PRIME MINISTER:
Well Phillip Barresi, Chris Pearce, Councillor Les Wilmott, ladies and gentlemen. I';m here for one reason and that is to remind the people of this part of Melbourne and remind the people of Victoria that the Federal Government remains fully committed to the promise it made some years ago about the Scoresby Freeway. We want the Victorian Government to honour the promise it made, a promise it described as not one of those election time promises, in the words of Mr Bracks, but a promise that it would, in partnership with the Federal Government, build the Scoresby Freeway without tolls. That promise has been dishonoured, we want it honoured and I hope that by continued commitment from the Federal Government and continued reminders to the Bracks Government of its broken promise that it will go back to the commitment it made, it will deliver on that promise and deliver on the expectations of the people in this part of Melbourne who want the Scoresby Freeway, who need it and are entitled to have it as original promised. That';s our position and that remains our position.
JOURNALIST:
The Victorian Government says that if your contribution was declared to be half the total that wouldn';t be enough to build it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Victorian Government is trying to weasel out of a commitment that it made. We made a commitment, it';s the constructing authority, we made a commitment, we signed a memorandum of understanding that was based on discussions between the two governments and the money was worked out, the cost was calculated, the ink was dry on the memorandum of understanding and now that has been torn up in the face of the good citizens of this part of Melbourne. I think it';s disgraceful.
JOURNALIST:
Will you still contribute the money if they…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we want it built on the original terms and conditions, our money stays on the table, we';re not taking it off the table, it was in the Federal Budget and it will stay in the Budget because we want the original commitment honoured.
JOURNALIST:
They say it won';t be built without tolls.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look they should honour their agreement, we look you know it';s not as simple as that, you can';t sign a document and commit yourself and then just walk away from it.
JOURNALIST:
They say that that';s their problem, their electoral problem.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no I think it actually is a problem for the people of Melbourne. The citizens. I mean after all they';re the people who';ve been misled, they';re the people who';ve been told that this wasn';t an election time promise, in other words it wasn';t a disposable promise, I mean that is his definition not mine, they';re his very words, I have it in my pocket when he wrote to the people on behalf of Anne Eckstein he said “and Labor will build the Scoresby Freeway on time and on budget. These are not just election time promises, they are my firm commitments to you and your family and they will be honoured.” Now that';s the piece of paper, they';re not my words, they';re Mr Bracks's word. On time, on budget, not an election time promise, it';s going to be honoured. And I';m here to remind him of that and to support my colleagues in that endeavour.
JOURNALIST:
When do you think he changed his mind, before or after the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t know, you';ll have to ask him.
JOURNALIST:
He says he was the last person in his Cabinet to know…
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I can imagine he fought it and he struggled and it was a vigorous debate and it went on for 20 hours, yeah. But look he';s the Premier, when you';re the boss you call the shots.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think it will be costly to the Bracks Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is a matter for the people, I';m not a commentator, I';m a participant. That is for you to decide and the people of this part of Melbourne to decide, not for me.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what do you say to Mr Bracks'; request that the money that was on the table to the Scoresby be diverted to other roads…
PRIME MINISTER:
I say to Mr Bracks keep your word.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, on another topic, the sale of Telstra, do you support the proceeds going to debt repayment first before it then is, some of it is, deployed in the bush?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look we';ve already deployed $1 billion in boosting the rural infrastructure of Telstra, we';ve already put an enormous amount of money into that, I mean you know our priorities in relation to debt retirement but we have already put an enormous amount of money into upgrading Telstra, we';re putting another $181 million to deliver on the Estens recommendations and we';re putting legislation up to the Parliament and obviously we won';t sell it until it';s commercially appropriate and obviously that has got quite a bit to do with the share price and we';ll just see what develops. But our priority is always to get debt down.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the latest British assessment on Iraq, do you feel that vindicates your position?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that was an assessment of the behaviour of the British Government, I note that it clears Mr Blair and his Ministers of any deception of the British Parliament, that doesn';t surprise me, I think Mr Blair';s behaved honourably on this issue, he';s not only behaved honourably but he';s behaved very courageously. The two points of criticism out of the committee relate to issues that we didn';t canvass, one of them was the 45 minutes of readiness, and the other was the dossier that was prepared in February, now they weren';t issues that we canvassed. Look I don';t walk away for a moment from the judgements we made a few months ago, we had intelligence which formed a judgement that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction capability and that was the basis for non-compliance with the UN resolutions, that was the basis of our commitment and I don';t walk away from that, I don';t apologise for it, we did the right thing based on that assessment. Intelligence judgements are what they are called, they are judgements, they';re not proof before an Old Bailey jury, they';re intelligence judgements and they were very strong and they presented a strong case.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister does your intelligence, does Australia';s intelligence in reference to a newspaper story today that David Hicks, David Hicks was higher up the terrorist pecking order than originally thought?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';m not going to canvass particular matters relating to Mr Hicks, it wouldn';t be appropriate to do that.
JOURNALIST:
The Housing Industry Association';s calling for…
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
The Housing Industry Association is calling for a review of the taxes imposed on home buyers saying the combination of local state and federal government taxes is creating too great an impost, would you agree to such an inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven';t seen the HIA report but I do know that the great bulk of the imposts are state imposts. The federal impost on new homes is the GST but all of the revenue from that goes to the states. But the thing that is really adding to the cost of housing all around Australia are local taxes and charges, stamp duty which has grown out of all proportion and I would remind you that when we doubled the home savings grant for new homes two years ago to boost the housing industry I wrote to all of the Premiers asking them as a gesture of assistance to help the home building industry they might cut stamp duty and I got a big fat no from the eight of them.
JOURNALIST:
Premier, just back on this road…
PRIME MINISTER:
Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, that';s correct. Absolutely.
PRIME MINISTER:
I have no desire to transfer from federal to state politics.
JOURNALIST:
So you can kill that rumour?
PRIME MINISTER:
I kill that rumour immediately. In its tracks.
JOURNALIST:
Would you, in any capacity, be punishing the Victorians twice by withholding…
PRIME MINISTER:
The Victorians?
JOURNALIST:
Well, would…
PRIME MINISTER:
We would never, look we always treat Victorians as they are, and that is as Australians, we treat all Australians equally, fairly and decently.
JOURNALIST:
So you don';t think you';d be seen as imposing a double punishment on Victoria…
PRIME MINISTER:
We haven';t even imposed a single punishment on Victoria, Victoria has shared the benefits of our economic management, I';ve just launched VECCI';s 17 apprenticeship shopfronts here in Victoria, you';ve now got an unemployment rate here of only 4.5 per cent, but it';s 4.5 per cent higher than we';d like it to be and in the time that we';ve been in government we';ve seen apprenticeships and traineeships go from 140,000 to 391,000. So there';s no punishment in that, it';s opportunity.
Thank you.
[ends]