Subjects: Queensland politics; school funding; superannuation; Australian Made; illegal immigrants; drug policy; trade; veterans' care; marine fuel; cricket
E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
MILLER:
And joining me live in the studio now the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr John Howard. Prime Minister good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning John, very nice to be with you.
MILLER:
Welcome to Brisbane. Prime Minister this morning we’re going to take callers from the listeners, let the listeners ask the questions today, which I think is a good idea as we round up the year. I would like to just set some ground rules with the listeners though, you are welcome to call on 131332, there are no subjects barred, and we will take your calls in the order that they are received. But I would ask you just to restrict yourself to the one question because we’d like to get through as many as we possibly can, I think that’s fair.
If I may kick off PM, I can’t let the morning pass without asking you, I suppose, what is the predictable question of the day, and that is your view on the current political situation in Queensland given that we have now lost a Deputy Premier and yesterday the State Treasurer announced that he would not be standing for re-election.
PRIME MINISTER:
I suppose to vary a famous slogan you could say extraordinary one day, bizarre the next. It is quite a remarkable situation. You’ve got to remember that this long saga, and I make no allegations about Mr Hamill, I don’t know the circumstances surrounding him, but this whole saga started when somebody was, a member of the Labor Party in North Queensland, was convicted of criminal behaviour and was sent to jail. I guess it’s important to keep going back to that because there’s been an attempt made through all the comment about the Shepherdson inquiry and people resigning because of the false enrolling of people on the electoral roll, there’s been an attempt made by the Labor Party to say oh well look everybody does this, it’s all the same, it’s six of one half a dozen of the other. There’s a big difference, as I know your listeners will appreciate, between the vigorous competition that goes on inside all political parties for preferment and preselection and criminal behaviour. So lets understand that the types of things that are being investigated by the Shepherdson inquiry are qualitatively different from just the ordinary internal machinations of all political parties of both persuasions.
Now the day to day commentary on state politics in Queensland is something that I leave to my Queensland Liberal and National Party colleagues. I am in fact spending the remaining weeks of this year continuing to govern in the interests of the Australian people. We’ve bought down a huge defence statement last week, I thank John Moore, the senior Liberal from Queensland, our Defence Minister for the great work he’s down on that. Jocelyn Newman will be making a major directional statement on welfare policy tomorrow. I’m giving a major speech on Aboriginal Affairs policy in Sydney later today. John Anderson will be making announcements about Sydney’s future airport needs and related transport matters today. In other words, we are really interested in getting on with Government. I’ll leave the shenanigans of Labor Party politics to my political opponents, whether it’s Mr Beattie or Mr Beazley. My message, if I may put it that way, to the people of Brisbane and the people of Queensland, is that we are finishing the year as we have demonstrated throughout the whole of the year, and that is committed to making decisions which are in the interests of the Australian people, that’s our mission, not these other shenanigans.
MILLER:
Alright, Prime Minister lets hop into the callers now. First on the line we have Gail, good morning Gail.
CALLER:
Good morning, good morning Prime Minister. I just have a quick question in regards, could you help me understand the new school funding policy. My understanding is, like $1.5 million is going to Kings school to cover air-conditioning in Sydney…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that’s not right
CALLER:
… local school we’re having to save milk tops to cover the new Harry Potter books, so I’m a bit confused, could you help me out on that.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I can help you out on that, we have devised a new funding formula for independent schools which takes account of the economic circumstances of the parents rather than historic views as to what is a wealthy or a non wealthy school. Could I just make the simple point to you that you mentioned the Kings school. The total amount of Federal Government assistance going to a school like Kings is 31%, 31% of the total amount of Government assistance that goes to each of the parents of children who send their kids to Government schools. In other words Federal Government support for Kings is 31% of total Government support for children who send their kids to the local Government school. In other words any suggestion that we are helping the so called wealthy schools at the expense of state schools is wrong. The other point I’d make is that in the current financial year the Federal Government’s share of funding of government schools in Queensland is rising at a faster rate than the State Government’s contribution, a much greater contribution because it’s their ongoing responsibility to those schools in Queensland. So any suggestion that the wealthy schools are benefiting at the expense of state schools is just wrong.
MILLER:
Okay, lets move on, thank you for your call Gail. Graham, good morning.
