PM: Thank you very much, I'm delighted to be able to introduce Prime Minister Cameron, who has an important announcement to make.
Prime Minister.
CAMERON: Well, thank you very much and I'm grateful to Prime Minister Gillard for hosting the meeting that we've just had today. This has been, I believe, something of an historic moment. This has been the first time that the Queen's 16 realms have acted together as one single group. From the Pacific to the North Atlantic we are diverse countries, united not just by our association through the Commonwealth, but by sharing one head of state.
For us in Britain, some of the issues we've been looking at date back to the very beginnings of the English Crown. Others to the Bill of Rights in 1688 and the Act of Settlement in 1701. All 16 realms here today share this rich constitutional inheritance, but at the same time, the great strength of our constitutional approach is its ability to evolve.
Attitudes have changed fundamentally over the centuries and some outdated rules, like some of the rules on succession, just don't make sense to us anymore: the idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he's a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith, except a Catholic. This way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we've all become.
People have been talking about changing the rules for some time, but when there are 16 countries sharing the same head of state and each have their own constitutional, legal and political concerns, it's absolutely right that we should all discuss this together. That's why I asked Prime Minister Gillard for the opportunity to chair this meeting today with the heads of government from all 16 nations. I'm very pleased to say that we've reached a unanimous agreement on two changes to the rules of succession.
First, we will end the male primogenitor rule so that in future the order of succession should be determined simply by the order of birth. We've agreed to introduce this for all decedents from the Prince of Wales. Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our Queen.
Second, we've agreed to scrap the rule which says that no one who marries a Roman Catholic can become monarch. Let me be clear, the monarch must be in communion with the Church of England, because he or she is the head of that church. But it is simply wrong that they should be denied the chance to marry a Catholic if they wish to do so. After all, they're already quite free to marry someone of any other faith. We agreed today that this has to change.
Across the 16 realms we'll now work together through an international group and within each country to bring forward the necessary measures to implement these changes at the same time. For historic reasons, the UK needs to publish its legislation first and we'll make sure that what we bring forward is acceptable to all countries. Of course, Her Majesty will play her normal role in any legislation, her Private Secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, was present at this meeting and we will now advise Her Majesty of this unanimous agreement.
Finally, let me say a word about Her Majesty the Queen. I know we're all delighted to see Her Majesty with us here in Perth and we're looking forward to the many celebrations that will mark Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee, 60 years on the throne, next summer. Today, Buckingham Palace has announced the creation of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, which will be chaired by Sir John Major. This will honour 60 years of extraordinary public service by Her Majesty The Queen, and it will seek to further Her Majesty's work across the Commonwealth, reflecting her commitment to helping those in need, including by tackling curable disease and promoting education and culture.
I'm delighted that Prime Minister Gillard and I can confirm that both the British and Australian Governments will play their part in supporting this Trust, and for our part, we'll be making a multi-million pound donation. We're encouraging other countries that are here today to make a contribution too. At the same time, we hope individuals and businesses across the Commonwealth may also choose to mark the Jubilee by supporting the Trust in their own way. Together, we will help make this a fitting tribute to a very, very special anniversary.
Thank you.
Prime Minister.
PM: Thank you, Prime Minister Cameron. Prime Minister Cameron, can I congratulate you on leading this initiative. Can I offer you that congratulations both as a prime minister and as a woman, and can I say I am absolutely delighted that this moment in history is happening here in Perth. To our modern minds these seem like simple and very rational changes, that there would no longer be a discrimination against women in the way in which the line of succession works, and that we would not continue the religious prohibition against marriage to a Catholic.
These things seem straightforward, but just because they seem straightforward to our modern minds doesn't mean that we should underestimate their historical significance, changing as they will for all time the way in which the Monarchy works and changing its history. So I'm very glad this moment in history has been made in Perth.
