PRIME MINISTER:
Well as you know, I leave shortly to go to Indonesia for a brief visit when I will meet the President. Then I will go on to China for a day and a bit to coincide with the arrival of the LNG shipment from the North West Shelf. And it's a short visit but it's an important visit.
When I see President Yudhoyono, we will talk about all aspects of the bilateral relationship. We'll talk about our ongoing cooperation in fighting terrorism. Obviously the issue of Papua will come up. Our attitude towards Papua is very simple, we support Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, we always have since the 1960s. We think Papua's future can best be resolved as part of Indonesia. We think the special autonomy package, with all that it involves, including a sensitivity towards human rights, needs to be fully implemented. We are ready to help in any way we can in that process.
We don't support separatist or secessionist movements in Indonesia and we have no wish to see Australia used in any way as a staging post for those movements or activities. And as Mr Downer has said on numerous occasions, we don't allow our NGOs to get involved in the politics of different parts of Indonesia. But this issue is one that has to be best resolved with Papua as part of Indonesia. No doubt aspects of that will come up and we'll be very ready to put our view.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard are you going to recognise that in black and white as part of a security pact?
PRIME MINISTER:
There won't be any security pact signed. I don't expect that, I never have. The suggestion that a security pact would come out of these discussions is not one that came from me, or from the Australian side. But let's not be in any doubt, we have never argued for the separation of Papua from Indonesia. I have been saying for some years now, as has Mr Downer, that we support and respect Jakarta's sovereignty over Papua. We do want to see changes, and we have seen changes and I think we should give the Indonesians a bit of credit for what they've done. We want the special autonomy package fully implemented and that involves human rights issues. But there's never been any argument that we have supported separatism. I mean, I know there are some people in Indonesia who think that, but it's not true and that's been our position for a long time and it will remain so.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the case of Abu Bakar Bashir. Are you looking for any guarantees about his quarantine?
PRIME MINISTER:
He will certainly be raised. I will certainly be raising that and my position is as set out in the letter I wrote.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think it will be a bit frosty over there?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's always pretty balmy. Balmy to very warm.
JOURNALIST:
What about the relationship between the two countries? Frosty there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I think the relationship is good. It's always a challenging relationship because we are very different countries and very different people, and there is nothing gained by pretending otherwise. And if you place an artificial label on the relationship you are bound to be disappointed from time to time. I've always tried to be practical, to recognise that we focus in areas where we have a lot in common, and we have a common fight against terrorism. And the Indonesians did a great deal after the Bali attack to bring to justice those people who were directly involved in it and that should not be forgotten by Australians.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are you going to seek a series of commitments or any commitments from the Indonesians on Abu Bakar Bashir, restricting travel...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my position is as set out in my letter to the President and I will continue to maintain that position in my discussions with him.
JOURNALIST:
Was there a point at which you thought the trip might not happen?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, look, I never talk about those things.
JOURNALIST:
In regard to James Hardie, Prime Minister, there are calls that given that there is such a large surplus, that you would be able to afford to provide a tax-free status for the fund so that victims' payouts can be guaranteed. What do you say to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well our position is that we very strongly support the James Hardie settlement. We strongly believe that James Hardie should meet all of its obligations to its workers and it's our desire to see all of the people affected by asbestos fully compensated. But that is James Hardies' responsibility and I do not support a situation where some of James Hardies' responsibility is shouldered by the ordinary Australian taxpayer in some kind of special deal. But I think we are all running ahead of ourselves. There's another tax ruling to be made. The one made last Friday simply found, which I don't find the least bit surprising, that the fund is not a charity.
But the really important ruling is the one dealing with the deductibility of the contributions to the fund by the company, and let us wait until that ruling comes out before making the sort of calls and statements that have been made by the New South Wales Premier and by others. Let's just wait until that happens. But the principle has to be that James Hardie bears responsibility for this. It was their employees who were affected and they are entitled to the normal tax treatment, but they are not entitled to shift some of their responsibility to the rest of us through some kind of special tax deal.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister if I could ask your reaction to the ACTU's campaign about the IR Laws and AWAs?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they have a right to lawfully and peacefully put their point of view, and providing it is done within the law, I offer no criticism. I think their attitude on the changes is not in the interests of their members. I think the members of the ACTU have done very well individually under this Government, but I respect the right of people to argue their case, provided it is within the law, and provided it also respects the rights of others and doesn't interfere with the right of other Australians to go about their business and to operate their businesses and to do their work.
JOURNALIST:
At the end of the day, how do you think it's playing out?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it's just part of the ongoing debate and I don't put it any more strongly than that.
JOURNALIST:
Some unionists are suggesting that big business are being encouraged not to go ahead with AWAs until after the next federal election. Is that scaremongering, or is that a true indication of what's going on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's the first I've heard of it.
JOURNALIST:
PM, should the Indonesians have access to Hambali in your view?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a matter really for the people who hold Hambali at the present time.
JOURNALIST:
You won't be pushing for that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the Indonesians don't hold Hambali. I thought Hambali was held by somebody else.
JOURNALIST:
He's responsible for an attack on their soil though.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, well I think that's a matter that the Indonesians have to work out with the people who hold Hambali. It's not for us to inject ourselves into every issue. We've got plenty on our own plate without buying into some other issue as well.
JOURNALIST:
The Small Business Minister here has accused you of breaking a promise in relation to...
PRIME MINISTER:
I heard that this morning. I thought it was extraordinary. And I don't know what on earth he was talking about.
JOURNALIST:
He's asking, what's the progress? What sort of progress has the ACCC made?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the monitoring was done, and he said that I'd broken the promise to do it. The monitoring was done. Extraordinary outburst.
JOURNALIST:
When do you anticipate feedback from the ACCC on this matter?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I thought I'd mentioned that feedback a few days ago, but I'll make certain in my absence somebody re-mentions it. But my recollection is that the monitoring was carried out, and it indicated as has happened in the past, that as the weekend approached and the market tightened, the discounting disappeared. And that is the reason why the price of petrol rose. But this idea that I broke my promise to have the monitoring carried out is ridiculous.
Look, everybody has to accept that this is a huge problem. I hate high petrol prices and I know how much they are hurting Australians. And if I could find a silver bullet, if I could find a way to bring them down by 20 or 30 cents a litre overnight, I would grab it. You wouldn't see my heels for the dust in grabbing it, but unfortunately there isn't. And like every country in the world we are burdened by high crude oil prices and if there are ways that we can mitigate that, we will. But making silly statements like the New South Wales Small Business Minister did is just political hot air. It doesn't achieve anything. Thank you.
[ends]