SPEERS:
Well Prime Minister, thanks for your time. If I can start with this extraordinary story tonight about Tony Abbott and who he thought was his son that was adopted out - Daniel O'Connor. We now hear reports tonight that Daniel O'Connor's father may not be Tony Abbott, do you have any reaction to this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my reaction is to say that although it's become a very public issue or because it involves a high profile politician, it is still an intensely private matter and I don't want to start pontificating about it, except to say that nothing that's happened alters my intense personal regard for Tony Abbott, he's a very sincere person who's doing an excellent job as Health Minister. Now as to other things, they are really for other people to comment on, I've only just heard this news myself and I don't really have anything else to say except to wish everybody involved well - Daniel, Tony, and the other parties that are involved. It really isn't for me to start passing judgement and pontificating about it. Nothing that's happened alters Tony Abbott's capacity or in any way diminishes my warm personal regard for him.
SPEERS:
Now I don't want to dwell on this because it is, as you say, a personal matter...
PRIME MINISTER:
An intensely personal matter that's become public...
SPEERS:
Have you spoken to Tony at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I haven't, I've only just heard. I will and I'll be saying to him in an appropriate way what I've said to you.
SPEERS:
Okay. The detention of asylum seekers is an issue that your party room is talking about once again, but this time it's more about softening the laws rather than toughening them. There is a push for the treatment of long term detainees in particular to be changed. How open are you to amending the existing laws?
PRIME MINISTER:
Our policy of mandatory detention is not going to change. Our policy of offshore processing and turning back boats, if anymore come, that's not going to change. We always keep the operation of the detention policy under review and some people argue that where a person who's been determined not to be refugee but it's impracticable to return that person to their country of origin there should be some alternative to indefinite detention. Now we are looking at that sort of issue...
SPEERS:
These are the stateless people?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they're not legally stateless, but for practical purposes it may not be either possible or reasonable or fair for them to be returned for the time being and may be there is an alternative to a person in that situation remaining indefinitely in detention. Now this is not an overturning of the policy, it's a question of a commonsense reaction to a difficult situation, we are looking at that kind of circumstance.
SPEERS:
So people who've been held in detention for more than two or three years...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there's no time specific issue involved, it's a situation where a person judged not to be a refugee, but you can't send them back to the country they came from, maybe there is a case for that person to go in to the community until it's possible for that person to go back to the country from whence they came and not be detained indefinitely. Now that is the sort of issue we're looking at.
SPEERS:
And you would be favourable to that sort of scenario, releasing them into the community?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are looking at the various options, I'm not going to express a view as to what I'm in favour of or not. Cabinet is still considering it, but you asked me the question, there's no point in pretending it's not being looked at when it is.
SPEERS:
Because this is one of the issues, as I understand it, are some in your party room are keen to address, those people who as you say can't return to their homeland, can't be held in detention indefinitely but are being currently, they also want those on temporary visas to be given permanent residency, is that another area you're going to look at?
PRIME MINISTER:
We're not examining that at the present time.
SPEERS:
So only those who can't be returned to their homeland, there may be room to release them into the community while their claims are...
PRIME MINISTER:
That is a broad area that's being looked at, yes.
SPEERS:
And you think there will be change?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to say, we're still considering it.
SPEERS:
Cabinet tomorrow, as I understand it, will also be discussing China, the potential Free Trade Agreement there ahead of your visit there in a few weeks' time. Will you be recommending that negotiations do get under way?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not going to disclose what I'm going to say at the Cabinet meeting. I've always said, and it remains the Government's position, that if we can achieve a Free Trade Agreement with China we will, but we'll only do that on terms that are beneficial for Australia. And if in the end we don't get a Free Trade Agreement with China it won't be the end of the world because we already have a very good trade relationship with that country. We will continue to sell a lot of China whether we have a Free Trade Agreement or not, and there's got to be a genuine dividend out of this process.
SPEERS:
How would you describe China at the moment - a communist regime, a market economy, both, what would be your description?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well politically China is still a very undemocratic country, there's no argument about that, but that's a matter for the Chinese people to work out. But it's a country of enormous potential, the economic growth is quite remarkable and the links between our two countries are very important and China is a very valuable market for us and there are a lot of people to people links - more Chinese tourists every year, Chinese students, Chinese people coming to live in Australia, my own electorate has an ethnic Chinese population of some 13 to 15 per cent, not all of them from the mainland but it's a very important country to us. But we are very different, Australia is a very mature democracy, China of course is still an authoritarian country. Now I recognise that, the question of whether that changes in the future will be one of history's more fascinating studies.
SPEERS:
But do you regard it to be a market economy at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER:
You're just asking me to say something in the context of the Free Trade Agreement, David. Why don't we go onto the next question.