CALLER:
Good morning Prime Minister. I was, I’d like to ask you, if you were re-elected again for a further term as Prime Minister, would you undertake to do something to bring politicians superannuation schemes into line with the rest of the community.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well some of those steps have already been taken, but if you’re suggesting that our superannuation arrangements are much more generous than the rest of the community, in some aspects they are, in other aspects they’re not. The contributions that Members of Parliament make for the first 18 years that they’re in Parliament is 11% of their salary, I don’t know too many private sector schemes that have that kind of high level of contribution from the individual employees. So when you’re talking about comparative generosity you’ve got to look at the contributions as well as the pay-outs. I guess the other observation I’d make is that the income payed to senior people in politics, that is senior ministers, I’ll leave myself out of it. Somebody like the Federal Treasurer is paid about one tenth or perhaps one eighth of the income that’s paid to the chief executives of the major financial institutions in the Australian community. So when you’re looking at remuneration for politicians, you do have to look at the aggregate and not just look at one aspect of it.
MILLER:
Yeah, although some would say that a lot of those executives are paid well above the odds.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is true but even if they were only paid five times what he’s being paid I just make the point – look I’m not trying for, I’m perfectly happy with the remuneration I’ve got. I’m not the least bit interested in getting into the detail of that except to make the point that if you look at the responsibilities of senior people, and I say this of people on both sides of politics – a senior person, somebody whose got a high ministerial position, their remuneration is good by community standards, very good, but when you compare it with people in the private sector or indeed very highly paid people in the media, it pales into insignificance.
MILLER:
Present company excepted of course.
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course. Well we’ll both leave ourselves out of it but you understand my point. And you’ve got to look at these aggregate things in order to get a fair comparison. And I’d make the other point that the contributions made by individuals in their early years in Parliament, and most members of Parliament don’t serve anything like 18 years – the average Parliamentary term of a member of a Parliament federally is 7.2 years. So most members of Parliament are making those contributions at that level over the whole time that they’re in Parliament.
MILLER:
Alright. Look we might go back to the callers now because we’ve got a full board and I’ve got to bite my tongue and shut up because I said I’d let the people ask the questions today.
PRIME MINISTER:
That’s alright.
MILLER:
Here we go. To Jonathan. Good morning Jonathan.
CALLER:
Good morning Prime Minister. I’d just like to ask you a quick question but I’d first like to say that I think you’ve brought a lot of honour and pride back to the office of Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
CALLER:
I congratulate you on that. And I’d like to know what you think about Dick Smith’s idea of Australia developing once again a manufacturing base – Australian made, Australian owned – and is that actually viable?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is in a lot of areas yes, it is. And I know Dick Smith well and I like him and he’s a person who has an infectious character and a great amount of energy and a great passion for Australia and I’m all in favour of that. And I’m all in favour of that kind of attitude in manufacturing industry. I’m in favour of buying Australian in preference to things overseas providing you have the option to get the thing from overseas if clearly you’re going to get a much better outcome and it’s much better for the consumer. And you’ve also got to remember that we live in a world economy now. We want to sell Australian goods overseas. We expect people overseas to take our goods. It follows from that that if we want them to take our goods – they want us to take their goods. World trade is a reciprocal thing and, as we’ve demonstrated recently, you can get a bit of justice. When we forced the World Trade Organisation to find the Americans guilty in relation to those quotas they put on our lamb exports. That was a great victory for Australian farmers and a great victory for the long-term benefits of freer world trade.
MILLER:
Pardon me. Let’s move on again now and we’re going to let someone queue jump here because they’re on a mobile and we all know how expensive those mobiles can be. Jeff, good morning.
CALLER:
Yes good morning. Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Hello Jeff.
CALLER:
Just a question on immigration actually. Do you think that as Australians we’re too lenient with the illegal immigrants? Especially what’s happening at Woomera at this stage.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don’t think we’re too lenient. It’s a hard issue this. We have tough but fair rules in relation to illegal immigration. If people come to this country without permission and they can’t establish that they are genuine refugee, then obviously we can’t be expected to accept them willy nilly. They have to be detained and where it’s possible and appropriate, sent back to the countries from which they came. This is a very hard issue because there’s always a humanitarian feeling that no matter what the circumstances are you have to look after people and that’s true. We can’t turn them back into the sea and we won’t. But on the other hand if it looks around the world as though this country is an easy touch then there’ll be no end of people wanting to come. And those people wanting to come illegally always queue jump the people who wait in line and apply for admission in accordance with the rules. I think we’ve got the balance right. The fact that we get criticised from both sides – some saying we’re too tough, others saying we’re too easy probably does demonstrate we’ve got the balance right.