Prime Minister, I am in a position where I can inform you that I have consulted with each of our State Premiers and each Australian state gives its in principle agreement to these changes and the Australian nation gives its in principle agreement to these changes, and we look forward to working with you and with your officials on now doing the technical work that needs to be done to ensure that we, along with other realm countries, enact the necessary legislation. In Australia that does need to be legislation at both the Federal and at the level of each state.
Prime Minister, can I also congratulate you on the initiative to set up the Diamond Jubilee Trust, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. The Queen has been received here in Australia on this visit with a great deal of affection and I know that Australians will be very excited to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee next year.
It seems very appropriate and fitting to mark a lifetime of dedication and service through a Trust which will honour the things that the Queen has been so passionate about. So as an Australian Government, we will make a contribution and we will be doing everything we can to encourage businesses in Australia to also make donations to this Trust.
Prime Minister Cameron, with the Queen here this week in Perth, I want to just reflect very briefly when she first came to Australia as Monarch. She came in 1954, it was a very extensive tour. She went to every Australian capital city, apart from Darwin, she crisscrossed the country, she went to some 70 country towns on that visit. When she came here to Perth, Perth was in the grips of a polio epidemic.
Now, I mention this historical footnote because you and I tomorrow will be saying some things about our dedication to see the global eradication of polio in the four countries where it still continues to exist, three of them Commonwealth countries.
But once again, thank you very much for your leadership on this change. I'm very enthusiastic about it, you would expect the first Australian woman prime minister to be very enthusiastic about a change which equals equality for women in a new area.
We'll turn now to take some media questions. I understand that Prime Minister Cameron has some questions to take from the British media, which we'll take first.
CAMERON: Thank you. James Kirkup.
JOURNALIST: James Kirkup from the Daily Telegraph. A couple of questions for David Cameron, one for Julia Gillard.
Mr Cameron, just to take you back from the new world to the old and Europe, your Government has a coalition agreement to examine the balance of power between London and Brussels. I was just wondering, can you just tell the British voters what you mean by that, what you're doing about it, when they might sees the results of that examination? Are you looking at every aspect of the relationship between Britain and the EU, not just the areas you've already talked about; social employment legislation and fisheries, say?
Second question, it's shortly going to be Remembrance Day, when we'll mark the sacrifice of service personnel from across the Commonwealth. At that time, are you comfortable with St Paul's Cathedral in London being closed in the site of what to some people looks like a fairly untidy protest?
A question to you, Julia Gillard, relative to a lot of countries around the world, the Australian's economy doing okay at the moment. Do you have any advice for David Cameron on anything he should be doing at the moment?
CAMERON: Thank you. First of all on the Europe issue, I suggested to Julia she might want to come and chair some of our meetings in the European Union; we seem to get through things in the Commonwealth at a very good pace. We are looking at the balance of powers, that is in our coalition agreement. That work is now underway in Whitehall. I think it's right that it looks at the balance of powers, it looks at the different powers that are exercised at Westminster and Brussels.
The coalition agreement also says that there's no question of powers being passed from Westminster to Brussels, I think that's an important point to make, and I'm happy that that work is underway. I would just make this point, which is that as the 17 member states who are members of the Euro push ahead with the things they quite rightly need to do in terms of having separate and extra meetings, having extra governance, having extra processes, as I've said many times, it's important that we safeguard the integrity of the single market of the 27.
That is our key national interest that Britain, a historic trading nation, has its biggest markets open and continue to have those markets fairly open and fairly governed. So irrespective of this balance of powers work, it's very important we make sure that the single market is protected in the European Union. That's a point I made at the European Council on Sunday and again on Wednesday. I'm sure when we have the next one I'll be making it again. There are other members who are not in the Euro who care very deeply about the single market who agree with this approach.
On the issue of St Paul's; I agree with the thrust of your question. I'm very concerned about the continuation of this protest meaning that St Paul's is not open to the public; it's a key national site, it's a key tourist site. It's very important in the whole history and psyche of our country and I think it's very concerning that it's not open. I hope that it can be resolved and I hope that the authorities, the church, the mayor, the police, the Home Office, everyone can work together to make sure this happens. I do think there's a broader issue here. I'm all in favour of the freedom to demonstrate, but I don't quite see why the freedom to demonstrate has to include the freedom to pitch a tent almost anywhere you want to in London.
