PRIME MINISTER:
[tape starts] ...to start this news conference by announcing that the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dr Ashton Calvert, has informed me that he wishes to retire as Secretary of the Department with effect from the 4th of January 2005. I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking Ashton Calvert for 34 years of dedicated service to the Australian people as a member of the Commonwealth Public Service and particularly for the leadership he's given to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade over the last six and a half years. It's been a very active and challenging and difficult period of time, and he's played a major role in advising the Government on the many important decisions it's taken in relation to foreign policy, trade policy and security matters during that period of time. He will leave the service of the Commonwealth with the utmost respect of the Government and also of his departmental colleagues. I wish he and his wife Mickie all the very best for the future. He has served his country well and faithfully in a very dedicated and professional manner, and we will miss his advice and his services.
I also take the opportunity of announcing that his successor s head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will be Mr Michael L'Estrange, currently the Australian High Commissioner in the United Kingdom. Michael L'Estrange has had a particularly meritorious period as High Commissioner in London. He's won wide praise both here and in Great Britain for the work he's done in further deepening the already very close relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom. He has a lot of previous experience in government including as head of the Cabinet Policy Unit after the election of the Coalition in March of 1996. He will bring to the position a great deal of professionalism and expertise and I am very pleased indeed that he is willing to accept appointment to that position. He will take up his position for a period of four years from the 24th of January next year, and Mr Doug Chester will act as Secretary of the Department between the 5th and the 24th of January.
Can I take the opportunity of briefly emphasising the events of the past few days in Vientiane. They represent a very important further development in the story of Australia's deepening relations with the countries, not only of the ASEAN area, but also of the entire Asian Pacific region. Agreement has been reached and it was embodied in the declaration for a two year negotiation of a free trade agreement between Australia and New Zealand and the member countries of ASEAN. If that negotiation is successful then the free trade arrangements will be phased in over a period of ten years. Now if this occurs it will be of further enhancement and expansion of our trade links with the countries of ASEAN and with the region. It will add to the enormous trade links we already have, especially, but not only, with the countries of North Asia, particularly Japan and China and South Korea. I also noted the very gracious indication from the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Badawi, that Australia would be welcome to attend the next ASEAN summit, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur. Naturally invitations of that kind, if formally extended, will be equally graciously accepted by Australia, and it will be another opportunity for us to discuss with ASEAN countries as a group the importance of our relations. But can I stress again, as I did in Vientiane, and it will be a familiar refrain to many of you, that what really does matter is the substance of our bilateral relations with the countries of the region, and they are deep and enduring and growing and unqualifiedly pointing towards a more positive relationship over the years ahead, building of course on the very positive relations that we've had with many of those countries over a period of time.
In the past few weeks I've had the opportunity on three occasions now to talk to the new President of Indonesia, Dr Yudhoyono. I met him, of course, at his inauguration. Again I had a lengthy discussion with in Chile at the APEC meeting, and I had the opportunity again to talk to him at some length in Vientiane. This has been a very welcome development. Our relations with Indonesia are always important. They've gone through challenging periods but those periods are very much behind us, particularly in relation to East Timor. Both of us take a very forward-looking view to the relationship and he's an impressive figure, he has a big job ahead of him and in discharging his responsibilities he has the goodwill and the support of the Australian Government and of myself in particular.
It was also an excellent opportunity to have bilateral discussions with the Premier of China, the Prime Minister of Japan, and also for the first time the new Prime Minister of India, who I had not previously met, and I had the opportunity of talking about ways in which our bilateral relations with that country could be further developed beyond the well-known and historically strong links in a number of areas that we have with that country.
And finally, and quite appropriately also, I had the opportunity of some further very valuable discussions with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who has indicated a desire to further strengthen our relations. And they are already very strong and, as you know, some of the bilateral difficulties in the past were at the top level of government rather than in other areas, and the bilateral relations between our two countries have actually remained very strong. There's no country in the world that has been more touched, I think, than by the effects of the Colombo Plan inaugurated all those years ago than has Malaysia. And through all of the period our relations at so many levels have been very strong and there's a lot in the history of the relationship between Australian and Malaysia.
Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
... that General Cosgrove could be appointed to Washington. Is that possible?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't heard them. That General Cosgrove could be going to Washington? What as Ambassador? He is a splendid Chief of the Defence Force, an outstanding Chief of the Defence Force.
JOURNALIST:
Have you decided who will take the post of High Commissioner in London?
PRIME MINISTER:
That matter is still being considered.
JOURNALIST:
Should the next Chief Executive of Telstra be an Australian?
PRIME MINISTER:
The next Chief Executive of Telstra should be the best man or woman for the job. And it is a matter for the board to decide the managing director of Telstra, as matters relating to Dr Switkowski were matters for the board. The board makes those decisions, not the Government.
JOURNALIST:
Was the Chairman right, a new Chief Executive was required to take the company through to its full privatisation?
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
Was the Telstra Chairman correct when he said a new Chief Executive...
