Subject:
National Plan for Water Security; interest rates; Iraq; gas royalties.
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen, we've had a very good Cabinet meeting here in Perth. It's great for Cabinets to move around the country and it's a wonderful opportunity to be reminded again as we constantly are that the centre of gravity of Australia is not the triangle constituted by Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. And Western Australia has its own nuances and its own particular characteristics of which I have been both familiar and fond over a very long period of time. But wherever you are in Australia this week, the main issue nationally remains that of water security and the most important thing that I will do this week, indeed the most important thing I will do for some weeks, is to attend the meeting in Canberra on Friday with the Premiers and Chief Minister of the Murray-Darling Basin states to consider and I hope reach agreement in principle on the Commonwealth's plan for national water security. I welcome the fact that the New South Wales Premier has re-expressed publicly his support for the plan. I have seen reporting and I have received a letter from Mr Bracks regarding the Victorian alternative. The difficulty I see with the Victorian alternative is that is it really does represent a proposal for more of the same, for business as usual, a proposal for shared governance arrangements which have not worked in the past and I find it hard to believe will work in the future. I will go to Friday's meeting prepared to do my level best to reach an agreement. I am prepared to listen to reasonable suggestions from the states about the Commonwealth's plan. I am not going to be dogmatic about reasonable suggestions, but the principles, the essential elements of that plan, which involve a referral of the necessary power to the Commonwealth and also, of course, the investment of more than $10 billion in water infrastructure around the nation, but heavily because of the heavy concentration of irrigation, in the Murray-Darling Basin area. They are the essentials and without that unconditional referral of power and without that infrastructure investment, we don't have water security. Now this is the biggest conservation and environmental issue of our time because we can do something about it now. When we talk about things related to climate change, they are very important, but they are of a long term character and the dividend and the fruits of change in that area will accrue to future generations. But it is within the grasp of this generation, within the lifetime of this generation, to do something about water security and that is why to me it is the most important conservation and environmental issue. And I ask again that all of the Premiers come to the meeting on Friday willing to make commitments in principle. Obviously there will be details and legislation to be worked out but the proposal of ours is not all that complicated and we have responded to questions. And this is a great opportunity and I believe that Australians want the leaders of their elected governments to come together and reach agreement and go forward and provide a greater level of water security than we now have.
JOURNALIST:
Is Mr Bracks being a little unhelpful saying it's shoddy, the water plan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look I don't want to get into an exchange of words. I go to this meeting in good faith, I go to this meeting wanting agreement, I go to this meeting committed to a plan for the future of water security. And it doesn't help to be flinging around exchanges of that kind because there is too much at stake. There really is far too much at stake on this issue. And the Australian people demand unity on this issue, they demand action and they demand commonsense on the part of their elected leaders and they obviously demand an agreement be reached across the political divide because this is far too important to be done otherwise.
JOURNALIST:
Are you having your officials work with the Victorian Government between now and the meeting to see if you can iron out some of the...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well our officials have been meeting with the officials of the states for the last 10 days or two weeks, although I am told that at the last meeting of officials, the Victorians did not attend because of scheduling commitments.
JOURNALIST:
Is this the last opportunity on Friday or is it, you know, because it doesn't look good at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Matt I am always an enthusiastic optimist about all sorts of things and I believe that with goodwill we can still reach an agreement. But it does require the commitment of everybody and the plan I have put forward itself is a compromise. I mean I haven't asked the states to refer their powers over the Murray-Darling Basin in return for nothing. I mean I have put $10 billion on the table partly to fix a problem that we had, at a Commonwealth level, had nothing to do with creating and that is the over-allocation of water. So it's a genuine compromise, a genuine plan, a genuine offer and I just hope that people can rise above any sense of residual parochialism on this and to understand that no matter how you phrase it, we have learned from decades of bitter experience that the only way to properly govern the Murray-Darling Basin is to vest the authority in the hands of one government. And that can only be the Commonwealth because plainly it's an issue that crosses state borders.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have any more you can offer on Friday? Can you supplement the package in any way to placate them?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the amount of money being offered is huge and I don't accept that the answer is to offer still more money. I don't hear the states offering any more, and there's no case for us offering a lot more money. In relation to the details of it, if they have some specific proposals then I will listen to them, but they must be consistent with the essentials of the plan. I mean we have to have an unconditional referral of powers and we have to have a governance arrangement that leaves the ultimate decision making authority in the hands of the Commonwealth because we will be politically accountable for it and that's called democracy.
JOURNALIST:
The Reserve Bank Governor has given evidence to a Senate Committee saying that it's more likely that interest rates will rise in the foreseeable future than before. What's your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't have any comment on that. I don't give running commentaries on interest rate levels, I simply observe that the inflation figure for the last quarter was a good figure for stability in interest rates and I myself have not encouraged the view that rates were likely to fall in the near future. That has not been encouraged by me or any of my colleagues.
JOURNALIST:
But he's put it out there and that must be a concern for you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't have any further comment beyond what I have just said.
JOURNALIST:
Doesn't Tony Blair's troop reduction plan, and more specifically the timetabling of that as reported, fly in the face of every position that your government has taken in the last few months?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we should wait and see what he exactly says. I counsel you all to do that.
JOURNALIST:
Do you know what he's going to say PM?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have been aware for some time that the British were going to bring about a reduction, but bear in mind that what he's planning, as I understand it, is a reduction from 7,000 to about 5,200. That will still leave British forces in Southern Iraq 10 times the Australian force. I mean we are both in southern Iraq and our soldiers in Iraq are comprised by the 550 odd that we have in southern Iraq. And under this proposal of the British it will still be 10 times what we have. So I think to keep it in perspective, we ought to remember that. But this has been in the wind, a reduction has been in the wind, and the reason I understand Mr Blair will give is that conditions have stabilised in Basra so that there can be this decision taken. But they will have 5,000 and we will have 550. I don't think it follows from that that there should be a reduction in our 550. I mean you have got to maintain a critical mass and to do the job according to our defence advice, you need that.
JOURNALIST:
The US is increasing its numbers, Australia is increasing its numbers and the British are pulling a sizeable chunk of their presence out of Iraq. I mean they are going completely the other way to what you and the US ally is doing?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in relation to the comparison of the Americans and the British, the Americans are responsible for the most violent and difficult part of the country and that is Baghdad and Al Anbar province. I mean, anybody who studies Iraq for five minutes knows that controlling Baghdad is infinitely more challenging than controlling Basra. That is the reason why the Americans are increasing their numbers and the reason why because of the relative improvement in Basra, the British are reducing their numbers. And bear in mind that our troop increase projected, in relation to the trainers, is 70, so that would take us to somewhere a little over 600 and that would still be essentially a tenth of what the British have.
JOURNALIST:
Kevin Rudd today announced an infrastructure fund for royalties derived from the Gorgon project. Does WA get its fair share of royalties?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think WA gets very fairly treated and it's always been our view that these are the assets of the nation and I don't think it is good national economic policy to be earmarking according to geographical location, particular revenue streams to particular states because other states will argue that they should have some kind of particular deal and you will find resentment building in other parts of the country, which is undesirable. This is an asset of the Australian people and it should be treated like all other assets of the Australian people and that is the basis of our policy and it will remain so. Thank you.
[ends]