PM Transcripts

Subjects: Rob Kerin, deployment of SAS.
Ladies and gentlemen can I start by extending my very warm congratulations to Rob Kerin on being chosen as the new leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party in South Australia and therefore as Premier of that State to replace John Olsen and also to Dean Brown the former Premier and Minister for Human Services who has been elected as Deputy Premier. I also record my admiration for the work John Olsen did as Premier of South Australia. In everything he did for that State both as a Minister and as a Premier he worked very hard to attract investment. He worked very hard to promote the interests of South Australia. He recognised that the economy of South Australia was one that did not have some of the automatic endowments of the economies of some of the larger states and it was therefore constantly necessary to work at attracting investment, and he certainly endeavoured to do that. And I extend to both he and his wife Julie my warm good wishes for their future.
The speedy changeover, the decision of the parliamentary party to meet today is welcome. I know Rob Kerin well. He will appeal to South Australians. He has a straightforward, no-nonsense manner of dealing with people. I believe that he will be quite a popular figure and a very effective administrator and I wish him well.
The other point I wanted to make ladies and gentlemen is that I will shortly go to the barracks and be joined there by the leader of the opposition to say a few words of farewell to the men of the SAS who will be going as part of Australia';s military commitment to the fight against terrorism. They will be going with the total support, good wishes and prayers of all Australians for a safe return home. They are the most superbly trained part of the ADF. They are widely admired around the world. Indeed in my conversation with President Bush yesterday in Shanghai he particularly singled out Australia';s special forces for a very complimentary remark. Their prowess and renown has spread around the world, but they do undertake extremely difficult work. It will be dangerous. I have never sought to disguise that fact and I know that their families, their friends and other loved ones will be anxious about their situation while they are away. I';m not in a position, because it has not as yet been resolved, to indicate precisely when they will go, but it was thought best after discussion with Admiral Barrie and General Cosgrove that Mr Beazley and I visit the barracks today to express the good wishes on behalf of all the Australian people for these men. They go over in our name in the cause of freedom as part of a worldwide response to the scourge of terrorism. They will be undertaking extremely important, extremely crucial work on behalf of all of us and we should keep them very much in our thoughts in the weeks and perhaps months ahead.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister are you able to tell us exactly what it was that President Bush said?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, he talked about his own, the work of his own special forces and he said “your special forces are pretty good you know, I';ve heard about that”. They were essentially the words that he used and I said : “they certainly are. There are none better” or something to that effect. I can';t remember the exact words but that was the sense.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, do you think you have got the total support of the Australian people … what will you explain to reassure the community that you …?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think even people who don';t agree with the deployment would nonetheless wish the troops well, would not wish them any harm and would want all of them to come back safe and sound. The mission will obviously have its critics. You never get a commitment like this that has 100%. What I say to those who are opposed to it is that this is not a fight that Americans will left to endure and carry alone. We cannot cherrypick, we cannot be selective about a relationship as important as ours with America. In the past, America has come to our aid. In the future we may want America to help us in different fashions. But above and beyond that we have a common cause. Australians did die in the world trade centre. There were fewer of them than there were Americans who died, or other nationalities who died. But more than 20 Australians were the random victims of that act of brutality and violence and therefore it is in a very direct sense, as well as other senses, an attack on Australia as well as an attack on America.
JOURNALIST:
Are you surprised by the level of concern in the community….?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I don';t know how strong it is. There is certainly comment on talkback. But in the end you take a stand on something like this because you believe it to be right and I will be taking every step I can to explain and advocate the reasons for involvement. I intend later this week, probably in Melbourne, to make a detailed speech to a formal gathering outlining in some detail the case for Australia';s involvement. I have put it in different ways in interviews and so forth, but I think it is very important with something like this to set out what I might broadly call the intellectual case for a commitment as well as the strong conceptual and emotional case for involvement. It is very important on something like this to continue to argue the case. It should never be assumed that there';s automatic acceptance of everything that a government does in an environment like this and I am very committed to it, so is the Government, and I note, so is the opposition and it is my responsibility to argue the case very strongly.
JOURNALIST:
…national address to the nation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I could do that, but the only thing is that I am conscious that we are in the middle of an election campaign and I may draw some criticism in relation to that but I';ll give that thought because obviously if did Mr Beazley would have a right of reply, although on this issue I understand our position is broadly similar.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, did you get other countries to commit….
PRIME MINISTER:
I thought there may be a limited number of other countries that would make that commitment, but I don';t know that we have heard and seen the end of the commitment of forces by other countries. But that is for other countries to announce. It is not really for me to announce and we don';t say we';ll make a commitment if three or four other countries make a commitment. You either make a commitment because you believe in it, or you don';t make a commitment.
JOURNALIST:
When will you detail what the cost is to Australia? When will you reveal that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that';s already been dealt with by Mr Costello. The costs of the deployment are absorbed in the existing defence budget on the basis that it will go on for a period of time. If it goes on for a significantly longer period of time then obviously we will have to address that. But I won';t be making any early announcement on that.
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to rebuke Senator Vanstone for her comments this morning on GST?
PRIME MINISTER:
I haven';t heard her comments.
JOURNALIST:
That you only die once in relation to….
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look I';d like to know the context. I';m not going to get into a running commentary on ever word that is uttered by my colleagues.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think you need to focus on domestic …. The campaign seems to be dominated by international issues?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I give a lot of emphasis to domestic policy. We will be announcing through the National Party leader John Anderson today quite a number of policies that affect people in country Australia. Things that are the bread and butter of their daily lives. You';ve got to have a mixture. I haven';t sought to have this campaign dominated by international issues. That has been by force of circumstances. I didn';t ordain that this election be held in the wake of the 11th of September or the circumstances of an Australian military commitment. That wasn';t my decision. The election is being held exactly when it is due. It is not an early election, it';s not a late election, it is an on time election.
Thank you.
[Ends]