Subject:
Health Fund; Geoffrey Cousins; Iraq; Exclusive Brethren
E&OE...
PRIME MINISTER:
Could I just, if you're ready, I just wanted to make a comment. I wanted to emphasise that the new health financing fund that the Government proposes to establish will provide earnings for future investment in surgical equipment and health infrastructure over and above the money that is already provided through the health care agreements and in other ways for health. This is a bonus payment, this is an additional payment going to health, in no way will it replace the payments already going to the states or any increases in those payments that might be negotiated as part of the lead up to the health care agreement to be renewed in the middle of next year. Because we have a strong economy we are able to invest this additional surplus in a new fund and the earnings out of that fund will provide additional financial support, on a proper competitive basis, to hospitals all around Australia.
JOURNALIST:
When will we get any details of project outlines....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it'll be some time before we can do that because the fund will be established over the months ahead and there won't be any earnings available out of that fund for at least a year. But what we're doing is making sure that the economy is not over-heating by putting this money away in a separate fund. This won't in any way prevent us from making normal announcements in relation to health and in relation to policy. But I just wanted to make the point that because we have an unexpectedly larger surplus we don't intend to fritter that money away, we're going to put it away in a special fund and out of the earnings from that fund, over the next couple of years, we'll be able to provide additional bonus assistance for health and those grants will be made on proper advice in a proper competitive way.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Geoffrey Cousins' attack on Malcolm Turnbull over the issue with Tasmania and the pulp mill, what's your view on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look my view is that Mr Turnbull is an excellent minister and Mr Cousins is an excellent bloke and a director of Telstra and I don't have anything further to say.
JOURNALIST:
Malcolm Turnbull said this morning though that the Government made a mistake in appointing Geoffrey Cousins to the Telstra board, what do you think of that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't seen that but in any event Geoffrey's on the board and he's done a very good job, and I think he's an excellent person and I think Malcolm's a great minister.
JOURNALIST:
Do you have a view on the troops story in the Sydney Morning Herald today about Democrat candidates seemingly convinced that we should....that you (sic) would prefer that we would stay there until the job is done, if that is your.....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think it's a very interesting story, it demonstrates how out of line the Labor policy is with both sides of politics in America. See the Labor line until now has been that Bush and Howard are out of line and that if you have a change in the Presidency in the United States, there's going to be a changed attitude from the Democrats. It looks as though reality is dawning on Democrats in the United States and I respect that fact. There are many Democrats I respect a great deal, and any new Democratic administration would realise that it would be bad for America and bad for the world if the coalition just walked out of Iraq and allowed the country to descend into total civil war. I think it's a very interesting development and it's a reminder that the Labor policy enunciated by Mr Rudd is unrealistic and out of step with cross party opinion in the United States.
JOURNALIST:
Have you met with members of the Exclusive Brethren and have they offered any financial or in kind support?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have met all sorts of people. I am the Prime Minister. The Exclusive Brethren is a legal, legitimate organisation. I meet them from time to time. As to matters relating to financial support, they're things that you should talk to them, should talk to the Liberal Party organisation about. I don't handle in a direct sense, any fundraising matters related to the Liberal Party, they're handled by the organisation. But I do not deny for a moment I've met representatives of the Exclusive Brethren and why not? They're Australian citizens, it's a lawful organisation and as Prime Minister I have met an enormous number of organisations. It's my job and I find it quite astonishing that people think it's odd I have met representatives of a lawful organisation.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, does the Budget surplus mean you've been collecting too much cash and should you really give that back to the people and back to the states?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I think what's happened is two things. There have been some underspends in certain departments, that often happens, and the economy has grown even more strongly than we anticipated. But when you think of the size of the Budget and the size of our economy, collecting an extra $3 billion; it sounds a lot on its own, but when you put it against the total size of the Budget it's not an enormous over collection, and it's the sort of thing to be expected. The most sensible thing to do is not fritter this money away, but to put it in the Future Fund, put it in the higher education fund, put it in this new fund and sensibly out of the last two funds, the education fund and the health fund, invest the earnings in long term infrastructure and equipment for education and health over and above what we are already doing. Now I think this is a very sensible thing to do with this extra money. I think people want us to put it into something long term. Health and education is long term and because we have this extra bonus we should provide, in the long term, for the health and education needs of the nation and I think that is a very sensible, responsible thing to do. There were tax cuts, big tax cuts in the last Budget, for the fifth Budget in a row and the right thing is to do what the Treasurer and the Health Minister announced yesterday. Thank you very much.
[ends]