PRIME MINISTER:
Look the decision in relation to Dr Switkowski was taken by the board and if you want to ask questions about it you should really speak to Mr McGauchie because he's the Chairman of the Board and he speaks for the board. It's not a decision taken by the Government, I still think there's some misunderstanding of the relationships in these areas. We, as the major shareholder, have a say in the appointment of the board, the board makes decisions about such matters as the Managing Director. I wish him well and I thank him for his services to the company but his future was determined by the board and the future Managing Director of Telstra will be decided by the board. I, as spokesman for the principle shareholder, express the hope that the best person, irrespective of that person's background, is chosen for the job.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) give up that role as the spokesman of the principal shareholder?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. No, I'm enjoying it very much.
JOURNALIST:
As majority shareholder, the Government that is.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, you said expect me to give up the role,the role as spokesman. I could see that googly coming as soon as it left the hand.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, is it your view that the departure of Dr Switkowski makes it more likely that the commercial conditions can be achieved to allow the full privatisation during this term of Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not going to get into that at all. They are matters for the board and matters for the market. The only observation I would make is that it's a very hard job and it shouldn't be assumed that it's an easy job to fill. It is an unusual company, it is simultaneously Australia's biggest company, but it is also the only company that is in this odd situation of being half owned by individual shareholders and half owned by the Government. So it's in a very difficult situation and as a result the Managing Director of that company has a very difficult brief and a very difficult task.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how can we trust the integrity of our passport system considering refugee activists have been able to obtain at least 10 passports to get illegal refugees out of Australia into safe Western countries?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know that any passport system is foolproof. I think overall ours stacks up very well with others around the world.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what's your position on the proposed merger of the Liberals and the Nationals in Queensland?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my position in relation to that is very straightforward. The Coalition, federally, is performing very well. It's very close, it's united and has been so for almost nine years that it's been in Government. And it's hard for me to see to how a merged Liberal/National Party would have done better, federally, than the Coalition has done. As far as a future merger is concerned it can only take place in my view on a nationwide basis. You can't, in my view, credibly have a merger in one state only because that would lead to the formation of a new anti-Labor ,conservative, call it what you will, political party. I belong to the Liberal Party of Australia, I may be a member of the New South Wales division but the Party I belong to is the Liberal Party of Australia and that applies to all of my Queensland colleagues in the Liberal Party as well. Now I understand the motivation that Lawrence Springborg has and can I say I think he's a very effective leader of the National Party in Queensland, I like him a lot, I understand the motivation. But given the current political situation it's only feasible to look at these things on a national basis, meaning Australia wide basis, you can't look at them on a state wide basis. And you could only in my view have a merger if you could be certain that the National Party would bring to the merged party its existing rural base. I would not want to see the emergence of a rump country party. Now...
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister...
PRIME MINISTER:
Let me finish, I haven't been asked this before so you know I've got to get it right otherwise you'll be onto me won't you? So, speaking as the leader of the Federal Coalition I find it hard to believe that we could have done better as a merged party. But circumstances have changed a lot over the last 20 or 30 years and I can understand why people would be talking about this. But my exhortation to the two parties in Queensland is to stop fighting each other in Queensland, agree on a sensible Coalition, agree on a division of the seats that might be contested, not always a eschewing three cornered contests, sometimes three cornered contests can maximise the vote. See,one of the ironies of the Senate result in Queensland is that you probably may not have got that result if you'd have had a join Senate ticket between the Liberal Party and the National Party. Incidentally, a joint Senate ticket that I personally would have been in favour of. But what really happened in Queensland was the sort of centre-right vacuum cleaner went around and picked up every centre-right vote there was and delivered them ultimately back to the Liberal and National Parties and it was an unusual situation and I think we have to bear in mind that sometimes diversity promotes the optimisation of the vote on one side of politics. Now putting all of that together, the Coalition working very well federally, if merger discussions were to come about, if they were to have any realistic prospect of success they could only be on a nationwide basis and I'm not in favour of state wide mergers, state based mergers, because what's the federal consequence of that? You have a separate anti-Labor Party, a new one in Canberra, no thanks.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what do you expect out of tomorrow's meeting with Michael Long and is there a danger that it's just an act of, a symbolic act?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Michael Long could have had a meeting with me without commencing the walk. I mean I respect the fact that he wanted to demonstrate something by that, but I last saw Michael Long at the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne and we chatted amiably and I'm very happy to have a talk with him, I respect the contribution he's made clearly to Australian Rules football, he's a legendary figure in that and I respect the goodwill that he brings to any discussion he might have with me. We did invite him to join the advisory committee, but he felt unable to accept that invitation. I should make it plain that our principle source of advice on indigenous issues from indigenous people will be that advisory committee and we're not going to in any way change the course of policy. But I'm happy to talk to a lot of people on these things.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Mark Latham one year as Labor Leader, how would you rate his year today?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's not for me. Others are doing that.
JOURNALIST:
If Michael Long makes an argument for a national elected body or support for a national elected body, would you listen to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'd listen to , but we won't change our policy.