SPEERS:
But is that going to be the starting point though of negotiations to...
PRIME MINISTER:
David, when I'm in a position to say something about negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement, I will.
SPEERS:
You're also visiting Japan, what are the prospects of a Free Trade Agreement with what is our largest trading partner?
PRIME MINISTER:
Once again, and you said it, Japan is our largest trading partner and we don't have a Free Trade Agreement with them. We mustn't get hung up on the architecture, we mustn't get hung up on the language and the theory. In the end what matters in trade is what you sell and what you buy, whether we have a Free Trade Agreement with Japan or not or whether we have a Free Trade Agreement with China or not we sell a lot to both countries, more still to Japan than to China. I would like to see an expansion of our trade links with Japan, it won't be easy because Japan carefully guards agricultural sector and although we're doing quite well with beef sales into Japan at the moment, part of that is unfortunately the consequence of the foot and mouth disease problem from the United States. But we'll continue to work with the Japanese and if we can get a further liberalisation we will. But if we don't we still remain one of the few countries in the world that has a trade surplus with Japan, so we've done very well and Japan is a wonderful partner and a wonderful customer.
SPEERS:
So it's not something that you'll necessarily be bringing up with your counterpart - Prime Minister Koizumi?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it's not the be all and end all of my visit, my main purpose in going to Japan, apart from seeing Mr Koizumi, is to visit the expo in Aichi and to have a look at the Australian exhibition which will be very prominent.
SPEERS:
The next time Parliament sits will be the Budget session, do you know yet whether there is going to be room for any further tax relief?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, David, good try. I'm not going to start talking about the Budget. We'll deliver a good Budget, it will have a strong surplus, I can promise the Australian people that. This is not the time to weaken the Budget strategy, this is not the time to have a paper thin surplus. This is really a time to have a strong surplus. We'll have to spend more money on defence and continue to spend adequate sums on roads and education and health and if there's any room, as I've said before, then there may be some room for something else but we'll wait and see.
SPEERS:
It's interesting that your backbench seems to be a bit more active these days on things like tax, on immigration detention. I'm interested in what you put that down to, is it because the Senate majority that's going to give you outright control? Is it because some are looking ahead at manoeuvring for a possible leadership change? Is it because of the sheer longevity of the Government? What do you put that backbench activity down to?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's the natural passion and commitment and intellectual curiosity of a very talented backbench. I don't fear debate. This idea that if you have a bit of debate about a few issues in some way the Party and the Government is being ill disciplined, that's ridiculous. Everybody knows the difference between a bit of open debate on issues people feel strongly about and ill discipline and we've some of the former, we've had none of the latter and I'm not concerned about that, I obviously want the achievements of the Government to be promoted on all available occasions and my colleagues do that. But the fact that I've got people who are interested in further tax reform, the fact that we've got people who are expressing views about the operation of our mandatory detention policy, that troubles me not. We are not a party of robots, we are not a party that says you know this is the one and only line you will espouse on every available occasion and pity help you if you don't. We don't work like that, the Australian public knows that this is a united government, and it's got to be the most united government that this country has had in 30 years.
SPEERS:
It's been about seven months since you made any changes to your ministry, not it's not a long time but given that we're well into, the new term is now under way, the playing field is going to change with your Senate majority coming in, have you thought at all about...
PRIME MINISTER:
David, you've got to be joking. We've only just started, seven months is a twinkling of the eye as far as the parliamentary term is concerned. Of course I'm not thinking about a reshuffle.
SPEERS:
That's not going to please people like Malcolm Turnbull or Andrew Robb though is it?
PRIME MINISTER:
They are, both of them, learning the ropes very well as backbenchers.
SPEERS:
Do you see them as future Ministerial...
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, I'm not going to start talking about that. They're talented people, but then so are the other people who came into the Parliament and one of the things that I drew great pride from was listening to the maiden speeches of all of those new members who came in. So I'm lucky, the Government has got a lot of new talent.
SPEERS:
I also wanted to ask you, just finally, there has been some new research from Griffith University today about stem cell research. It shows that adult stem cells could be just as effective as embryonic stem cells, now this would seem to get around some of the ethical dilemmas of using embryonic stem cells. How important do you think this research is?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven't seen the detail of that except to say I've always had an open mind and if that does prove to be the case it will be an interesting development in the whole debate.
SPEERS:
Is this one of the reasons why you've asked the states to put off for another 12 months changes to the restrictions currently in place on stem cell research?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the two things are quite unrelated.
SPEERS:
But you have asked for a 12 month...
PRIME MINISTER:
I've been having some correspondence, but that's quite unrelated to this Griffith research about which I had heard nothing until quite recently.
SPEERS:
Okay Prime Minister, we've run out of time. Thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]