GRIFFITHS:
Prime Minister, thanks for speaking with AM. The President of the New South Wales RSL says he does not agree with you on the issue of rubbish at Gallipoli, he says there's no excuse for the place to look like a rubbish tip after the event. Wouldn't it be better if there was some sort of waste management plan there?
PRIME MINISTER:
We'd all like to live in a perfect world. But what I said earlier I repeat - my experience, I was there, was that the young Australians behaved magnificently, they were enthusiastic, they were honoured, they were moved, they obviously felt they were privileged to be part of this occasion and this attempt by some, I'm not saying the RSL man, but the attempt by some to sort of brand them as hooligans and everything is just so unfair and wrong, and I repeat my very strong defence of the behaviour of young Australians, I encountered it, I met a lot of them, I was at both the Dawn Service and the Lone Pine Service and they couldn't have been more reverential. So I repeat that. As to the question of rubbish I make the point, wander around the shores of Sydney Harbour on New Year's Day after a major event and also bear in mind that this area at Gallipoli, does not normally have to cope with such a large number of people. Okay, there weren't a large number of rubbish bins there, whether you can organise that next year or not, that's a matter for the Turkish authorities, we don't own or run the place. In the absence of there being rubbish bins to criticise people in the way that they have been criticised is I think being unreasonable and to ignore the fact that in our own country we after a major event will leave rubbish lying around, and I venture to suggest that just as occurs on the foreshores of Sydney Harbour in the early hours, well after about 10 o'clock, that's an early hour on New Year's Day, the rubbish is cleared away. So I think we should keep a sense of proportion about this. I can only repeat that my experience, and I was there, was that the young people behaved magnificently...
GRIFFITHS:
What about the question of the young people who fell asleep and were seen lying on graves at Lone Pine, that's bound to upset some people, does it upset you?
PRIME MINISTER:
I understand that, but you've got to look at the aggregate behaviour of the overwhelming majority of people. There were 17,000 people there, and the great bulk of them were young Australians and I repeat from what I saw and encountered they behaved magnificently, they behaved in an exuberant way, maybe a few didn't, I didn't see that. But I'm not going to have the good name of young Australians overseas reverentially participating in a respectful remembrance, which is what I experienced, I'm not going to have their good name besmirched.
GRIFFITHS:
Prime Minister, on the issue of the East Asia Summit, you said you wouldn't sign the Treaty of Amity of Cooperation and the Prime Minister of Malaysia has said that signing that Treaty is absolutely indispensable to countries wishing to participate in the summit. How much closer to saying yes are you now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Emma, I said on this programme about two weeks ago that a new element had been injected into this debate and as a result the issue needed some further study and there really hasn't been anything added to it since then, we are looking at the issue again in the light of that new element and the new element was not the Malaysian Prime Minister's speech but rather the advice coming out of the Foreign Ministers' meeting in Cebu, that one of the conditions of membership was signature to this Treaty. Now we're looking at the issue in the light of that new element and when we've got something further to say we will.
GRIFFITHS:
The Health Minister, Tony Abbott, has signalled that Medicare funding for IVF treatment will be limited. Isn't that rather contradictory given that the Treasurer Peter Costello would like women to have at least three children? Why discriminate against women who need IVF?
PRIME MINISTER:
I read what Tony Abbott had said and I don't think he announced that, he dealt with the issue generally. We won't be discriminating, bear in mind that we have a safety net which the Labor Party will abolish if they become government which greatly relieves the financial burden of people undergoing IVF treatment.
GRIFFITHS:
Well the Health Minister has said that IVF treatment is not for life-threatening conditions and that some of that funding may be cut back.
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to engage in any pre-Budget speculation except to remind your listeners that as a result of the Medicare safety net, which Labor will abolish, people undergoing IVF treatment are saved thousands of dollars a year and Ms Gillard and Mr Beazley would abolish that safety net, that is their policy, so they have no credibility on this matter.
GRIFFITHS:
Well some women in your own party have engaged in the issue, the Women's Council of the New South Wales Liberals have voted against such an idea. Would that influence you?
PRIME MINISTER:
We listen to all points of view. But in the end you have to balance a generous financial provision with the need to make sure that there's a reasonable regard for the cost of everything as far as the taxpayer is concerned. Nothing in life is completely free, nor should it be, but when it comes to supporting IVF treatments we have a safety net, Labor would abolish the safety net.
GRIFFITHS:
The nine Australians facing heroin smuggling charges in Bali apparently all now face the death penalty. Will you try to ensure that they are not put to death and that if they are found guilty they serve their sentences in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the first thing I want to say is that I'm not going to comment on the merits of this case. We are getting into a ridiculous situation that every day people in my position are asked to offer a view on whether somebody may be guilty or innocent, or the assumption in a question is that they're either guilty or innocent. Remember, there are courts established around the world to deal with these issues, and I'm simply not going to get into whether people are guilty or innocent. As far as the death penalty is concerned, we have a longstanding policy that if an Australian is sentenced to death overseas we do everything we can to win a reprieve from the death sentence. That applies irrespective of the person, it applies irrespective of the case, and it will be applied in the future. But I'm not going to relate that to particular case, I'm simply restating Government policy.
[ends]