PM: My partner Tim and I have just had the honour of an audience with the Emperor and Empress of Japan. It was a great privilege to see their Majesties.
They expressed to both of us their very sincere gratitude for the work that Australia has done to assist the people of Japan in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
They also inquired about how we were responding and overcoming from our summer of natural disasters. They were very interested to hear how Queensland and other parts of the country were going to get over the impacts of flood and cyclone. It was a very great privilege to meet with them, and it gave me the opportunity to personally convey to their Majesties the feelings of the Australian people about the devastating natural disaster here. I wanted to assure them that the thoughts of Australians remained with them, that we'd been very happy to help in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, and that we remained very happy to help as Japan rebuilds.
I am now about to go to a lunch with leading business people in Japan. Amongst many, many others, the chairman of Nippon Steel, the chairman of Mitsubishi, will be there, and I'm looking forward to meeting them and having the opportunity to explain my perspectives on the economic relationship between our two countries and on the circumstances of the Australian economy, our underlying strength.
Later today, I will meet with Prime Minister Kan and have the opportunity to further explore our economic partnership, perspectives for a free trade agreement between our two countries, perspectives as we move towards the G20, East Asia Summit and APEC later in the year, and perspectives on future defence cooperation and the possibility of greater defence cooperation, including on our ability to respond to natural disasters.
So, I am very grateful for the opportunity to have had an audience with the Emperor and Empress of Japan, and I reiterate that I wanted to say to them the thoughts of all Australians are with the people of Japan at this time.
Very happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, while you are here, will you be talking to some of those people from steel companies (inaudible) will you be talking to them about where you're at with (inaudible) price carbon, and whether that would have any effect on the ongoing viability of the Australian coal industry (inaudible)
PM: I'll be very happy to talk about our broad range of domestic reforms, including the Government's plans to price carbon. I am very confident that there is a strong future for our LNG industry as we also move to a cleaner energy future - very confident in the future of LNG.
JOURNALIST: But I said coal, Prime Minister.
PM: Oh, sorry, OK, I'm very confident in the future of our coal exports as well as we move to a clean energy future.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) here today with your visit to the Emperor. You met in the private residence, which is unusual, and also Tim Mathieson (inaudible)
PM: Well, we met in the private residence because their Majesties have taken the view that during these days in Japan where there has been continuous disruption to power supplies and that there is less power available as a result of the circumstances with Fukushima, that it's appropriate for them not to also have the Palace in operation, but instead to receive people in their private residence, so that is a power cutting exercise that they've determined to do in solidarity with the Japanese people who are experiencing periodic power disruptions.
As I understand it, we are the first de facto couple to meet with the Emperor and Empress. The meeting proceeded just as I'm sure it normally would.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what's your reaction to events in Villawood Detention Centre overnight?
PM: It's not my intention whilst I'm overseas to comment in detail on domestic matters, but I would say our general principle in this area is that violence doesn't get anyone anywhere. Violence, in no way, makes a difference to the way people's claims are processed or assessed. Violence is always wrong, and anybody who thinks by acting a violent way in a detention centre that they will get some advantage in terms of their claim is absolutely wrong.
The Minister for Immigration has dealt with these matters in greater detail back in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Has the Government lost control of its detention centres (inaudible)
PM: Well, the Minister for Immigration, of course, has addressed the Australian media back home about that in detail. I do want to say, general principle: violence is wrong and it doesn't help your claim.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there are strong rumours doing the rounds that Kylie Minogue will be performing at tomorrow night's gala fundraiser. Can you confirm those rumours?
PM: Well, to coin a phrase, I understand this has the media spinning around, and to coin another phrase, we should be so lucky.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Tony Abbott's announced a mental health policy today. Firstly, what's your reaction to those, and basically he's saying that the Government's not doing enough on mental health even though you said at the last election it would be a priority this term.