JOURNALIST:
The National Indigenous Council will not replace ATSIC, that there is room for...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no I said it will. ATSIC is gone as far as we're concerned.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) actually replace it.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the national indigenous body that we have established will be the principle source of advice but it will not replace ATSIC because it will not have the executive functions that ATSIC used to have. But I want to make this very clear we are not changing our policy direction. We've made a very clear decision to abolish ATSIC and there will be no Government sponsored elected body put in its place. Now that is our policy, that has been our position now for some months, the only reason the legislation has not gone through the Parliament is that the Labor Party has held it up, despite the fact that they had previously said they were in favor of abolishing ATSIC.
JOURNALIST:
Mr. Howard will you put together into one mega bill the Industrial Relations changes that you will now be able to get through the Senate that it have been rejected piecemeal.?
PRIME MINISTER:
You mean after July next year? I am not going to commit myself or foreswear the option of a mega bill. We will announce intentions, legislative intentions in relation to industrial relations matters in due course.
JOURNALIST:
Free Trade Agreement. Given that there are so many exemptions at the beginning of the negotiations. Is it actually consistent with the APEC Free Trade Agreements and principles?
PRIME MINISTER:
The ASEAN one? I'm advised it is.
JOURNALIST:
...what's the purpose of resubmitting the unfair dismissal legislation to the Parliament today, when there is no indication that the Senate will change its mind before July.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the reason that we are resubmitting it is because the Labor Party said it wanted to adopt a more understanding, friendly attitude towards the business community particularly small business and we're giving them an opportunity of doing that because this is something that small business really wants. Something that small business has been asking for, for years and we will give the Labor Party an opportunity of winning some brownie points with the small business community.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister why was one element of the Regional Partnerships funding process not advertised and doesn't it expose the Government to claims that you're operating a secret slush fund before the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are not operating a secret slush fund but the details of the operation of that are something you would have to speak to Mr. Anderson about.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to allow all relevant departmental and ministerial material...?
PRIME MINISTER:
We will follow the normal practice in relation to this politically inspired enquiry by the Senate.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, how did you rate Peter Costello's performance yesterday keeping your seat warm?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am sure he did it very well. Very well.
JOURNALIST:
On the Regional Funding Mr. Howard, is it good enough for the Government just to say we won?
PRIME MINISTER:
No of course its not. I certainly don't hear anybody saying that. But it is appropriate for Government's to make decisions in the end because they are accountable for those decisions. There's a strange notion around that when it comes to deciding how Government money, which is tax payers money should be spent, that the last people who should actually make those decisions, are the members of the Government itself. Now I am a great believer in accountability and in the end Ministers should be accountable for the decisions they make. In this case, the Deputy Prime Minister, he's accountable for the decisions he has taken and he is quite happy to answer questions in the appropriate forum about them.
JOURNALIST:
Do you consider Independent MP Mr. Windsor to be effectively barred by the Commonwealth..?
PRIME MINSITER:
No I think all members of Parliament should be treated with respect. Irrespective of their politics, they are elected by their people and Governments govern for the people who voted against them, as well as the people who voted for them.
JOURNALIST:
Is it appropriate for Terry Hicks to be leading the Eureka march...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is a matter for the people organizing that particular gathering. I don't want to buy into debate about that except to make the observation that the organizers have obviously decided to invite him. The event is being marked by a lot of people, it is an event in Australian history, I've contributed a foreword to the document at the Democracy Conference, I thought that was an appropriate contribution, I had a few things to say about Eureka. It is part of the Australian story ,not quite the big part that some people give it but equally significant part but the question of who is invited to participate, obviously says something about the feelings and attitudes of those who are organizing the gathering, need I say more.
JOURNALIST:
Are you happy at the Eureka flag being flown at the House of Representatives tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a decision that the Presiding Officer's. Well I am always respectful to Presiding Officers.
JOURNALIST:
Will Richard Alston make a good High Commissioner for London, what is your view generally about politicians taking these jobs?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh I am a strong supporter if they're able. I think one of the best High Commissioner's Australia has had in London was Doug McClennand. He brought to that position impeccable sporting loyalties and he discharged his job in a very admirable way and had the very strong support of the Government at the time. Not only the Government but also the Opposition. It depends who it is. I think this idea that former politicians shouldn't be appointed to diplomatic posts on either side is wrong and I might remind you that the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom when I became Prime Minster was Dr Blewitt and he was allowed to serve out the full term that he was led to believe he would have and there was no desire on my part to terminate that and I think he carried out his duties in a professional manner for the new Government as he had for the former Government and on the other side of politics a similar curtesy was extended to Sir Robert Cotton, who was then the Australian ambassador in Washington.
JOURNALIST:
I know you haven't been here for the last couple of sessions, last couple of days of sitting but do you think that the new Speaker is handling the Parliament adequately?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look he has my total support and the answer is yes. I think we have come to the end of the news conference.
Thank you.
[ends]