PRIME MINISTER:
May I start by wishing Mr Carr and his wife Helena good health and happiness in their post political life. Mr Carr and I come from different sides of the political fence, but over the years there have been a number of areas where we have been able to cooperate very closely for the benefit of the public, and that is what the public expects of people who are elected to high office. That having been said, it is nonetheless the case that Mr Carr leaves the Premiership of New South Wales at a time when this State is not getting the full benefit of the strong national economic conditions. New South Wales should be doing better and the reason New South Wales is not doing better is largely the result of a number of bad decisions, such as property taxes that have been taken by the Carr Government over the past few years. And in assessing his time as Premier of the State those things will need to be taken into account. This change will not, as Mr Brogden says, alter the reality of weak public transport, and a number of other failings in State services and it will be for the Opposition to powerfully put forward alternatives in those areas.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think, you say that about the State government with taxes on properties and things like that, do you feel that maybe Mr Carr has left this State too reliant on those sort of taxes and sort of on a whim, rising and falling with the property market?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think there's any doubt that the taxing policies that the State government has followed here in New South Wales have detracted from the fundamentally sound economic position enjoyed by all parts of Australia. And let us remember that the overall economic framework is set by the Federal Government. If the economy is poor, the Federal Government has to accept a large share of the blame for that. If the economy is strong, then obviously it's due to strong federal economic policies. But States can have an impact at the margins and my point is that at the margins, New South Wales has detracted because of its policies in the strong national economic position.
JOURNALIST:
Is there something Mr Carr you would say has done well - a particular thing that he's done for this State which is good?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think the interest he's taken in education and the more orthodox approach he's tried to take in education is very similar to some of the views I have. I nonetheless note that many of his attempts in that area have been frustrated by the teacher unions, which are amongst the most ideologically based in the country.
JOURNALIST:
How would you feel if he went into Federal politics? He seems to have ruled it out, but I guess with politics, never say never. Would you like to see him in Federal Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER: That's entirely a matter for him JOURNALIST:
The Police Minister, Carl Scully, (inaudible) got the numbers to get in as the next premier...
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm not going to get into a running commentary on the internal machinations of the Australian Labor Party. I simply make the point that the problems in New South Wales are still here and they'll be here tomorrow and they'll be here next week, and they need to be addressed. JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) PRIME MINISTER: I beg your pardon. JOURNALIST:
There are calls for a summit to be held on terror, what are your views on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the States have apparently written to me, or two of them have. If we can add value to the anti-terrorist cause, then of course I'll have a meeting of Premiers. But I've got to look at what's going to be achieved, I don't believe in having meetings just for the show of having a meeting. I believe very much in seeing if we can add value. We have already cooperated very closely, and we should. The public wants no politics when it comes to dealing with terrorism. They want State and Federal Governments to cooperate very closely, that's always been my view, it will in the future. If there is some value that can be added, then I'll convene a meeting, if there's not, I won't.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader delivered an attack on the Government today and said...
PRIME MINISTER:
Which opposition leader?
JOURNALIST:
Mr Beazley.
PRIME MINISTER:
No I wasn't trying to be facetious, we were talking about State politics...
JOURNALIST:
...As I said, the Federal Government has been dragging its heels, it's not doing enough, and he pointed to airports, to shipping and to other areas and he also said that there should be a Department of Homeland Security and that he said the Federal Government is not prepared to take the final step and assume responsibility.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I reject all of those allegations. I've heard them before. He's used self same words six months ago, or his predecessor did and he used them when he became leader again. There's no magic in having a Department of Homeland Security, it's how effective the agencies are and that's just a slavish copy of what Americans have done. Our circumstances are different and we have an Australian solution for an Australian challenge.
JOURNALIST:
(Inaudible) He said $30 million should be allocated by the Federal Government...
PRIME MINISTER:
We have allocated additional hundreds of millions, indeed billions, when you take into account the extra money for ASIO and defence related issues - $30 million is a drop in the bucket compared to the additional money that we have put in for the security services. Two more questions then I must go.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, has our position on preemption in the region changed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Our rights to self defence are explicitly guaranteed by the United Nations Charter. And they are guaranteed by the terms of our accession to the treaty.
JOURNALIST:
With Mr Beattie's comments today on terrorism, he was talking about these flying squads, these state based anti-terrorist flying squads. Is that something that should be looked at, or is that something that would just be too expensive and not exactly useful?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know the detail of that; I've only just got back, I frankly haven't heard of that. Let me simply say that it's an ongoing process, if further commitments are needed, further resources are needed, then they will be provided but let me quickly finish by saying that we have massively increased the resources of ASIO, we've massively increased the resources of the Federal police, we have established the most effective Federal-State cooperative mechanisms that this country's had to deal with terrorism. If there are further things that are needed, if we can add further value to the existing network, then that will be done.
Thank you.
[ends]