PM Transcripts

Subjects: War on terrorism; election campaign; Melbourne Cup; education policies
JOURNALIST:
And a very good morning to our Prime Minister John Howard, good morning Prime Minister, thank you for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning gentlemen, very good to be with you. I think probably the first time as Prime Minister. I may have been interviewed by you in another capacity, but not as Prime Minister, it';s great to be here.
JOURNALIST:
Yes, good. And we';re turning on some good weather at last for you anyway. Before we direct our questions to the election issues you recently urged Australians, I think you said not to wilt in our determination and commitment to the US and the war against terrorism. This latest threat, and your call for Australians not to overreact.
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s the declaration in a very informal way of a Jihad, or holy war, by the Taliban ambassador in Pakistan. This is not unexpected, we can';t ignore it but we shouldn';t overreact. I warmly welcome the fact that leaders of Islamic communities in Australia have already told their adherents to ignore it, and that is to be welcomed and I congratulate them on taking that stance. The campaign by the coalition led by the United States against terrorism has got nothing to do with religion, it';s the Taliban and it';s the extremists amongst the terrorist supporters who have introduced the issue of religion and the concept of a holy war, which is anathema to Australians, whatever their religion. And I welcome the fact that it';s been rejected by leaders of the Islamic religion in Australia. What is going on now is not a struggle between the world';s great religions, it';s a struggle between those people who would want to strike fear into the hearts of ordinary people, to frighten them as they go about their daily lives, to dismantle the strength of our world economies and we all have an obligation to play a part in combating that threat. If we don';t it won';t go away. I mean the people who are expressing doubts about our involvement haven';t put forward an alternative which is going to solve the problem, they just somehow imagine that if we don';t do anything the terrorists out of the goodness of their hearts will decide well we';re not going to do it anymore and we';ve learnt our lesson and we';re going to go away. History has taught us that that doesn';t work and I would therefore say to the Australian people in relation to this latest comment that';s come during a news conference in Islamabad, that remark was to be expected, we have been on a heightened security alert since the 11th of September and it doesn';t really change anything in that regard.
We can';t ignore it, we can';t pretend something will never happen here. On the other hand we shouldn';t be overwhelmed by it and we have to get on with our lives, we have to continue to enjoy ourselves and continue to run our businesses and go on our holidays and travel around this wonderful country. I';ll be talking to the tourist industry a little later this morning at their international convention and I';ll be saying something about the attractiveness of Australia as a tourist destination and also announcing a number of measures that we';ll implement to help the tourist industry if we win the next election. So it';s a mixture of care and vigilance on the one hand, but not in any sense panic or overreaction on the other hand.
JOURNALIST:
At the beginning of the election campaign what had happened in America and our commitment to the US and the refugee problem were two of the big strong issues and you got majority support at the time. But the focus and the polls have indicated that Labor';s sort of gained ground on a lot of domestic issues and the jobs, education and health, what is your reaction to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well this campaign is about all of those issues, I don';t think it';s ever been exclusively about security issues and illegal asylum seekers anymore than it';s been exclusively about domestic issues. I';m very happy to engage on domestic issues, I';m very happy to remind the Australian people that Mr Beazley left us with a debt of $96 billion, that he took interest rates to 17 per cent, and unemployment to almost 11 per cent when he was employment minister. He may now say he believes in balanced budgets, he didn';t practice that when he had the opportunity as finance minister. Economic growth is higher under this government, productivity is higher, we';ve generated 830,000 more jobs, we';ve cut interest rates, we';ve cut unemployment, we';ve lifted real wages, we';ve lifted productivity. I am more than happy at any time during this campaign to engage the Labor Party on so called domestic issues and they';re very important to me, issues like education, I can point out that since we';ve been in government we';ve increased Commonwealth payments for government schools in Australia by 43 per cent while the enrolments in those schools have risen by only 1.8 per cent. That was have increased the Medicare agreements with the states by 28 per cent in real terms, we've put $2.5 billion into private health insurance and we've saved the private health insurance industry. It was 32 per cent membership when I became Prime Minister, it's now 45. And that';s taken a tremendous load off the public hospitals. Our Networking the Nation programmes have been of enormous benefit to Tasmania, Tasmania has been the greatest single beneficiary of many of the special programmes that have come out of the partial sale of shares in Telstra. Tasmania has benefited proportionately more than any other state in Australia. So I believe this is an election campaign about a whole range of issues, domestic and international, and I';m happy to engage on any of them.
JOURNALIST:
How are those sums going Prime Minister for the bonuses for bubs?