I've got a feeling that if you or I decided to pitch a tent in the middle of Oxford Street, we'd be moved on pretty quickly. I do think, of course we need the right to protest, but these tents, whether in Parliament Square or whether in St Paul's, I don't think is the right way forward and I think we do need to look at this whole area and I'm very keen that we do. It's vitally important that important places like St Paul's Cathedral are open to the public, open to tourists. As has been written many times, it was not closed since the war, why is it closed now? So I think the pressure is on to try and deal with this and deal with it rapidly. I think the third question was for Julia.
PM: Thank you very much for that question. We did come out of the global financial crisis with a strong economy; it's something we achieved together as an Australian nation, government playing its part, but employers playing their part, keeping people on. Some of them with very innovative short time working arrangements and trade unions playing their part too, cooperating with the employers to get those sorts of arrangements in place. So we are proud that we came out of the global financial crisis strong. We obviously, in the modern age too, have a benefit to being in this region of the world.
What used to be tyranny of distance, the distance from European markets, now is a benefit of adjacency as we are in the part of the world where we continue to see strong economic growth. That means that there is a hunger for the minerals that we have to sell and we are selling that into China and more broadly into our region. That does mean our dollar's very strong and that puts pressures on other parts of the economy and we're working to manage those pressures so we can have opportunity for all. Whilst we are in the growing region of the world we are not immune from global economic pressures, which is why we have raised our voices.
My voice as Prime Minister, the voice of the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, on the need for Europe to address its sovereign debt and banking questions. Of course, we're very determined too, to see the American economy engage in a lift, that's what the world needs to see and we need to see balanced growth. These will be the discussions at the forthcoming G20.
FACILITATOR: Do you want to take one of-
PM: I'll take Phil Coorey.
JOURNALIST: Mr Cameron, Phil Coorey from the Sydney Morning Herald. One of the red hot political issues here in Australia is the government's policy to put a price on carbon to fight greenhouse gasses; you're of a sympathetic view as I understand. Could you tell us is what Australia's doing of any support or leverage to your own policy intentions in Britain? Or is it regarded in the Northern Hemisphere as inconsequential?
CAMERON:I think when you visit another country and you're told there's a red hot political issue, I think - to misquote the Monty Python sketch, this is an issue for laying down and avoiding as it were. So look, my views of climate change are well known, it's important that we deal with this global issue. It's important that countries take the steps that they need to themselves, reflecting their own conditions and positions. But those steps do need to be taken on a global basis. Nick.
JOURNALIST: Nick Watt from The Guardian. A question for Prime Minister Gillard and a question for Prime Minister Cameron please. Prime Minister Gillard, you've been involved in discussions about the Royal succession. Can I ask you do you think that the Queen will be the last unelected Head of State in Australia? If that is the case, can I ask you how you personally feel about that given that you were born as a subject of her Majesty in the United Kingdom?
A question to Prime Minister Cameron, there's a report today saying that executive pay has risen by 49 per cent back in Britain. There's also another report in The FT which says that civil service bonuses have increased by £4 million. Can I ask you how you feel about those, given that obviously, you're central message is belt-tightening? Can I ask you what do you feel about the High Pay Commission, Deborah Hargreaves, talking about the closed shop of remuneration committees, sitting around sorting out their own pay? Do you agree with Vince Cable that the time has come for specific action on this?
PM: Well if I can canvas my personal history I'm the daughter of a man from a Welsh mining village. I'm the daughter of a woman whose maiden name was McKenzie and I've lived in Australia since I was four years old. So I am an Australian. So any of the perspectives that I bring on questions about our constitutional arrangements I bring through the eyes of being an Australian. You don't get an accent like this, from being anything else.