PM: Well, it's well known that the Government's been working on a mental health package. Once again, I will leave commenting on the details to the relevant minister, in this case Mark Butler, but can I say last time we saw Tony Abbott come out with packages and policies they came with an $11 billion black hole associated with them.
What I can say is anything the Government announces in the area of mental health, or indeed any other area, will be properly costed and properly funded. That's a very different approach to Tony Abbott.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Well, I'm not going to speculate on timeframe, but people, I think, are well aware that the Government's been working with representatives of the mental health sector to develop a new package and approach to mental health funding.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) in the Budget then (inaudible)-
PM: -Well, I'm not commenting on Budget speculation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you acknowledge that on mental health you're coming from a fair way back? (inaudible)
PM: Many of our health reforms have made a difference for mental health, including, for example, the additional sub-acute beds which we've distributed around the country which have assisted mental health patients. Our GP Superclinics, our investments in primary care, all make a difference to mental health patients, too.
What I can certainly say is Tony Abbott's $1 billion cutback to public hospitals didn't do anybody any favours, including mental health patients.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you spoke quite frankly this morning about the best way to deepen the relationship between Australia and Japan is to finalise the free trade agreement. How would you characterise development on that? I know that you've been at pains to say reconstruction and recovery are prominent in Japan's mind, but when would you like to see it (inaudible)
PM: I don't want to set a timeframe, in the sense that we are very understanding that, first and foremost, the Government of Japan, the Prime Minister of Japan, must focus on reconstruction, rebuilding, recovery from this dreadful natural disaster, but I will be saying to Prime Minister Kan that whilst we understand that's got to be front and centre of what he's doing and what the Government's doing, when it is possible for them to put the time and effort into free trade negotiations again, that Australia is pressing to conclude a free trade agreement.
JOURNALIST: Are you heartened by the language as well, the fact that agriculture is being talked about in frank terms?
PM: I was heartened when I came here for APEC, at the end of last year, that Prime Minister Kan, shortly before had announced was is called the basic policy, his policy of trade liberalisation in agriculture. We welcomed that then and I continue to welcome it now. It's the right approach for there to be greater liberalisation and freer and freer trade.
Put simply, trade equals jobs: it equals jobs in Australia; it equals jobs in Japan.
JOURNALIST: But you need more, don't you? There's no point signing a dud deal. I mean, you need the Japanese to come forward-
PM: -The language I used when I spoke to members of the Japanese parliament earlier today is a comprehensive, high-quality free trade agreement. That's what we're aiming for.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) will we have funding in this term and (inaudible)
PM: I've identified mental health as a priority for this term of government.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's a common bond between you and Prime Minister Kan in that you're both struggling in the polls. Do you think your visit will perhaps restore some confidence in the way he's handled this crisis?
PM: Look, I'm not going to comment on domestic political situations in Japan in that sense.
JOURNALIST: On Defence, talking about closer ties or extending relations on that front, does that happen under the umbrella of the trilateral security dialogue (inaudible)
PM: Well, certainly, if you look at the way in which the recent natural disaster has been responded to here, Japan needed help. Australia responded, and we worked with the US to get it done. Of course, the US responded too.
So, a very practical example of how trilateral arrangements can make a difference when you're confronting a huge natural disaster.
What I want to see is an ability for us to work together on natural disasters. Generally, just look at this year. I mean, Japan certainly offered assistance to Australia from the summer of floods.
Then, of course, our search and rescue teams were working alongside Japanese search and rescue personnel in Christchurch. Then, with the huge natural disaster here, our search and rescue team responded, our C-17s came up here.
So, just in 2011 we've seen example after example about working together on natural disasters. I think we can explore ways of getting that cooperation so that we are ready to go for future natural disasters and able very quickly to work together.
JOURNALIST: Are you talking more broadly than humanitarian cooperation, though? (inaudible)
PM: My focus is on deepening defence cooperation, and I've identified preparedness for natural disasters for a very obvious reason, which is we've been called on to do that during this year, and called on to work together to do it, so it makes sense to deepen that cooperation for the future.
Thank you.