JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, could you tell us whether us whether Australia has won the battle over Greg Urwin?
PRIME MINISTER:
The matter is still under consideration.
JOURNALIST:
What';s that mean? There';s been a lot of disagreement obviously in the Forum today?
PRIME MINISTER:
The matter is still under consideration.
JOURNALIST:
Are you confident going into…
PRIME MINISTER:
The matter remains under consideration.
JOURNALIST:
Are you in with a fighting chance Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
The matter remains under consideration.
JOURNALIST:
You have been described as Hurricane Howard, how does that title sit with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ve been described in lot worse terms in my 29 years in politics. Look I have come to this conference as a very fully engaged Australian Prime Minister in the affairs of the Pacific. We do want to bring about change. This is quite a watershed in the history of the Pacific. The Solomons intervention has been a huge example of what can be done if people work together but we are seriously engaged. That means we want to help, we want to achieve reform, we want to achieve change, but we are entitled to ask that things that have not been handled well in the past be handled better in the future. And I don';t make any apology anywhere in the world for saying that. The provision of Australian aid is conditional on good governance. That is what the Australian taxpayers wanted of me – and in the end I represent the taxpayers of Australia, I represent the Australian people, they want to help countries that need help. But they also expect in return there be proper standards of governance.
JOURNALIST:
How would you describe how that message has gone down?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it is understood.
JOURNALIST:
Without Greg Urwin in that Secretary-Generalship, do you feel that your agenda won';t be able to be pushed through for reform in the Pacific?
PRIME MINISTER:
The matter is under consideration.
JOURNALIST:
What about the policing system that you have …
PRIME MINISTER:
Look the policing initiative was very warmly received. I mean what was very good about today';s retreat is that the notion of pooled regional governance was warmly accepted. The policing initiative has been endorsed. New Zealanders made a good contribution to it. The Australian government has offered to finance two scoping studies – one dealing with regional airline capacity and the other dealing with regional shipping. In addition to that the New Zealand Prime Minister as the Conference Chairman will be announcing the terms of reference for an eminent persons group to look at not only reform of the Secretariat but also further ways in which there can be pooled governance arrangements. This idea that we can do together what we can';t do on our own in a lot of governance areas is one that has very strong support. It is not an attempt to rob countries of their sovereignty, it is an attempt to invigorate their sovereignty through pooled arrangements, giving them capacity they wouldn';t have on their own.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think today Prime Minister you have managed to allay some of the concerns that have been raised over the course of the past few days, that Australia is if you like threatening the sovereignty of some of those smaller countries?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look I didn';t know until I saw a couple of newspapers, the stories this morning, that anybody had those concerns. Self evidently what we have put forward is not a threat to sovereignty. I don';t think those concerns were seriously held by any of the people I spoke to today. They may have been by some commentators, I am sure nobody here, but others…
JOURNALIST:
Do you have any concerns, Mr Howard, about the security at the APEC Conference?
PRIME MINISTER:
Security at the APEC Conference?
JOURNALIST:
In Thailand in October.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, any gathering of world leaders carries a security challenge in the era in which we';re living but we are all still going and I can';t image there would be any change on that.
JOURNALIST:
In the wake of what has been reported on the arrest of Hambali and his intention for an attack on the conference in October, will you still be going?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have not been briefed on that so I do not intend to comment on it.
JOURNALIST:
Do you still intend to go though?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh absolutely, absolutely.
JOURNALIST:
Has the government made a decision today not to offer compensation to families of Bali victims?
PRIME MINISTER:
We haven';t made any decision today. What we have said is that we will continue to provide very generous ongoing assistance in different areas, and the Foreign Minister has I understand made a statement about this today so I won';t add to what he said.
JOURNALIST:
So how would you describe the sort of tenor of the discussions between yourself and the other leaders? Warm, tense?
PRIME MINISTER:
The best I have had because I think everybody is a lot more engaged. This is the best Forum meeting I have come to because people are taking the body far more seriously.
JOURNALIST:
And you have found people receptive to your ideas?
PRIME MINISTER:
I never find people receptive to all of my ideas. I mean I struggle to get more than 50 plus one of the Australian people to agree with me at election time. I mean I hear the esoteric totals people sometimes get but what I have liked about this conference is that it is fair dinkum. We are seriously seeing the Forum as a venue to do things in the Pacific.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, can I just ask you about Zimbabwe. You will be hoping to get a strong statement out of this Forum from at least its eleven members of the Commonwealth in terms of Zimbabwe. Is it Australia';s position that Zimbabwe should remain suspended from the Commonwealth? I am asking in the context of December';s CHOGM.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, unless there is some change, unless there is a movement, a serious movement, by Zimbabwe towards the principles laid down out of the Marlborough House Troika Meeting in March of last year – Zimbabwe should definitely remain suspended.
JOURNALIST:
You were briefed by Secretary-General Mr McKinnon on Zimbabwe – I think he has recently been there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes he has – well I don';t know whether he has been to Zimbabwe but he did brief me, yes.
JOURNALIST:
Is there any sign that Zimbabwe is improving…
PRIME MINISTER:
No, there is no sign that Zimbabwe';s position is altering. Zimbabwe as a nation continues to suffer the ruin of a country that has been in the hands of an unelected despot.
JOURNALIST:
Would you be concerned that some African nations may be wanting to allow Mr Mugabe to attend December';s CHOGM?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t think it would be helpful for the Commonwealth if Mr Mugabe were to come to Abuja.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, there';s been reports regarding the raid in Indonesia by the Australian and Indonesian police prior to the Marriott bombing that they discovered a list of targets and that this wasn';t passed on to the AFP and Mick Keelty has confirmed this. Does this concern you and what does it say about…
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t … I have not been briefed on that and I am not going to make a comment.
JOURNALIST:
Are you confident though of the intelligence sharing between Australia and Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
All the information I have had before me today indicates there has been very good intelligence sharing and there has been very good cooperation between the Australian police and the Indonesian police.
Thank you.
JOURNALIST:
The All Blacks think they';re going to give us a flogging.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I never use extravagant language like that. I';m a great believer that if you can sort of win by one point or win by one seat you';ve won.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the presence of ‘Hurricane Howard'; will get them across the line?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I';m, you know, my playing days are over. Although if it fines up sufficiently I might, you know I might just put myself on the bench. But it will be a great match.
[Ends]