PRIME MINISTER:
There was never any difficulty about it, the simple explanation for that is that not every child is born on the first of July. You have 250,000 children born during a year - that calculation of Mr Crean';s was as I understand it based on the assumption that every child was born at the beginning of the year. What a remarkable coincidence that would be. Obviously you';d have to proportion it in the first year. The second year the kid';s been alive for the whole year so you get the whole $500. Simple.
JOURNALIST:
Just turning to some Tasmanian issues now where of course we';ve got jobs and health and education. But we';d like you to have a listen to this ad and then we';d like to get your comments.
“I';m Peter Broyer, honorary chair National Sea Highway Committee with a message for all Tasmanians. The National Sea Highway Committee is committed to the rights of all Australians to travel from state to state on an equal basis. On a national highway it could cost you as little as $47.50 to cross Bass Strait. Tasmanians expect an equitable sea highway system, in fact many consider this a constitutional right. Support the National Sea Highway concept by supporting those politicians who will deliver. Spoken and authorised by Peter Broyer, North Caulfield.”
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ve heard that, and I'll be in Launceston later today to launch the Government';s Tasmanian policy.
JOURNALIST:
Does it encompass that?
PRIME MINISTER:
And I';ll certainly be saying something very positive about that issue.
JOURNALIST:
Does it encompass what…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ll be saying something very positive about that issue.
JOURNALIST:
They don';t get us in Launceston, you can tell us now.
PRIME MINISTER:
I';ve met that gentlemen and we of course did quite a number of things in the last election and we';re going to build on that. Build on it very generously.
JOURNALIST:
Tell me Prime Minister the pressure of leading a nation in this climate must take its toll personally, family wise.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes and no. My family is, of course we have three adult children and they have their own lives, although we';re all very close. One of our children is on a working holiday in England, our eldest son and our daughter and the other son are both living with us and they don';t spend a lot of time at home, at that age you can imagine, which is fair enough and to be welcomed. But we get on pretty well together and in a way it is easier for Janette and I now than it has been at any other time in my political career because our children are grown up, even the last election Richard, our youngest son, was in the throes of doing the HSC in Sydney which was the final year 12 exam and that is something that requires a bit of parental support and parental presence and in between an election campaign we were doing what we could to give him as much support as he sat for those exams. But even that has now passed, he's at university, his elder brother is on a working holiday and his sister is working with a firm of solicitors in Sydney. So it';s easier in that sense, we are able to go together to a lot more functions than has previously been the case and our children are interested in issues, they';re interested in the campaign, they give me advice from time to time, they try to be constructive, they don';t always agree with the way I do things, although they';re broadly very supportive and terrific, they';re very loyal to me and my cause and I';m very grateful for that. But in a way we';re at a point that the stage in life of our family makes it easier than it';s probably ever been to do the job.
JOURNALIST:
Yes but Kim Beazley is saying that he';s there for the long haul and the inference of course with the question of…..
PRIME MINISTER:
I';m touched by his concern that I won';t be around forever. Just for the benefit of your listeners I haven';t indicated that I';m going to retire at any time. What I';ve said is that if I get re-elected, a couple of years into the three year term I';ll give some thought to my future. I think that';s the honest thing to say. I don';t think people regard that as unusual and I said that about a year ago. I';m fascinated that they';re trying to make an issue out of it. But it just happens to be the truth. It doesn';t indicate I';m going to go. Right at the moment wild horses wouldn';t drive me out.
JOURNALIST:
Talking of horses you got a tip for the Melbourne Cup yesterday?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Big Pat. I saw Big Pat. I mean I don';t claim to be an expert on horse racing but looked and was described as pretty good. His trainer Peter Tulloch, a great turf name, was a very nice bloke, he and his wife Moira. We happened to be in the area and heard about it and dropped in to meet the horse and the trainer and wife and their daughter Johanna. He was certainly a very regular bloke and I hope he wins. As I say I don';t know a lot about horse racing but I think I might have a modest wager on that horse. My once a year modest wager.
