JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] deserve tax cuts more than higher income earners?
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I just make one thing clear about this tax debate. It';s altogether too early for me to be indicating what the Government might be in a position to do. We';ll do that at the time of the Budget. Just for information, can I point out that the whole basis of the Family Tax Benefit, which has now been in operation for a number of years, was a significant tax break for families, and very specifically for a lot of families, it';s the equivalent of a second threshold and more. But we';ll consider all of these things when the Budget comes along. I';ve never said that I favour giving tax cuts to higher income earners in preference to other people. What I have said is that the top marginal rate cuts in at too low a level. That doesn';t mean to say I favour giving tax breaks to high income earners in preference to low and middle income earners. We believe in a fair tax system. We';ve delivered one. We';re very proud of it. We';ve delivered huge tax cuts to families and we';d obviously like to do more, including for families. But how much, where, in what shape – it';s too early to say.
JOURNALIST:
Are you bothered by Zimbabwe';s threat to cut off diplomatic ties with Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well if it';s in response to Australia';s principled stance at the Commonwealth conference, then certainly not. I don';t know whether it will come to that, but frankly we did the right thing and so did the Commonwealth. I';m very concerned about what is happening inside Zimbabwe. This is not a black versus white issue. This is a rorted election versus democracy issue, and that';s why we took the stance that we did.
JOURNALIST:
You';ve been accused by Zimbabwe';s High Commissioner of being a dictator. How do you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';m fairly untroubled. In fact I';m not fairly untroubled, I';m very untroubled.
JOURNALIST:
Are you at all concerned by the continued attacks by your Ministers against Mark Latham, the personal attacks that…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t regard references to his abuse - Mr Latham';s abuse of parliamentary privilege - as a personal attack. The point I was making in Nigeria is that I don';t think either side of politics should talk about failed marriages. I think those sort of things, which are very personal, should not be talked about. But all of the other things that Tony Abbott and Peter Costello have said are totally justified, totally justified. The truth is that Mr Latham, before he became leader, abused parliamentary privilege and used it to attack people, including female journalists, in a most objectionable fashion. And he might now want the world to forget that, but it';s only a few months ago that these attacks occurred. And the point that Tony was making very strongly was that he has abused privilege, and in a way that I haven';t seen anybody abuse it for a long time.
JOURNALIST:
The comparison between the taxi driver, the incident with the taxi driver…
PRIME MINISTER:
I understood exactly what my colleague was getting at.
JOURNALIST:
What about Andrew Bartlett';s behaviour Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I have already spoken about that and that really is now a matter for the Australian Democrats. I don';t have anything to add to what I have previously said about that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, are you disappointed SAS soldiers who served in Iraq are not receiving due public recognition for their efforts?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there is a great dilemma here. On the one hand, you want to sort of emblazon their achievements and so forth. On the other hand, it';s always been the practice – and this is something that the military favours and we are guided by the military on these things, these are not decisions that I take, they';re guided by the military – that they like to keep the identity of the SAS very quiet. And that is for their protection. They do magnificent work for their country and we want to protect them. So that has been the practice. And I can understand there being a debate about this, and there are arguments I guess on both sides.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have a problem with coalition of the willing countries being given the contract in rebuilding Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Certainly not. You';re dealing with American dollars and I can understand exactly what the Americans are getting at.
JOURNALIST:
Mark Latham wants the republic back on the agenda. [inaudible] hope for a republic.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I';m very, very interested. He';s got a detailed plan on the republic but he still doesn';t have a clear position on border protection. Funny set of priorities.
[ends]