JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard the town of Mildura is in a fair bit of shock this morning, have you got any words for them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am like every other Australian; it's just such a tragic loss of young lives, it's heartbreaking. Young kids out on a Saturday night to enjoy themselves and something like this happens. I like all other Australians; (inaudible) just so dreadfully sorry and I can't do more than express my profound sympathy and condolences to those who have lost their children and their friends, their brothers, their sisters; it's a terrible accident.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible)
PRIME MINISTER:
Sorry I just can't hear you.
JOURNALIST:
I am sorry; the 'Howard Factor' book coming out shortly, The Australian writers who interviewed you late last year, you mention comments with regard to the Muslim population who are immigrating to Australia. You are saying that it poses a very big challenge, could you (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I will just repeat what I said to the reporter and I stand by those comments; that there is a small section of the Islamic population in Australia because of its remarks about Jihad, remarks which indicate an extremist view. That is a problem and it needs to be dealt with by the broader community including Islamic Australians and there are within some sections of the Islamic community, an attitude towards women which is out of line with the mainstream Australian attitude. Now these attitudes are not typical of all Muslims but they do represent the attitudes of a small section of the Islamic population and there's no point in not saying so. It's not a problem that we ever faced with other immigrant communities who became easily absorbed into the mainstream. We want people when they come to Australia to adopt Australian ways, we don't ask them to forget the countries of their birth, we respect all religious points of view and people are entitled to practice them. But there are certain things that are not part of the Australian mainstream and I've identified two in particular in relation to a section of the Islamic population; that's what I was talking about and I might remind you that I gave that interview two days before the so-called Cronulla riots. So let me say immediately to those who might seek to misrepresent my remarks that I was not talking in the wake of the Cronulla riots, I was not trying make some kind of tawdry political point, it's a view that I have held for some time and it's a view, it's my right and my duty to express.
JOURNALIST:
With regards to that point Mr Howard Muslim migration is not new to Australia.
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
So why now? Is it a question of having more people come in, why are you talking about this specifically now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Muslim migration started to Australia long before I became Prime Minister and I am not talking about Muslim migration, you raised Muslim migration, I didn't. I was talking about the attitude of a small section of the Islamic population in this country.
JOURNALIST:
Is it more to do about fragmenting the antagonistic...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think the first thing you do is to identify the issue by talking about it. I hope it will encourage the broader Islamic community to understand that it is an issue.
JOURNALIST:
Coming back to the migration programme, is it a failure of the programme?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I don't think it's a failure, I don't think it's a failure of the programme, nothing is perfect, it's important though that we identify the particular issue.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that you will change the immigration programme?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not proposing a change to the immigration programme. The attitude of Australians is they don't mind where people come from as long as when they come to this country they become Australians. It's as simple as that. We over complicate these issues with all sorts of descriptors and -isms and so forth. It's a pretty simple proposition, we welcome people from all around the world and we are better for it but when they come to this country they are meant and expected and should become Australians.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard could more be done to filter out those extremists views from people coming into the country?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's hard because sometimes the views are more extreme with the second generation. It's a feature, it's for a combination of reasons why it's happened but there's really not much point in pretending that it doesn't exist but I also emphasise very strongly that we are talking here about a very small section. The overwhelming majority of Islamic Australians are as committed to the mainstream Australian values as you and I are.
JOURNALIST:
So the issue of home grown extremism, is that something that maybe...
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we've done enough on that.
JOURNALIST:
On Telstra there is a proposal to remove 5000 pay phones, how is this going to affect rural communities?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this is something that has to be taken up with Telstra, I can't and won't give a running commentary on every reported business decision of a publicly listed company, I am not going to do that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard Qantas, will the Australian Government be giving Qantas a bit of a leg up by excluding Singapore Airlines from the crucial route?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we will be considering this issue and when the Government's taken a decision, that decision will be announced. I am not going to speculate about what Cabinet might decide.
JOURNALIST:
When will Cabinet decide?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't normally telegraph Cabinet decisions, when they are taken, they are announced, but no decision has been taken and until it is I am not going to speculate.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, tax cuts, we've heard the Reserve Bank has money up its sleeve, what will see in Cabinet?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I thought what the Governor of the Reserve Bank said is exactly the same as Mr Costello has said and that is that if there is a capacity for some tax relief and it's a question of what the balance and the mix is. I think all of this ongoing speculation about the composition of tax cuts is only speculation. We have said before that if we have a capacity to give relief in the next Budget we will, but it's got to be consistent with our determination to retain a strong Budget surplus. One of the reasons why this country has been so successful is that we have kept the Budget in balance year after year after year and we don't intend to change that, but if there is room for tax relief, that relief will be given. But you won't be getting anything precise out of me or anything precise out of the Treasurer between now and Budget night, but what Mr Macfarlane said at the weekend is, well on Friday, is identical with what Peter Costello and I have been saying for weeks. Thankyou.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard are you pleased that the Boeing workers are going back?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, did you ask me about the Boeing workers?
JOURNALIST:
Yes.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I am delighted that that's been settled.
JOURNALIST:
Are you pleased about the Boeing workers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I am very pleased yes, and I always thought it was a pointless dispute and I just think it is good because I don't like seeing people on strike, I don't like seeing families affected and I think common sense has prevailed. Thank you.
[End]