve decided after representations from a number of my ministerial colleagues - from Ian Macfarlane and Joe Hockey, Small Business Minister and the Industry Minister. We have decided to make that and I';ll be making a short announcement about that later this morning. But this is really one of those areas where you are constantly adjusting at the margin where necessary to make things a bit better and a bit easier, and I think the system could work better while ever you have both governments involved, there is always an inevitable, how shall I put it, inefficiency of contact between the two levels of government.
DIX:
Sure. Now, you just mentioned about small business. You';re going to go to a couple of our tourist attractions today. You';ll be heading to Mitchell and having an audience I believe at the Great Artesian Spa.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I';ll be going to the Great Artesian Spa, yes.
DIX:
Did you bring your bathers?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I went for an early morning walk and the idea of bringing your swimming costume…
DIX:
Well it is rather relaxing. And you';ll also be heading out to the Big Rig. Now these are two quite important tourist destinations and members of Roma and the Maranoa, local business, would like to ask how can they…
PRIME MINISTER:
I know, exactly, yes. Ask whether there is any federal assistance?
DIX:
[inaudible] where they can perhaps get some federal assistance in assisting with tourism.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look generally, we announced for example a $20 million expansion of the tourist promotion program only a couple of weeks ago and we';ve produced a green paper on tourism and then we';ll produce a white paper very soon. And when we produce that white paper, we';ll obviously have a little bit more to say about future levels of financial help. The individual projects, they tend to be more… except when you have something like a federation fund, they tend to be more the area where State Governments have helped. In the break-up of responsibilities, there are some things that traditionally fall to State and some traditionally fall to the Federal Government, and individual particular grants for projects, that kind of.. normally are things that are within the State Government patch.
DIX:
Alrighty. Well you beat me to the punch on that one. And I suppose the only other issues we could talk about is football. We could have a look at the NRL Round 17 for this round. We';ve got the Roosters versus the Rabbits. Who do you fancy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Roosters.
DIX:
Roosters for you. Rightio. What about the Sharks and the Panthers?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';d say the Panthers.
DIX:
They are playing exceptionally well.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very well.
DIX:
Yeah they are. Now I will just reiterate that the Raiders are coming off a bye and teams that have come off a bye haven';t performed all that well, and the Raiders take on the Storm. Who do you like there?
PRIME MINISTER:
I would still back the Raiders.
DIX:
Yeah. Well actually, you';re doing quite well. You';ve gone with [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
[inaudible]
DIX:
They are all my tips, we';re agreeing there. Cowboys versus the Warriors at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
PRIME MINISTER:
I';d say the Warriors.
DIX:
You';re going the Warriors. Alright. Although their form has been very up and down. It';s the battle of ‘Who Cares Cup'; I';m calling this one - the Eels versus the Sea Eagles.
PRIME MINISTER:
You';re cheeky. I would say the Sea Eagles.
DIX:
You';re putting it down to the Sea Eagles. And we';ve got the Bulldogs and the Knights at Telstra Stadium.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the Knights will come back there.
DIX:
The Knights. That Joey Johns, he can play, can';t he?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah I might be in trouble from my prediction because my Commonwealth car driver in Sydney is a fanatical Bulldogs supporter.
DIX:
Does he wear one of those Willie Mason wigs when he';s driving around? And last but not least, you';d better be careful who you tip here, the Dragons versus the Broncos?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, it';s a matter of… it';s part of my religion always to back the Dragons.
DIX:
Is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes always. I';m their patron and I';ve always barracked for them, and no matter what the team is or what the circumstance, I always back the Dragons.
DIX:
Or whether what state you';re in.
PRIME MINISTER:
Irrespective of where I am. It';s the one piece of partisanship in football I allow myself, apart from barracking for Australia of course.
DIX:
Alrighty. Well I';m sure you';ve helped out a lot of people with their tips. We';ve got a pretty healthy tipping competition going on here.
PRIME MINISTER:
Have you?
DIX:
Yeah.
PRIME MINISTER:
You';d better do a run through of the board on Monday morning to see how I went.
DIX:
There';s no doubt about that. We certainly will. Now the other thing I suppose we could talk about is the state of the roads out here. You';re going to be driving on them this afternoon. There is a lot of…
PRIME MINISTER:
It';s very interesting you should mention that. I was at a gathering last night and it included the Mayor of the Shire and the town, and obviously people would always like more and that';s understandable, but the Roads to Recovery program which involves the Federal Government giving money direct to Local Government for roads, and I have to say that nobody fought harder to get that program than John Anderson. It was his concept that we use some of the additional revenue we then had to provide for those roads, and they have been very well received. Now as to what happens in the future, we will have to [inaudible] further. But we have still got quite a bit of money out of that $1.2 billion program yet to spend. I think there is still another five, six hundred million dollars yet to be spent. So it has made a big difference. It represented something like a 75% increase in money going to local roads, and the only thing that has bothered me a bit - I';m not saying it';s happened in this area, I don';t know so I';m not making the accusation - but in some parts of Australia, as we have put extra money into local roads, believe it or not, some of the State Governments have actually reduced their money. Now I';m not saying that has happened here. I don';t know. Maybe it has, I don';t know. But in some parts of Australia that has occurred. Now that really breaks every rule in the book. The whole idea of this is to add to the money going into roads, not to just shift the funding responsibility from one level of government to the next. But it';s made a big difference and local councils I find all around the country are very appreciative. [inaudible] you know, looking over the horizon, what';s happening in a few years time, that';s very natural. Well, we can';t say at the moment. But there is still more to be spent. We';re only halfway through the program and it has worked very well.
DIX:
Now Mr Prime Minister, the weather today is I suppose rather mild. This morning you would have noticed when you had your walk along the Heroes Avenue there that it can be rather chilly, but in the summertime it can get rather hot.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very hot, yes.
DIX:
And a lot of the schools out here are struggling with air conditioners and so forth. It';s a fact.
PRIME MINISTER:
No I believe that.
DIX:
[inaudible] fundraising.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I can believe that. I really can believe that. And I agree. I mean it would be very hot.
DIX:
Yeah, and like obviously there is education and health that is on your agenda as well when you';re out here talking about what';s going on in rural Queensland.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. Well, look all of those things are. In those areas where we have responsibility, we try and meet our funding obligations. I have to ever so politely and gently and quietly point out that we don';t own and run the state schools. They';re run by and funded by the State Governments. We provide some top up funding and we';ve increased our contribution at a faster rate to state schools than the Queensland Government has, and of course we also have responsibilities for independent schools as well. But the actual infrastructure and things like the buildings and everything, they really are without wanting to get into an acrimonious debate about it, they are really State responsibilities. We don';t ask the State Governments to contribute to the cost of running the Army, so obviously there are certain responsibilities State Governments…
DIX:
No I appreciate that Prime Minister. Alrighty, well I';m sure you';re going to enjoy your day out in Mitchell…
PRIME MINISTER:
I will.
DIX:
…meeting and you know, getting to talk to people on the land, and then back here in the afternoon at the Big Rig with the afternoon tea.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look forward to it.
DIX:
And it';s been a pleasure talking to you here on Radio 4ZR and we';d like to also thank the Deputy Prime Minister Mr John Anderson, and I believe and perhaps this afternoon you might be talking in to talk to Donna and the Country Mile, which we would be honoured to have you. And I would also like to thank Mr Bruce Scott, our Federal Member for joining us. And if I may, we might leave with this song. It';s called ‘We Can Work It Out'; by the Beatles.
[ends]