Subjects: leadership; Australian war graves; pensions and benefits for families of Defence personnel; Albury bypass; United States farm Bill.
E&OE...........
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
My position on that is very clear and nothing';s changed.
JOURNALIST:
Senior Liberals say that you';ve given an undertaking that you will retire next year.
PRIME MINISTER:
I made a statement in the election campaign and nothing has changed in relation to that. And the position is as I';ve said before and nothing has changed.
JOURNALIST:
Do you want to put an end to the speculation?
PRIME MINISTER:
I want to just go on serving the Australian people.
JOURNALIST:
You can understand why some supporters of the Treasurer might seem a little bit anxious in recent weeks?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think Liberals all around Australia are interested in good government and serving the Australian people and my advice to Liberals is that their first obligation is to the Australian people and that applies to me, it applies to all members of my team. And the public want their elected representatives to serve them rather than serve themselves.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t think it makes it the least bit difficult. I don';t feel anything';s made difficult. On a day like this you don';t think anything';s all that difficult.
JOURNALIST:
Is it frustrating though that some Liberals are advocating the change?
PRIME MINISTER:
I';m not aware they are.
JOURNALIST:
Well they';re reported as saying that (inaudible)…
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, yes, yes.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the Australian war graves, it appears the French Government has changed their mind to (inaudible). Do you welcome this development?
PRIME MINISTER:
If that is true I welcome it very warmly. We haven';t had any formal communication from the French Government and we';ll go on advocating our case and we';ll go on putting the argument very strongly. But I';ve not had any communication from the French Government. But if there has been a change of heart, if there has been a decision made to rule it out then I welcome that very warmly because I';ve taken the view that none of those graves should be disturbed. Australia shed enormous amounts of blood on French soil and there are no circumstances in which any disrespect should ever be shown to the Australians who died defending the soil of France.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be seeking (inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I will.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, when you see people getting $1 million compensation for a smack on the mouth in the schoolyard, how does that compare with the compensation for the widow of the SAS bloke who died in Afghanistan? Doesn';t seem to measure up.
PRIME MINISTER:
I can understand why people would draw an unfavourable comparison. And we';ll look as we always do very carefully at the scale of benefits available to the widows and children of Defence personnel who';ve died, or been seriously injured. We review them quite regularly to make sure that they are always in line with proper expectations. It is important to remember that the benefits we now have are designed to help people through the entirety of their lives and that you shouldn';t just look at the lump sum, you shouldn';t just compare the lump sums, you have to take into account as Danna Vale pointed this morning, you';ve got to take into account the benefit of the Gold Card and the benefit of all those other things and when you add all of those up and you add them to the lump sum then the benefit and the compensation is much higher than might appear to be the case if you just looked at the lump sum. There will always be a constant surveillance of these to make sure they are adequate given the circumstances and Senator Hill';s indicated that we';ll continue to look. But I just ask people to compare all of the benefits and not just the two lump sums. And of course some of the verdicts that are given in civil courts not only appear to be unreasonably large, they are in fact unreasonably large. I';m not talking about people who';ve suffered horrific disabilities such as that poor man who suffered a very severe accident while involved in wrestling and things like that but other verdicts do seem to be to most Australians out of proportion and it';s part of the difficulty we face in this whole public liability area.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think [inaudible] widow';s compensation is adequate though?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what I';m saying is that you';ve got to look all of the benefits and not just look at the lump sum. And as always with these things we look at them sympathetically and I am one who believes in erring on the side of generosity for people who have lost their husbands or sons or daughters in battle on behalf of Australia. They do have a special place and there is a special obligation. We believe the benefits now are very good. That doesn';t mean to say they';re good for all time and that you can';t change them but I wouldn';t want it to be thought that when you take all of them into account they aren';t very beneficial and the emphasis is on helping people through their lives and not just providing them with a big lump sum.
JOURNALIST:
On a local issue what did you take from your meeting with the Mayors of Albury-Wodonga this morning?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well all of them put a view to me about the road issue, and I';ve agreed to consider what they';ve put to me. And they';ve put a very strong and calm case for a somewhat different approach to the issue. I';ve undertaken to examine it and see if there isn';t merit in what they';ve put. I need to discuss it with John Anderson and when I';ve done that I might have more to say or he might have more to say.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] with Premier Carr?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the first thing I';m going to do is talk to the Minister in my Government about it and then if it';s necessary to talk to Mr Carr or Mr Bracks I';ll do so. I want a solution which is satisfactory to the local community and obviously a solution that';s going to involve all three governments and everybody';s got to do their bit and kick in what they ought to kick in.
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible] particular about country banks, in particular the National Australia Bank, that they shouldn';t be closing any more country branches. [inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think everybody would like to see banks stay in country areas as long as possible indeed indefinitely, and I can understand people saying to banks that they have obligations and I see it like you, I think banks do have obligations. Banks are privileged institutions. They have licences that other people don';t have. The existing Australian banks are heavily protected in many ways. They are well run and they';re very stable. But you can';t have branches everywhere. I mean that stands to reason. But I';m sympathetic to Warren Truss'; concerns.
JOURNALIST:
On the US farm policy, will you be speaking to US politicians about [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there are regular discussions and exchanges between Mr Vaile and Mr Truss and their counterparts in the United States, and when the opportunity arises which I think it probably will in the not too distant future I';ll certainly be raising the matter myself.
[ends]