JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Mike Scrafton's taken this lie detector test, would you be willing to do the...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, I will commit myself to the great lie detector test in Australian politics and that is the collective judgement of my fellow Australians.
JOURNALIST:
Why won't you take the polygraph?
JOURNALIST:
How will you prove to the Australian people...?
PRIME MINISTER:
The Australian people will make a judgement about these matters at the right time. The Labor Party insists in fighting the last election, they can't accept the result. It wasn't decided on children overboard. We won the last election because the Australian people felt we could run the economy better, we could lead the nation better at a time of international crisis and also that we were tough on border protection and the Labor Party was weak on border protection - that's why we won the last election. It had precious little to do with children overboard.
JOURNALIST:
So tell me Prime Minister, it's an issue of whether or not you're telling the truth.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I am.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, what do you make of Mr Scrafton passing the lie detector test?
PRIME MINISTER:
I've indicted I'll commit myself to the judgement of the Australian people, I don't have anything further to say. I am not getting into gimmicks, I am not getting into gimmicks. If the Australian people make a judgement based on what I say, how I look when I say it, they will make a judgement and I will accept that judgement. But if anybody thinks after eight and a half years I'm getting into the gimmicks of going into lie detector tests well they're sadly mistaken.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) said you had (inaudible) the photographs (inaudible), is that true?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I did not, that is a complete misrepresentation. If you read the record, I was referring to a discussion I had with Mr Reith. That's Mr Latham being dishonest with the Australian people. If you read the record, I was talking about a discussion with Mr Reith. I alluded to the fact that I discussed the video with Mr Scrafton, I did not say that I discussed the photographs with Mr Scrafton. That is wrong and a deliberate misrepresentation by Mr Latham.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) says he has another senior public servant...
PRIME MINISTER:
Who?
JOURNALIST:
... to verify what... Mr Scrafton.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he can have as many public servants he likes. I know who spoke to me and I know what they said when I spoke to them.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, the Labor Party and the Democrats and the...
PRIME MINISTER:
Welcome back.
PRIME MINISTER:
(inaudible) where that voice came from, across the Pacific, gee. Labor, Democrats and Greens, yes... the normal gang.
JOURNALIST:
They've said they going to reopen the Senate inquiry.
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest, they have the numbers in the Senate. If they want to reopen the Senate inquiry they can. If they want to live in the past, if they want to fight the next election on the past, I invite them to do so.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
One at a time please.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) ministerial advisers appear before the inquiry?
PRIME MINISTER:
I will follow the practice that's been followed by all Prime Ministers in the past and that is ministerial staff are accountable through their ministers and I don't intend to breach that principle.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, on another issue, the Bali bombers have had their sentences reduced. What's your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't been briefed on that, until I am I won't comment. Thank you.
JOURNALIST:
... poll.
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
The polls.
PRIME MINISTER:
The polls, the polls. Well the polls today are crook, two weeks ago they were good, two weeks time, what will they be like? Thank you.
[ends]