YAXLEY:
Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
YAXLEY:
Good morning. Before we come to the new federalism, what's Australia's response to the North Korean missile tests and what does it mean for regional peace and stability?
PRIME MINISTER:
Very concerned, it's an extremely provocative act by North Korea. Australia wants North Korea to go back immediately to the six party talks. I hope that what North Korea has done, is condemned as provocative, not only by Australia and Japan, but also by other countries, in the six power group. North Korea is in total breach of international obligations in doing this and I hope that North Korea feels isolated and feels a condemnation, not only of Australia and the United States and Japan, but also of China and naturally of South Korea. I am still gathering more information on the nature of the tests, but whether they are big or small missiles or a combination of the two, this development is very provocative and runs completely counter to the interests of North Korea and the interests of the whole region.
YAXLEY:
Prime Minister you were in China just a week ago. Do you expect that China will condemn this and is it time to get tough now with North Korea?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we'll come to the question of getting tough in a moment. I certainly raised this issue on a number of occasions with the Chinese Premier. China has more influence on North Korea than any other country and I hope that China uses that influence and that is a view that I put in very strong terms to the Chinese Premier when I raised this matter and China would be in no doubt that Australia would expect China to play a very positive, facilitating role. That China would say to North Korea, this is not in your interests, it's not in the interests of the region and it's certainly not in China's interests. Nobody wants some kind of blow up of this kind on the Korean Peninsula. As to getting tough, well nobody wants hostilities to break out over this, and it's been the aim of Australia and it's certainly been the aim of the United States to solve this matter diplomatically and the vehicle through which it is dealt with has to be the six power talks and I would urge North Korea and I would urge others to urge North Korea to return to those six party talks immediately.
YAXLEY:
Will Australia call in the North Korean ambassador today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well yes, I guess, well that's a matter, that's a mechanical matter for the Foreign Minister to deal with but I am making it very plain in this interview, on behalf of the Government, what our attitude is and what we believe North Korea should do. It is not in North Korea's interests. North Korea is an impoverished country. If it wants help from the rest of the world, it's got to be part of the rest of the world and that means coming back to the six party talks and endeavouring to sort out these things and the Americans have made it clear that they will give security and guarantees in relation to energy for North Korea in the future, but they are dead against, as is Australia, dead against a nuclear capacity being developed for potentially belligerent use by that country.
YAXLEY:
Prime Minister, moving on to federalism. The Treasurer has outlined a dramatic shift. You've said you don't agree with about education going totally into the hands of the states, but what do you think should change in federalism?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have a guiding principal and that guiding principal is what outcome is good for Australia. If this becomes a debate about who should wield the power and not a debate about what is the right outcome for Australia, the Australian public will be pretty disenchanted. In the end, I find as I go around our country that people want outcomes. They are not so fussed as to whether certain things are done at a state or a federal level, as long as they are done.
YAXLEY:
So what needs to change?
PRIME MINISTER:
Could I just finish? Until they are done to the satisfaction of the public. You asked me what needs to change. Well I think the states have to stop complaining about the inadequacy of the money they receive from the Federal Government, that's a big change. For thirty years, states said at Premier's conferences, give us access to a growth tax so we can do our job. We gave them that with the GST. We not only gave them access to the GST, we gave them the whole of the GST and yet they still complain so the first thing that has got to change is that the states have got to accept what is a reality and that is that the GST has given them revenues beyond their wildest dreams. Now if that principal can be established I think we can cooperate and I expect next week's meeting, incidentally, to be a very cooperative meeting. I expect us to deal in some detail with a number of issues. I expect the states to continue to support the programme we have in relation to skills recognition. One of the I guess, federalism scandals of this country, remains that qualifications in the trades area gained in some states, don't have full recognition in others and that obviously has to change and they are the sorts of cooperative things that I believe that we can achieve.
YAXLEY:
There are suggestions that the Federal Government would be providing some funding to the states to bring in more skilled migrants. Is that a conformation that the skills shortage is in fact a crisis?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we do have a shortage of skills. I think we use the word crisis in this country too frequently. You de-value its real meaning if you keep using it whenever there is a problem. Look there is a shortage of skills because the Australian economy is growing at an incredible pace. The states incidentally strongly support bringing in skilled migrants from overseas which is directly counter to what Mr Beazley is saying. I mean the Labor Party is split right down the middle on this issue. The states are agitating all the time to bring in more skilled migrants, even police through there, they want to bring people from all around the world to fill in the skills gaps and we will work with them on that. As to funding issues, I am not going to get into funding issues in this interview, that's a matter that if it is on the table, that's something to be discussed at the meeting. But I would expect next week's meeting to be a positive meeting, but the central tenet has to be what outcome is good for Australians. I don't want to have a power tussle, that's pointless. That's not something the Australian public wants. The Australian public wants us to sit down, work together, provide solutions, recognising we are one single, economic unit.
YAXLEY:
Well the Treasurer seems to have done counter to that by antagonising the Premiers a week before the COAG meeting.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't think he's antagonised them. Look they always react whenever there's a suggestion that they're needlessly complaining about a lack of money, and I can understand how Mr Costello feels. He and I slaved away to get the GST through in the face of united opposition from every Labor leader in the country but as soon as it was through, they fell over themselves to sign the agreement to carve it up. I can understand how Mr Costello feels, and I have the same feeling myself.
YAXLEY:
You do seem to be saying that you want to do this cooperatively rather than taking powers from them as Mr Costello...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, what I am saying is that I am always ready to work with the states no matter what their political stripe may be, and I am also saying that what the Australian public wants is a debate about the best outcome for our country, not a power squabble.
YAXLEY:
Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
You're very welcome.
[ends]