MILLER:
OK. Moving on again, Greg good morning.
CALLER:
Yeah good morning Prime Minister. Good morning John. My question is in relation to the drug problem. Every couple of nights on television I see someone on TV saying how basically we should legalise drugs. I understand that the Government had their policy Tough on Drugs a couple of years ago. I understand health and education take a number of years before they actually result. I’m just wondering what the Prime Minister and the Government intend to do in the near future? Are they looking at any more initiatives?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is true that over the last several years we’ve put an additional $500 million at a federal level into fighting the drug problem in three areas – more law enforcement, and that is bearing fruit. Seizures of cocaine and heroin and ecstasy have risen and I congratulate the Federal Police and the Australian Customs Service and the State Police services for the work they’ve done. We’re putting more money into education – persuading kids not to start taking drugs in the first place. And finally, and very importantly, we’re putting more money into rehabilitation and we’re signing agreements with all of the state governments whereby people who are caught up in the first stages of a criminal career because of drugs are given the option: you go into a rehabilitation program, take treatment and you’ll be home free; or if you’re not willing to do that then we’ll put you into the criminal justice system and you will pay the longer term penalties for that. Now I’m pleased to say that we’ve been able to sign agreements with all of the states – except so far Queensland, I’m still waiting on further responses from the Queensland Government on that. And incidentally this is not any premeditated criticism of the Queensland Government in relation to that because concerning the drug issue I’ve tried as much as possible to keep any party politics out of it because I co-operate very closely with Mr Carr and Mr Bracks in New South Wales and Victoria across the party divide in order to tackle this problem. It’s very difficult. I don’t believe the solution lies in legalising everything. I heard a call yesterday from the Australian Medical Association for a heroin trial and for injecting rooms. And that call was based upon alleged success of those programs overseas. That’s not the mail I get. The mail I get in relation to Switzerland is that their programs have not been successful and in contrast a country like Sweden which had a reputation in the 1960s and 1970s for legalising everything so to speak, in the 1980s went in the other direction on drugs and has indeed been a lot more successful than those countries that have had a more liberal approach.
MILLER:
OK, thanks for your question Greg. Graham, good morning.
CALLER:
Good morning Prime Minister. This is a question about trade and industry for Australia. I’ve watched for the last 30 years Australia’s decline of trade and industry and watching whole generations of people permanently unemployed in Australia. Now the question I’ve got for you is why hasn’t Australia tried a modified and limited trade tariff policy favouring trade with countries having similar wage structures and living standards to us and discriminating against countries having slave labour wage conditions which over the last 30 years have ruined Australia’s industry.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Graham, I understand the sentiment you’ve expressed and I do hear it and I sympathise with it but your facts aren’t quite right. Our unemployment levels now are lower than what they were ten years ago so to talk as though there’s continuing decline is just not accurate. And as far as our trading performance is concerned, our exports at the moment are, literally speaking, booming. Now it is true that in some areas of manufacturing employment levels are lower now than they were a generation ago. That is true. And it’s true of every industrialised country in the world. It is also true that in areas like tourism and information technology, other aspects of the service industries and service industries that are connected with manufacturing industry, that levels of employment in those areas are higher. Now I don’t believe in totally open slather and we don’t practise open slather. We still have moderate, but quite defensible tariff levels in areas like motor cars and some areas of textile, clothing and footwear. But in the long run a country as small as Australia has to succeed in exporting into the world markets if it is to prosper. Our biggest single export to Britain now is red wine, a generation ago it was dairy produce, earlier than that it might have been something else. That’s an illustration of how over time what you earn your money from on an export level is beneficial. We can’t afford to ignore the large markets that are open to us of many of the low-wage countries. Korea, which has a wage structure higher than many other countries in Asia but lower than in Australia is one of our best customers after Japan. Korea takes more of our raw materials, and that’s very important to a state like Queensland, than any other country. So you have to remember when we talk in these general terms about high and low wage countries that you don’t bite the hands that feeds in relation to many of our export destinations.
