JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are you concerned about Lieutenant Colonel Collins claims overnight?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well as I said last night I've received his letter, it was only a short while ago, and the letter raises a number of very detailed matters and I'm getting information and when I have all of that information I'm going to reply to him fully and courteously and in detail, it's an important issue and he's entitled given the service that he has dedicated his life to, he's entitled to a proper reply and I will certainly give him one.
JOURNALIST:
Why not set up a royal commission?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think you set up royal commissions willy nilly, we already have an inquiry into our intelligence services and it's an inquiry that was recommended by an all party parliamentary committee and in those circumstances I think that's the proper course of action. But beyond that I don't really have anything further to say, as I indicated it's a very detailed letter and it raises a number of issues, most of them relating to circumstances some years ago and I'm going to get all of the information and I'm going to reply to the Colonel, he's entitled to a courteous and full reply from me and as soon as I have the information I'll be doing that. But until then there's really not much more that I can say.
JOURNALIST:
Isn't it the very least concerning Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think what you have to do when you get something like this is to look at all the facts and when you have all the facts you then make a judgement about levels of concern.
JOURNALIST:
.... Emmanuel college here today?
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
What's your thoughts on Emmanuel College here today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think it's a wonderful example of freedom of choice being exercised by Australian parents to send their children to an independent school, with a school that has very affordable fees and those fees have been made affordable because of the new schools policy of my government.
JOURNALIST:
You seem to be very much on the campaign trial...
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I do this all the time.
JOURNALIST:
... speech this morning had political overtones to it.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I thought what I said this morning was all good stuff because it made the obvious point that we believe in freedom of choice for Australian parents, I've been saying that for years and I think it's wonderful that parents who want to exercise the opportunity of sending their children to an independent school can find one where the fees are affordable and not beyond their reach. This is giving mainstream Australians the opportunity of exercising freedom of choice.
JOURNALIST:
What is the entire visit to the far north coast in aid of?
PRIME MINISTER:
What's it in aid of? I spend my whole life visiting different parts of Australia, it's in aid of serving the Australian people.
JOURNALIST:
Are we going to see the Federal Government be taking to take on board the recommendations of the Toohey inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
The which inquiry?
JOURNALIST:
The Toohey inquiry.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh you mean, you're going back to the earlier issue. I haven't read that document because it wasn't made available to me.
JOURNALIST:
Will we see more of these schools around the area?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think that's a matter for the local people, you can't have a school community like this without the support of the local people and the support of the government and the two working in partnership allows people to exercise choice. See I believe in a system of education where you have strong schools in the government sector, you have strong Catholic schools and you have strong independent schools, that's what I believe in.
JOURNALIST:
Early election Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's time to end this, terminate the press conference after that.
[ends]