PM: It's good to be here with Frank Lowy and all our friends from soccer, because what we are announcing today is that we, the Australian Government, are going to be backing an Australia bid for the 2018 World Soccer Cup. This is really important for Australia, really important for the future of this code and if we can pull it off it will be absolutely fantastic for the future of this game in Australia.
We recognise fully, this is a battle between, a David and Goliath encounter. I mean we will be up against some of the biggest soccer countries in the world. We will be up against possibly England, possibly China, possibly the United States, possibly the Netherlands.
But you have got to be in it to win it - and this will be a David and Goliath contest. But our judgement is it is worth getting in there and backing. Our friends in the Football Federation of Australia, we will do everything possible in association with them, and in association with the state and territory governments of Australia to try and pull this major sporting event off for Australia.
Very important for the country, very important for the future of this great code. Very important for all of our young people and young kids who are taking this sport increasingly seriously. And on sport itself can I say, the more young people in Australia who we have engaged in community level sport and competitive sport, in team sport, the better for the nation.
There are some 450,000 people now who are registered with an association, with soccer around the country. This is fantastic. Let's aim higher and part of aiming higher is to aim for the ultimate prize, which is to secure the World Cup for soccer here in Australia into the future. Over to you Frank.
LOWY: Thanks very much Kevin. One thing I would like to say is, how can you lose when you have such support? The Prime Minister, the States, the country. And I think we will do our damndest to get there.
There is a lot of work to do, a lot of people to talk to, a lot of diplomacy, but we are well equipped to do that. And I hope that when the time comes the name Australia will be on the (inaudible) card to host the World Cup 2018.
JOURNALIST: Mr Lowy, do we seriously have the infrastructure to support a bid?
LOWY: Well, do we doubt that Australia can create the infrastructure to support the bid? I mean, we have much already, but what we don't have I am sure we will build.
JOURNALIST: Mr Lowy what kind of support materially do you require from the Federal and State Governments to help your bid?
LOWY: Well, they need to be with us and they are with us. I mean I don't think it's a matter of dollars and cents, not right now anyway. But all this and that will cost most. But eventually you get it back because just imagine, 32 teams coming to Australia. What do they bring with them? How many people and what business and what fame and what fortune you are going to get out of it? So it is an investment, it is not an expense.
PM: Look at the finals in Germany for example. As I am advised, 3.5 million spectators. Two million came from overseas. The combined viewing audience of, I am told, 26 billion, if you put it all together, which is what, four or five times the population of the world, that is a lot of people.
And if that was Australia, the benefit for the nation, both for those who are great and passionate supporters of this code and those who want to see Australia's international reputation lifted even higher, it will be a good thing for the country.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, does your backing come with a commitment for the infrastructure?
PM: What we are going to do first up is work in close partnership with the Football Federation of Australia and the state and territory governments. First in principle step is to say, we want to be in this to win it, recognising that it is a David and Goliath contest. Secondly, at the level of practicality, what we then need to do is to undertake an audit of all of our existing sporting facilities to make sure there is enough for the competitive teams, 32 teams.
You have got to make sure they have got enough training facilities, enough stadium facilities around the country of sufficient standard. So the first step is the audit.
But I have got to say, we haven't taken this decision lightly. We want to be with the Football Federation of Australia in this as partnership and of course in partnership with state and territory governments as well.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd how much are you investing in this initial stage?
PM: Well pre election in terms of the Football Federation of Australia, we have already indicated that we have expanded support for the code and that is in recognition of what an enormous boost that we have had because of the Socceroos' success in recent years and so many young people taking up this sport at the local level.
So to bring soccer up to the level of some of the other codes, there has to be in this an additional injection of funds. So we doubled the previous allocation of funding over the next four years from 16 million to 32 million.
Now when it comes to this particular event, then we will take this step by step in partnership with the Football Federation of Australia and in close cooperation with state and territory governments. Remember the decision is not taken, we understand until about 2011 so we have got three years of very hard work to go to secure the rights.
We intend to do it in close partnership with our friends in FFA and if we are successful the real work then begins.
JOURNALIST: You must have some financial contribution to be making at this stage to get the bid up and running. How much are you -
PM: Well I could say our pre election commitment to double the previous allocation to the code indicates how seriously we take the future of the code and as I said, that 16 million is a substantial allocation.
JOURNALIST: Sir the ultimate prize is winning the bid but what other benefits might come from being involved in the process of trying?
PM: Well let's put it into historical context. This great country Australia has hosted the Olympics twice. We have hosted the Commonwealth Games three or four times. We have hosted the Rugby Union World Cup.
The time has come for Australia, if we have hosted the Olympics, we have hosted the Commonwealth games, we have hosted the Rugby World Cup, it is time for the Soccer world cup to come to Australia as well.
In terms of what benefits flow from that, in preparing the bid and then subsequent to the success of the bid if we get there, you cannot underestimate what impact this has in terms of Australia's global standing.
By putting together a decent bid, and if we then succeed, it helps the overall international reputation of this country. And there is a whole lot of indirect spin offs which come from that for business, for tourism and a whole series of associated events as well.
But secondly, the other big benefit for Australia is, if we are in there pumping hard for this, it does encourage our young people to get out of their computers and get out on to the field and maybe, an hour less with their computer game and an hour more running around the field with a round ball. Including me.
JOURNALIST: Mr Lowy does the FFA have the full blessing of the (inaudible)?
LOWY: Oh yes absolutely. The AFC, the AFC full blessing will depend on whether there is another country that is going to bid for the 2018. If there is another country that is bidding, well I think they will have to take a neutral stand. Otherwise, they are fully behind us.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on another issue (inaudible)
PM: Well we have been discussing this for some time. Last night the Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon was with me and the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith sat down with US Secretary of Defence and the US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and we discussed many things including Afghanistan.
Plainly there is a need for better police training in that country, and we have been reviewing the needs for that into the future. Whatever commitment we make will be modest and within our own resources, it won't detract from our capabilities elsewhere, but we are finalising those details. It will be modest.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Let's not put any numbers on it, it will be modest, but let's be realistic about Afghanistan. As a Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has said quite rightly, if we are in Afghanistan we need a strategy to secure long term success. That hinges on a couple of things. One of which is making sure that there is sufficient training occurring of the Afghan National Army, another is ensuring that is enough training (inaudible) occurring for the Afghan National Police.
It is quite plain that there are gaps when it comes to the Afghan National Police, together with other countries, we will be looking to making sure that those training needs are met, but on the basis of everyone pitching in. Our own contribution will be modest.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: We take our future defence planning seriously and I am sure that the Defence Minister had an entire day with his US counterpart on these questions yesterday and based on the close and convivial conversation we had last night, I do not foresee a problem. I don't foresee any problem whatsoever.
JOURNALIST: Sir, on a related issue, can we get your reaction to the emergence last week that it appears that the Howard Government would have started pulling its combat troops out of Iraq this year if it had been re elected despite what they said before the election.
PM: I will let the Australian people make their judgement about the integrity of the previous government's stand on the Iraq war from beginning to the end of the Australian deployment. I think those who will reflect on the historical record will reach their own conclusions.
Our commitment has been clear cut. Prior to the election we committed the Australian people that by the middle of this year we would withdraw our combat forces from Iraq. I have been to Baghdad, I have visited our courses, I have spoken with the US military command on the ground, the Iraqi Prime Minister on the ground. We have negotiated, as we said, the withdrawal arrangements for those combat forces and that will be concluded in the middle of the year as we said. And we have got to zip. See you later folks.