MILLER:
All right thank you very much for that question Graham, let’s move onto Kevin. Good morning Kevin.
CALLER:
Yes good morning John. Morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Hello Kevin.
CALLER:
My question is regarding currently there is an inquiry into the death of three elderly veterans in a North Queensland nursing home. When is the Prime Minister going to ensure enough funding for our hospitals and nursing homes and also the correct training of staff? Because a lot of these people are frail and especially in nursing homes with Alzheimer’s Disease, meals are left outside their rooms, they are unable to or don’t bother to feed themselves and this is where they fade away and the same happens in some of our Brisbane hospitals which Minister Scott is aware of the negligence involving the death of three veterans at a Brisbane hospital.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don’t accept the implication in the question that the Government doesn’t care about conditions in these homes. We care a great deal. And in relation to nursing homes generally we introduced a certification system when we came to government, in other words we required nursing homes to get to a specified standard otherwise their funding support could be at risk. When there are complaints we have a well established procedure to investigate them. I can’t for obvious legal reasons comment about a particular case, you’ll understand that. But we have not cut, as the question implied, funding levels, we have continued to increase funding levels. We’ve put a lot more money into what are called ‘home care packages’ which are designed to give organisations greater resources to help people stay longer in their own homes because the great bulk of older people in our community would prefer to remain in their own home as long as possible and I think over the last few years we’ve brought about a significant shift, an injection of further resources into these aged care packages that provide people with a greater opportunity to remain much longer in their own home.
MILLER:
Okay, moving on again because we are almost out of time. We will try and get a couple of callers in here if we can before the 7.30 News. Chris, good morning.
CALLER:
Yes good morning John, Prime Minister. I was wondering if I could bring to your attention and also make you aware that the Marine Rescue Organisations in Queensland are paying an enormous amount of tax on their fuel to do a voluntary service and there is no use of roads or . . .
PRIME MINISTER:
What kind of fuel do they use?
CALLER:
Unleaded petrol for outboards.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I see.
CALLER:
And I mean we’re paying 79 cents/litre plus GST. We don’t use the roads, we don’t you know have anything to do with a land-based organisation sort of thing. And it’s a lifesaving service that we provide, voluntarily and yet we’re paying literally a tax to perform this service. Is there anyway that could be looked at?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’ll have a look at what you’ve raised. I understand your point. The tax you’re paying is the tax that everybody, the excise that everybody else pays. And I know that petrol is expensive at the moment because the world price of petrol has gone up although it has come down just a tiny bit over the last few weeks. And if the Australian dollar remains a bit stronger against the American dollar that will help to moderate the price as well. I’ll just have a look at what you’ve raised. It of course has implications not just for your area, but throughout the community where a commodity like petrol is bought and used for the sort of purpose that you mentioned. So without being able to promise anything on the run, I will examine the point that you’ve made.
MILLER:
Prime Minister, we’ve only got about a minute left, so unfortunately we’ll have to disappoint a large number of people who are still waiting on the line to talk to you. We should do this again in the New Year.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’d like to do that.
MILLER:
The response has been overwhelming. May I just wrap up by asking you a question, in a position as a senior political leader, if you were faced with a similar situation to that facing Mr Beattie where he’s lost his Deputy Premier, he’s lost his Treasurer, he’s in a position where five in all Labor Members are gone, how quickly would you go to the polls?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look I don’t give gratuitous political advice to my opponents. Obviously I always prefer to see Coalition Government to Labor Government and anything I said on that would be misunderstood. I will content myself with focusing on making some good, further good decisions for the Australian people before the political year ends because that’s what I was elected to do and that’s what I want to go on doing for a number of years yet.
MILLER:
I noticed though for the benefit of our people who can’t see us but you do have a wry smile on your face.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it’s just my naturally benign disposition.
MILLER:
And just quickly, we’ve got about twenty seconds left, great to see Brian Lara back in form.
PRIME MINISTER:
Great to see him and can I congratulate Adam Gilchrist being chosen as the stand in captain. He was captain of my Prime Minister’s XI at Manuka Oval last Thursday and did a fantastic job. He’s very talented. I wish him well and he’s all round a very good bloke and I think he will be a great stand in captain for Steve Waugh.
MILLER:
Prime Minister thanks for being with us this morning.
[Ends]