Ultimately, I think the Australian people will work their way through changes to our constitutional arrangements, but there is not a great deal of focus on this in our current, national discourse. We did have a Republican referendum some time back and I think it is fair to say that in contemporary times there is less focus on the issue than there was back then. The Queen has certainly been received with a great degree of affection on this visit. Literally, thousands of Australians turning out to see her wherever she's gone. So there is a sense of personal connection with the Queen which has been very on display and I'd have to say a sense of excitement about the young Royals as well.
CAMERON: Thank you. This is a concerning report, particularly at a time when household budgets are very tight. When people have difficult circumstances, the increase in food prices and fuel prices. Six million public sector workers on a pay freeze. So it is an issue of concern. Let me take you to the three parts of your question. First of all on public sector pay. I believe this Government has actually led by example. All ministers coming in to this Government accepted a five per cent pay cut and a freeze for the whole of the Parliament. We are trying as hard as we can to apply the concept that people shouldn't be expecting to be paid more than the Prime Minister. That has actually had quite a downward thrust on a lot of jobs in the public sector and also right through local government, where you can see a number of local councils now cutting the pay of their chief executives.
So I think, actually, the public sector is giving a lead from the top by example. The second point you raised about the closed shop, about remuneration committees. This has been a problem. There's no doubt about that. One of the things we're doing and it's becoming a bit of a theme today about the empowerment of women, is making sure that there are more women non-executives on boards. I think at the moment there's too much of a closed circle of the people made available to be non-executives and by opening this up, by increasing the number of women on - in our boardrooms, I think that will have a beneficial effect.
In terms of executive pay more generally, I think there are three important principals here. Transparency, accountability, responsibility. Transparency, we need all these figures published. All these figures known, so that you can compare and contrast. So that shareholders know what they are paying for. You need accountability so that is to strengthen the hands of shareholders. So that they feel that they are taking responsibility for remuneration in the boardroom. I think that is important.
But above all there is responsibility. I think boards have got to think, when they are making pay awards, is this the right and responsible thing to do? Of course, you've got to attract the best talent to run the business that you are accountable for as a non-executive director. But is what you are doing responsible? Many organisations do now look at the multiple in terms of the lowest paid in an organisation and the highest paid in an organisation. I think everyone whether they're in public life, whether they're in private enterprise, they've got to be able to justify the decisions they make about pay.
So I welcome the debate about his. I welcome the transparency. I want to see proper accountability. I believe in a responsible society and that is responsibility exercised by everybody including in the boardroom.
PM: So I think we owe the Australian media a question. We'll take David Speers.
JOURNALIST: Thanks Prime Minister. David Speers, from Sky News. I just wanted to return to the climate change issue if I could to you Prime Minister Cameron, simply do you believe there is international momentum towards putting a price on carbon? Prime Minister Gillard, has there been any progress at these talks here in Perth?
CAMERON: Well on the price on carbon, we've put a carbon floor-price in through our budget. We think other countries are looking at this. If you want to get control of global emissions, if you want to deal with this issue then the market is an effective way of doing that. It's often not enough on its own. There are changes in rules and regulations you also need to make. My belief in Britain's case, and with our economy, that actually there are opportunities in green technology and green jobs that we want to take advantage of. We want to be leaders in this field in the new technologies.
So we've taken the steps that we've taken. We've given some international lead on this, but it's for other countries to make their own decisions in their own way.
PM: I will be holding a press conference with the Commonwealth Secretary General to discuss the events of the day. But as I indicated a little bit earlier today, the meeting has adopted the recommendations of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on strengthening its role and work in the future to make sure that there are ways of getting involved if a country is starting to experience problems rather than just watching that get to a situation where the only choice that leaders could be confronted with is suspension or expulsion. On the details of that, I'll be canvassing them with the Commonwealth Secretary General at a later event. Thank you very much.
CAMERON: Thank you very much indeed. Thank you Julia.