PRIME MINISTER:
The end of a very significant week in Australian politics. Yesterday was a great win for the environment. That water agreement is fantastic news for the River Murray, for the people of Adelaide and it puts in place a new system that will give security to farmers, will protect the environment and over time bring about a more rational pricing approach to water. It's also been a week in which the total policy hypocrisy of the Labor Party has been revealed for everyone to see. For 25 months they opposed good policy in the name of protecting the underprivileged. (inaudible) they care about the underprivileged two days ago when they changed that policy. It was always good policy and they hypocritically and dishonestly labelled it as some kind of crime against the underprivileged for 25 months and just for reasons of their own political purposes they reverse it and I think it demonstrates to the Australian public the policy hypocrisy. They've now got to tell us what they stand for. They've now got to give us their policies. The Australian people are entitled to no less and I hope in the time immediately ahead we hear from the Australian Labor Party as to exactly where they intend to take this country if they are given the reins of office and what exactly they stand for and what precisely they believe in.
JOURNALIST:
If the parliament doesn't come back Mr Howard - does this leave the Free Trade Agreement very much hostage to the election result?
PRIME MINISTER:
Michelle, I'm not going to start talking about whether parliament is coming back or not. We've adjourned for five weeks and I will just leave it at that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Bob Carr has suggested that a Labor Government would need to exercise utmost diplomacy in relation to withdrawing troops from Iraq because the United States would feel wounded if a friend were to turn its back on it?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's just Labor speak for Mr Latham you've got it wrong. What Bob Carr has done is to confirm the Government's criticism of Mr Latham that his policy of cutting and running from Iraq would be seen as unwelcome, as an unfriendly act and would certainly have an adverse impact on the alliance. Bob Carr is talking commonsense. He's showing leadership on this issue in the same way that a day earlier Mr Beazley showed leadership on the issue of a Free Trade Agreement. Both Beazley and Carr are telling Mr Latham that he's wrong both on the Free Trade Agreement and also on the cutting and running from Iraq.
JOURNALIST:
The interpretation of Mr Carr's comments seem to be that he was sidelining Mr Latham to put Kevin Rudd in the frontline - is that an appropriate responsibility...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the leader, I mean, no leader worth his salt on a major issue gets sidelined by the longest serving colleague in his own party. I mean, one of the noticeable things of the past two days has been that Mr Latham's been missing in action. I mean, why hasn't he been out explaining Government policies? The role of a leader is to announce some of the bad news and the difficult news as well as the good news and this tactic of letting somebody else be the fall guy is the mark of somebody who doesn't really quite know either whether he's done the right thing or quite how to front up to the Australian public. The Australian public want you to take it on the chin when you've got a difficult decision to announce. That's always been my style and I think the last couple of days have been very revealing in that respect.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, the Labor Party is yet to release its tax policy - what would it say about the Labor Party state of readiness for the election if you were to call an election before they released that tax policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a hypothetical question, Greg.
JOURNALIST:
In view of all the work done in the last 24 hours here in parliament - why not make the detour via Yarralumla?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I'm going somewhere else. Thank you.
JOURNALIST:
Where are you going in the next couple weeks?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am travelling the length and breadth of the nation, as I do when parliament doesn't sit.
JOURNALIST:
In the next fortnight?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll be travelling around Australia. I always travel around Australia. I love travelling around Australia. I love interacting with people - I like talking to them, I like talking to them at community gatherings and forums, and I enjoy it immensely.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, the legislation that went through over night on the construction industry...
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's a magnificent step forward in industrial relations. I congratulate Kevin Andrews. I had doubts at one stage as to whether we'd get it through but thanks to the support we got from the minor parties we were able to get it through and it will go along way towards restoring the rule of law in the construction industry and it's badly needed particularly in the state of Victoria.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, why was it necessary to have a 45-minute parliamentary sitting on a Saturday morning if you're not clearing the decks for an election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Greg, you know what happens at the end of a session, you've been here along time. The legislation gets delayed in the Senate. People sit until two of three in the morning. They understandably get tired and say, well let's come back in the morning and clean it up. Nothing unusual about that at all.
JOURNALIST:
It hasn't happened for years though, Mr Howard.
PRIME MINISTER:
Nothing unusual about that. Anyway....
JOURNALIST:
The World Cup Rugby, Mr Howard, a rematch tonight - can Australia do the job?
PRIME MINISTER:
I hope so. I'm going to watch the match and I'm looking forward very much to it and I'll certainly be hoping that the Australians are triumphant on this occasion.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, sorry.
PRIME MINISTER:
This will have to be the last one, Brendan.
JOURNALIST:
You've sat on the backbenches and sat around some of your peers there today...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah.
JOURNALIST:
You seemed very relaxed and comfortable - was it an unusual feeling?
PRIME MINISTER:
What sitting on the backbench? Break it down, Brendan. I don't see myself...
JOURNALIST:
Was there a lack of formality in there on a Saturday?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think there's a little bit like that. It's an unusual experience. We don't sit very often. I think the last time we sat on a Saturday morning was when the Native Title legislation was passed at the end of 1993 and we came back after that, didn't we?
Thank you.