PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen, we made the announcement about Alendronate and osteoporosis. There's really nothing more we have to add to that, but if there are any questions you want to ask about that or about anything else, please go ahead. We have a couple of minutes.
JOURNALIST:
On Qantas, would you support the pilots' move to actually buy shares in it, to try and keep it in their control?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is a matter for them. They are entitled to do that. Our view is that the Government should not make decisions on the worth or otherwise of individual commercial transactions. We will require the law to be observed in full, the Foreign Takeovers Legislation, foreign investment laws and also the Qantas Sale Act. But it's not for the Government to say that provided the law is adhered to, this is a good or a bad transaction. But I would repeat what I said last week, and that is most Australians devoutly hope that the Qantas we have is the Qantas we keep.
JOURNALIST:
Kevin Rudd said that your attack against him in The Australian today is because he's putting you under scrutiny and you don't like the scrutiny. What is your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it's very interesting that Mr Rudd did not join issue on the substance of what I said. I rejected his claim that I am some kind of economic zealot. It is very interesting that he hasn't come back and said oh yes he is, for the following reasons.
JOURNALIST:
Well he said that due to IR and your legislation...
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, no, no. Mr Rudd is entitled to put his case and I am entitled to reject the arguments he's put forward, but as far as scrutiny is concerned, I don't think anybody's policies in Australian public life over the last ten years have been more heavily scrutinised than mine. And I am very happy for my economic record to be scrutinised. I want even more people to know that we have the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years and the Australian economy internationally is recognised as having tigerish strength.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think he will fail like Opposition Leaders that have come before him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I didn't say he's failed. I made the point that he's doing the same thing as others have done, and that is falsely accused the Government of economic zealotry. This Government has balanced reform of the economy with care for the vulnerable, and we have been successful in doing that, and the Australian people know that. And it's not much good Mr Rudd or Mr Beazley, or Mr Crean or Mr Latham, saying that we are economic zealots when the Australian people know that to get unemployment down to the lowest level in thirty years is hardly economic zealotry. Because the biggest determinant of whether you are in poverty or not in this country is still whether you have a job, and by that measure we have been very successful.
JOURNALIST:
What's your reaction to Mr Rudd's plans to change Labor's forestry policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't heard yet, what's he doing?
JOURNALIST:
Apparently just going completely opposite to Mr Latham.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know, I thought he said he was listening. Let me say...let me say one thing about forestry policy as Mr Rudd is in Tasmania, every Tasmanian knows where I stand on jobs in the forestry industry and protection of forests in Tasmania. We have a clear position, it's supported by the Tasmanian Labor Government, it's supported by the workers, it's supported by most Tasmanians, not all of them. And we have a clear position and I'll wait with great interest as to what his position is.
JOURNALIST:
The Australia Institute says the bushfires in Victoria and Tasmania sort of highlight the refusal of the Federal Government...refuses to take any...
PRIME MINISTER:
Who's this, the Australia Institute?
JOURNALIST:
Yes, to take any action, any against climate change. How do you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think that's entirely predictable, the Australia Institute always attacks us on climate change. I think that one of the things that should come out of the latest bushfires is a re-examination again of the extent to which national parks are made inaccessible to fire fighters. I did have complaints when I was in Victoria from people who had come from fighting the fires, that some of the fire trails in the national parks have been locked up and they couldn't get in, in order to protect the national parks so instead of some rather, you know rather more esoteric debate, why don't people like the Australia Institute examine issues like that?
JOURNALIST:
Back on Qantas.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
The fact that the pilot's prepared...
PRIME MINISTER:
This will be the last question.
JOURNALIST:
...the pilot's are prepared to actually almost buy the company, this shows the love that Australians have for this company, and will you be looking at strengthening foreign ownership laws?
PRIME MINISTER:
No well there's no case to strengthen the laws, there's a case for enforcing the existing law and people involved in this should understand that if any undertakings are given then they will have to be observed in full and we won't be engaging in any economic bail-outs and what the pilots do is a matter for them. We are not saying yes or no, it's their money and they've got a right to use it in any way they think fit. But I say again that people do have an affection for Qantas and Australians do hope the Qantas we have is the Qantas we keep.
[ends]