PRIME MINISTER:
You right? Everybody ready?
PRIME MINISTER:
Good.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] trained with al-Qaeda. Where did this information come from and have you prejudiced his trial?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I haven't prejudiced his trial. I think… and I don't obviously go back on what I've said but, I think the detail in relation to this is best dealt with by the Attorney General because he's the person who's had the discussions with the American legal authorities and I suggest that you take further questions to him.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how much confidence you have in the Victorian Liberal machine to deliver the electoral support you'll need for your campaign, given the interim report on the state election [inaudible] state branch was in disarray?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think for a moment the state branch is in disarray. The Victorian state result was very disappointing and there's no point in mincing words about that. But Robert Doyle since then has put that set-back behind him and I believe has performed very strongly in a difficult situation. The Victorian Liberal organisation is better resourced than many organisations in the Liberal Party around Australia, but like any other organisation it can learn lessons from a loss. When you lose an election heavily, obviously something has gone wrong and there's no point in pretending otherwise and I think the Victorian organisation is being very realistic. I would certainly exhort the Liberal Party all around Australia to avoid any lapse into factional infighting. It is pointless wasting your energy and your time in internal manoeuvring when you should be spending your time developing policy and fighting the Labor Party. Now that applies to the Victorian Liberal Party as it does to the Western Australian Liberal Party, the Queensland Liberal Party, the New South Wales Liberal Party and all other state branches, it's not just the Victorian thing. But I have a very strong view that the Liberal Party doing well federally, but certainly no grounds for complacency, must avoid any lapse into factionalism, internal preoccupation, internal manoeuvring. Now it's a problem that we've got to try and avoid and what we've got to do is reach out, get more members, deepen and broaden the gene pool, if I can put it that way, and if we do that then we can rebuild at a state level not only here in Victoria but all around the country.
JOURNALIST:
Did you describe Mr Doyle not having [inaudible]…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Really, now come on. I mean, I was with Mr Doyle on Monday night, for heavens sake. I mean, I was focusing on Mr Bracks when I… I mean, it was Mr Bracks who broke promise on the Scoresby Freeway not Mr Doyle.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] comments that South Australia is being pathetically parochial in rejecting the national waste dump?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I do. The point I make is that the Lucas Heights establishment produces isotopes which are invaluable as a health aid to all Australians. Those isotopes just don't go for the benefit of Australians who live in New South Wales and we are a nation, we're not a collection of states. I mean, I'm an Australian, everybody's an Australian before anything else and sometimes you've got to find a national solution and there's always going to be somebody who doesn't want it in their state but if you adopt that attitude on all difficult things, then you'll never solve problems. And we get an enormous amount of benefit as a community out of the Lucas Heights establishment and therefore, we have to find a national solution and the idea that it has to automatically be in one state rather than another… I mean, we carried out a careful scientific evaluation and a decision objectively arrived at was made and I believe that it ought to be accepted.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I think what we have to do is just take one step at a time on this issue. We are talking to the Americans and others and we shouldn't run ahead of ourselves, we just should take one step at a time. We have put forward some proposals and we're getting reaction, and the goal of the meeting in Brisbane is to see that if there can't be effective concerted action but it has to be measured and sensible and has to take account of realities.
JOURNALIST:
Did they take into account there was [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, we're not at this stage considering military contributions, we're considering ways and means of dealing with a very big problem and I'm not going to be giving running commentaries every day on graduated responses. What I'm saying is, it's a big problem, we're working closely with our friends in America and elsewhere. We believe very strongly that China has an even bigger role to play because China is the country, more than any other, that has the influence on North Korea and I believe this will be an issue that will feature very prominently in my discussions with the Japanese Prime Minister and the South Korean President when I go to both of those countries next week. It will be very high on the list. But we have to talk carefully and choose our descriptions and our words very sensibly because we're dealing with a volatile issue and we're dealing with a country that is not operating as it were within the square.
JOURNALIST:
America's National Security Council has put out a statement virtually ruling out the credibility of the statements relating to uranium being shipped from Africa to Iraq. Does that embarrass you at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it doesn't. Can I just say that all of the statements I have made in relation to this issue were based on the information in my possession at the time. Now, in relation to the uranium issue from Africa, subsequent to my statement of the 4th of February there was a statement made by the IAEA casting doubt on a document and that was acknowledged by Mr Downer on behalf of the Government. Although, I think it's very interesting that even the British Prime Minister as recently, I understand, as last night has not backed away from the Joint Intelligence Committee assessment which was the basis of the reference in my statement of the 4th of February. But the statements I made then were based on the information I then had in my possession otherwise I wouldn't have made them.
JOURNALIST:
Do you [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what happened is that in relation to one aspect of it, and that is that document, there's been a finding by the IAEA that that document was flawed and that's been acknowledged by Mr Downer. But I repeat, those statements were made on the basis of information I had in my possession otherwise I wouldn't have made them.
JOURNALIST:
There's increasing pressure from Japan today over the free trade agreement and new threats to withdraw or close plants in Victoria…
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, what pressure from Japan, on what, free trade agreements?
JOURNALIST:
There are news reports today.
PRIME MINISTER:
About what?
JOURNALIST:
About Australia's free trade agreement…
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm sorry, what free trade agreement are you talking about?
JOURNALIST:
With the US.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, well go on, it's news to me.
JOURNALIST:
In Japan, Japan's…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I haven't heard…they have not been communicated to the Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST:
[Inaudible] has indicated that it will proceed with heroin injecting room trials, does that concern you at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, it does. I am totally opposed to heroin injecting rooms and the NSW Government will not get any cooperation from the Federal Government if that's needed, probably it isn't, in which event they'll go ahead and do it unilaterally. I believe very strongly in the Tough on Drugs strategy this Government has pursued. It's begun to yield results. Heroin overdose deaths have fallen in Victoria. They've fallen around Australia. I'm not saying all of that is due to our policies but some of it is and this is not a time to give further comfort to other approaches. So I condemn that decision. I've never supported heroin trials and I've never supported heroin injecting rooms and this Government never will.
JOURNALIST:
Just in relation to North Korea again, Prime Minister, given that US intelligence over Iraq has been shown to be wrong in some instances, why should we believe them now over North Korea?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don't accept that there is a strong case that American intelligence generally in relation to Iraq has been wrong. I just don't accept the premise of your question. One individual document has been judged as a forgery by the IAEA, if I can get that right, and that doesn't mean that American intelligence or British intelligence has failed or that Australian assessments have failed. So I think the whole basis of your question, with respect, is wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think it's possible that Japan could close some car manufacturing plants…
PRIME MINISTER:
I have heard no suggestion to that effect and I have every confidence that our trading relationship with Japan will remain strong. I'll be promoting it as hard I can when I see my good friend Mr Koizumi in Tokyo next week. Japan is our best customer. Japan buys more from us than any other country and I intend to do everything I can to make sure that it remains that way. Thank you.
[ends]