JOURNALIST:
Forgive a little more cynicism here Prime Minister but we';ve been left off maps, we';ve been left off medals, airline schedules. Tasmania wonders if you';re re-elected does the Howard Government have any policies that you';ll reveal to us now before the trip up north to curb Tasmania';s population decrease, fight the lack of employment opportunities here to stimulate the state';s….?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we have already done a lot of that with our emphasis on communications. I can tell you that one of the special funds we are going to establish will help the tourist industry and that';s very important to Tasmania. You may be aware that we';ve worked very hard, and the first flight came in this morning, or will come in this morning, to Hobart to get a resumption of Ansett flights to both Hobart and Launceston. And that was made possible by a federal government subsidy. It wouldn';t have happened otherwise. We take the view that it';s not appropriate for us to put several hundred million dollars into the company but if we can help in a targeted way to gradually rebuild Ansett services and make sure they spread around the country then we';ll do so. The services to Hobart and Launceston would not have resumed without the guarantee that the federal government';s provided. I hope there are plenty of passengers, I hope the response from the travelling public means that the service can continue. Now they are important gestures and what a federal government can do. Could I just go back to the proceeds from the sale of Telstra. The Natural Heritage Trust money, nobody can argue that Tasmania did not got an extremely good deal. Many would argue a deal out of proportion to her population. In strict mathematical terms that';s right but then Tasmania has difficulties that other states don';t have and there is this constant problem of losing the young people to the mainland. We have got to try and reverse that and the way you reverse that is to create more job opportunities. We believe that our forest settlement, the RFA process has giving stability to that industry. We';ve invested a lot of extra money in the forest industry and that will create jobs both in the industry and ecotourism. So there are when you add all of those things together quite a number of things that we';ve done and we contemplate doing. As I indicated one of the funds that we';re going to establish will help in relation to tourism.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to sell off the rest of Telstra?
PRIME MINISTER:
Our position on that is that we';re not going to sell another share in Telstra until we are satisfied that conditions, communications facilities and conditions in the bush are up to scratch. They';re not at the moment.
JOURNALIST:
Well who';s going to make that decision?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the government will make that decision. We';ll listen to representatives of the rural community like the NFF, we';ll talk to our members of Parliamaent and we';ll talk to others. And we won';t sell another share until we';re satisfied that those conditions are up to scratch.
JOURNALIST:
$6 billion for Knowledge Nation…..
PRIME MINISTER:
But that';s over, what, about ten years.
JOURNALIST:
Are we the smart country or is that where we';re headed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well everybody wants Australia to be a clever, capable country and we are. It';s important not to be fooled by the Labor Party';s rhetoric into believing that we';re below standard in our educational achievements. In fact all of the international surveys show that the apart from pre-school education, which is the exclusive responsibility of the States, the standards of primary, secondary and tertiary in this country';s education are above the industrial world average. Far above in many cases. We';ve always for example performed above our weight in things like health and medical research and this Government has doubled the amount of money going into that. I saw Mr Beazley last night talking about the fact that he';s going to double the amount of money going into research grants. Well, that';s a good policy, we announced it at the beginning of this year and we';ve already begun to implement it so he';s really just doing something that we';re already doing. Now there';s nothing wrong with that and we have to be mature enough even in the middle of an election campaign to recognise that many of the things he was talking about in his policy launch are things that this government is already doing. There are some additional things but I notice that he didn';t say he was going to dismantle any of the $3 billion investment that we made in our Backing Australia';s Ability program at the beginning of the year. We';ve already started bringing back the best and the brightest. We have these Federation Fellowships, I announced the first fifteen of them about 6 weeks ago in Canberra. They';re worth, they carry a salary of about $250,000 a year and it';s going to result in a number of very eminent people who might otherwise have stayed overseas coming back to Australia and working in specialised fields of research.
So we';re already doing things like that, there';s nothing especially new, but it';s all good, I mean, to the extent that there';s common ground between us on issues like that then that';s a good thing for Australia. I mean nobody';s got a monopoly on a desire to see this country well educated. We do have a bit of a difference on school funding. He does have, in my opinion, a dangerous disposition to brand schools that aren';t elite as elite schools. I';m a great believer in freedom of choice, I think parents should have the right to send their children wherever they choose. And I think when he talks about a hit list of 54 so called privileged schools, there are a lot of schools on that list that aren';t privileged and if they';re on the list one day another group of schools that by no measure are privileged could be on the list the next day.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, we appreciate your time but I';ve left the hardest question to last, and I do appreciate you for giving a fairly straight forward answer on this. Is there any chance of you using any of your influence to get Jamie Cox into the Australian test cricket team please?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that is a very very tough question. Well, let me put it this way, if I were disposed to do so I wouldn';t disclose … look he';s a great player.
JOURNALIST:
You love your cricket don';t you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I do, he';s a great player and I think there';s a lot of local pride in players like that from this state. I think I';ll have to honestly hold my hand, I think it';s a bit unreasonable to heavy the selectors, but I was a bit unhappy with a couple of the choices, I think one of the unluckiest fellows on the Australian cricket scene is I think Stuart McGill, has been one of the unluckiest…
JOURNALIST:
Stuart has a rather nasty habit of being a bit mouthy on the field though Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I realise that, but he's been pretty unlucky.
JOURNALIST:
It';spretty unlucky.
JOURNALIST:
It';s been a pleasure to talk with you Mr John Howard and thanks very much for your time this morning and happy days in Tasmania, well happy afternoons in Tasmania, you';re going back to Canberra today?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, going to Sydney tonight.
JOURNALIST:
Good luck.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]