JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, did Alan Jones talk to you about David Flint at Kirribilli House?
PRIME MINISTER:
As to this suggestion that he tried to heavy me under threat that if I didn';t re-appoint David Flint he wouldn';t support me in the election campaign, that is absurd and wrong. No such conversation at Kirribilli House or anywhere else took place between Mr Jones and myself. Indeed, I can';t recollect Mr Jones ever raising Mr Flint';s position with me, let alone in the threatening terms that have been suggested. I mean, that's never been the sort of conversation that I';ve had with Mr Jones on that subject or any other.
JOURNALIST:
The man who hosted the dinner party has backed John Laws';s version of events - what do you make of that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there are two separate issues here. I don';t know what was said at the dinner party. I wasn';t there. I don';t control what people say at dinner parties. But I do control what I do. I do know what people tell me, and if such an approach had been made to me by Mr Jones or anybody else I would remember it. I don';t take instructions from anybody in the media or anywhere else in the discharge of my public duties and any suggestion that I would I totally reject.
JOURNALIST:
These are…
PRIME MINISTER:
Just a moment. Professor Flint was reappointed by the Cabinet and at the time the assessment was made that he deserved to be reappointed. But I totally reject any suggestion that I was heavied, under threat, that if I didn';t do this somebody would not support me in an election campaign. I mean that is just something… No such threat has ever been made to me by Jones or anybody else and if it were I'd tell them to get lost.
JOURNALIST:
These allegations raise the whole issue of your relationship with Alan Jones, a very influential media figure in Australia. How often has Alan Jones been to Kirribilli House to see you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, he would have been on a few occasions, no more over eight years.
JOURNALIST:
Then what type of occasions where there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Some of them were social occasions but what's wrong with that?
JOURNALIST:
Were they ever one-to-one conversations [inaudible] related to government policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, look, I have one-to-one…well, just a moment…I'm not going to trawl over the entrails. I have lots of discussions with hundreds of people, it's my job, but people don't make threats to me. If they do, I don't deal with them again. I don't operate my Government in that way and I don't deny a friendship with Alan Jones. I have friendships with a lot of people. I quite like John Laws. I think both men have made a contribution to broadcasting but let's call a spade a spade - this is a fight between two strong-willed radio broadcasters. This is an argument between two men both of whom have a share of the turf in the radio market. It is certainly not an issue involving any impropriety on my part. Any suggestion of impropriety on my part I totally reject.
JOURNALIST:
Do you reject the Opposition calls for a full independent inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course I do. They do that on everything. I mean, calling for an inquiry is Mark Latham's substitute for having an alternative policy for running this country. I'm not going to set up an inquiry every time Mark Latham calls for it. This is a claim that I reject. I reject it emphatically and we'll just see how the whole thing plays out.