QUESTION:
[Inaudible] enough to look after drought affected farmers?
PRIME MINISTER:
Barnaby and I will have a formal announcement to make later today, but it is important that the Government does what we reasonably can to help farmers who are in the midst of what is akin to a natural disaster. The package that we will be announcing later today; it will be economically responsible, it will be fair, it will make a difference but what we all are hoping and praying for is lasting rain. That is really the only way to deal with drought in the long run – to see the seasons change.
QUESTION:
Why support farmers but not SPC [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, this is a natural disaster – a very serious drought, drought of an intensity which we haven’t seen in some cases for one hundred years, in other cases for a quarter of a century. It is not just normal business and while it’s not the job of governments to support businesses to deal with something which is the ordinary part of business, it is the role of government to help people who are facing natural disaster and that is the fundamental difference.
QUESTION:
Stephen Conroy last night was quite, I suppose, brutal in his assessment of General Campbell. Should he apologise? What do you think of his actions?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think that public servants should be treated with respect before Senate Estimates and I think uniformed officers of our country should be treated with very deep respect. I think it was unfortunate that Senator Conroy had, what can only be described as, a brain snap before Senate Estimates. I congratulate Senator Ian MacDonald for the way he chaired that particular Estimates hearing. Let’s face it, Senator Conroy isn’t just any Senator – he is a very senior leader of the Labor Party in the Senate and he is the Shadow Minister for Defence. Now, under all the circumstances I think it would be big of Senator Conroy if he were to apologise and if he isn’t big enough himself to apologise, I think a word in his ear by his Leader would be right.
[ends]