PRIME MINISTER:
Well before we take questions, I would like to make a brief but important announcement and that is that the Government will commit an additional $6m over the next three years to an infrastructure related extension of the Community Crime Prevention Programme. This programme is administered by Senator Ellison as the Minister for Justice and Customs and the purpose of the programme is to provide financial support to local organisations that put forward worthwhile proposals at a community level to fight crime. And this additional funding commitment of $6m over three years will boost our funding of this programme to a total of $64m. And the additional funding of $6m is for a new element of the infrastructure programme to support community organisations that invest in security related infrastructure. And it's an extension of the existing programme but it's a very important extension and I'm very pleased to make this announcement in the electorate of Stirling with not only the local Member Michael Keenan, but also Senator Chris Ellison, my colleague who is responsible and very effectively so for the administration of this programme. Now I'd be very happy to answer any questions and I know Senator Ellison and Mr Keenan will bail me out on some of the more difficult ones. Any questions you want to ask me about anything.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister dairy farmers today are saying they'll increase the cost of their product by 8% in the Eastern States. Others are going to follow suit. Is there time for the ACCC to be given greater teeth for the public to have confidence that they are getting a fair deal when it comes to petrol prices?
PRIME MINISTER:
The ACCC has enough teeth in relation to petrol prices. Petrol prices are high because the world price of oil is high. And we cannot engage in any delusion about this. It's no good pretending that the price of petrol is high in Australia in circumstances that are unrelated to what is happening around the world. This is a problem in every country and we have to face the difficult situation, like all other countries, that the price of petrol is going to remain high for quite some time. I think it will retreat from the very high level it reached after Katrina, the Hurricane, but I don't think it is going to go back to 80 cents a litre in a hurry. And there's nothing the Government can do about that. And people who say that, and pretend that it's due to circumstances other than world forces are misleading the public.
JOURNALIST:
How concerned are you that...about the flow on effect?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look of course I naturally am concerned but I don't think we should panic, I don't think we should assume that everything is going to go up in price. The price of fresh foods do tend to fluctuate, and milk is in that category. They do tend to fluctuate. But if there is an increase in transport costs obviously that will have an impact. I'm not trying to disguise from the Australian public, the reality, the painful reality of high fuel prices. They are due to world circumstances. And we still have cheaper fuel than most countries other than America. It's virtually double the price in Britain and in Germany and in France. It is only in America that it is cheaper.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, should WA allow uranium mining and should there be a limit?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think there should be restrictions. This three mine policy is absurd. It is a great Australian natural resource and provided the safeguards are kept there, and provided it is exported under those stringent safeguard conditions that were developed more than 25 years ago by the former Coalition Government in the wake of the Ranger Uranium Inquiry. This idea that there's good uranium and bad uranium, which is the basis of the Labor Party's three mine policy, I mean the uranium is the same. How is it that it's alright to extract it from one mine in one part of the country but not in another? Is the uranium in the first mine more moral and purer and nicer uranium than the uranium in the second mine? I mean it's a ridiculous proposition. It's an act of political weakness of the Labor Party. They can't make up their mind on this issue. Some people want to export uranium like Martin Ferguson; other people want to leave all of it in the ground. So what do they come up with? This absurd, weak compromise of good uranium and bad uranium. I think that's a pathetic policy.
JOURNALIST:
Local Liberals haven't been able to make up their mind about it either. Would you expect them to vote (inaudible) mining tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can only tell you what the Federal Government's policy is. The policy of the State Parliamentary Party is a matter for it to determine. But I can tell you that the policy of the Federal Government is to sensibly, sensibly use the resources of this nation for the benefit of this nation and not to make an absurd distinction between good uranium and bad uranium. That's the policy of the Federal Government. The policy of individual State Parliamentary Parties is a matter for those Parties to determine in accordance with their internal processes. But our policy is clear. It's been clear for years. It's not going to change and it's a policy that is for the benefit of all of the Australian people.
JOURNALIST:
Shouldn't we be thinking about nuclear energy in this (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we should debate all of the energy options that are reasonably available. We have to understand that we have great advantages. We have the largest export capacity in coal of any nation in the world. We have large reserves of natural gas. We have oil reserves. But we are not immune from world forces. And what we must do as a country, also having vast reserves of uranium, what we have to do is to use all of these things in a sensible way for the benefit of the Australian community. But it is pathetic to pretend that uranium in one part of the country is good and can be sold, but uranium in another part of the country is bad and must be left underground. I mean that is just a weak policy surrender of the first order.
JOURNALIST:
Is there anything the Federal Government can do to help people with the rising cost of medical procedures now? A new Government report showing it's risen by 6%. Is there any help in the way there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we've provided and enormous amount of help. We've made bulk billing more available, we've introduced the Medicare Safetynet, we've provided a 30% subsidy for private health insurance and we've provided an additional loading going up to 40% for people 65 and 70 years and over. So we have already provided massive help. But we have to understand that with an ageing population and the coming on stream of new drugs and new techniques that a rise in health care costs in unavoidable. And we shouldn't see it as a bad thing. Don't we want the new drugs and the new procedures available for all Australians? I do not want to see life saving drugs and new procedures rationed on the basis of people's wealth and income. This is an egalitarian country and if there is a procedure available, it should be available for all Australians. And we must expect health costs to go on rising because we are ageing as a population and we are finding new and more effective ways of prolonging life and making it more enjoyable. And I would like to see those things available to all Australians. But we have to make sure of course that we don't see waste, and we also have to make sure that people who can make some contribution in certain areas make that contribution.
JOURNALIST:
Labor say that up to $1b could be saved in better cooperation with the States...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we are working on better cooperation. We are already awaiting a series of reports that will eliminate some overlap in a number of areas. And I raised this issue at the last ordinary Premier's conference meeting, not the one a couple of days ago. But I have already raised that and I would expect to have by the end of this year some reports on that. But see, Labor can't have it both ways. They were saying a few months ago that we weren't spending enough. And what are they now saying? We're spending too much? I mean they can't make up their minds. Like uranium, they can't really make up their mind on any of these things. Look we have to talk commonsense on health costs. We are an ageing population; we are finding new and better ways to cure illness. The first quarter of the 21st Century is going to see an explosion in the success of medical science and it's therefore inevitable that there be some increase in cost and we've just got to keep it in perspective. It's what, 9.7.-it's 14% of GDP in the United States. So we are, in relative terms on that yardstick, doing quite well. But I still think this country has a great health system. It's not perfect, it's got a lot of weaknesses but it's a lot better than the health system of the United States or of Japan or of Great Britain or of any European country and it's about time we stopped rubbishing it all the time and recognise that it's a good health system. Thank you.
[ends]