PM: Good evening and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, I know you have been here for some time.
This G20 meeting comes in the most difficult days for the global economy since the depths of the global financial crisis. Leaders today have had a comprehensive discussion about the circumstances of the global economy.
Arising out of that discussion there is the will to work together to address global economic circumstances. There is the will to see arising from this meeting a plan of action to address circumstances in the global economy.
In relation to the crisis in the eurozone this is a matter for Europeans to address and that was very clearly spelt out in the room today. But it is also clear from the discussions in the room that non-European G20 countries have a role to play.
Specifically, non-European G20 countries have a role to play in bolstering and supporting European will to insure that the 27 October compact, the framework that was agreed, is implemented.
It is very important, indeed it is crucial, that what was agreed on the 27 October now is spelt out in detail and is implemented. And non-European G20 countries also have a role to play, in working on IMF resourcing to send a message of confidence to markets that the world is prepared to come together and come together through the International Monetary Fund, to ensure that it has the resources available to deal with any emerging problems in the global economy.
For my own part on behalf of Australia in the meeting today, I wanted to make a very clear point that we are grappling with a lack of confidence in markets, that leaders will act.
It is therefore very important for leaders to act, to not only talk at this meeting but to ensure that what is determined out of this meeting is implemented. And that in order to do that we need to be very focused on what the G20 as a whole can do to address current circumstances in the global economy and particularly what we can do to ensure that the IMF has the appropriate resourcing that it needs.
In addition to broad ranging discussions about the global economy, there's also been discussions today about development questions and trade questions. There will be a continuation of the discussion of trade questions into this evening's dinner.
On trade, Australia's position is also very clear. We believe that we cannot continue to desist with the current gridlock in the Doha Round. That if we just keep doing the same things over and over and over and over and over we will get the same result, which is no resolution of the round.
Consequently, we do need to bring some fresh thinking to how to pursue global trade talks, including segmenting the round, so that we can work with those countries who are in a position to achieve some results in some sections of the round.
On Australia's part too, we are very focused on the circumstances of least developed countries and giving free market access to those countries.
And in that regard I was very pleased to see the announcement by China today that it would give better market access to the products of the least developed countries.
I am very happy, with those words, to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what was the message that you give to mum and dad investors who feel very uncertain, particularly given the Greek situation, what's your message to them, what they will see out of this (inaudible) to give them confidence?
PM:Look this is a time of great uncertainty, that's why I've described it as the most difficult global economic circumstances since the depths of the global financial crisis.
Markets are looking to the G20, they are looking to leaders to act, they're looking to leaders to grapple with this sense of uncertainty and to answer it with a plan of action.
First and foremost that plan of action does need to be European leaders detailing and implementing the plan of 27 October and doing that even in circumstance where there are new problems and uncertainties arising from, for example what's happening in Greece.
So getting that plan of action implemented is very important, its details need to be spelt out, but more broadly through ensuring that there is appropriate IMF resourcing, I think the G20 can send a message of confidence and certainty to markets and to mum and dad investors.
What's this all about at the end of the day, well inevitably when you are talking about the global economy and when you are talking about IMF financing, when you're talking about financial stability in Europe and recapitalisation of banks and haircuts on bonds, inevitably you are using the jargon of economists and financiers, but behind all of that jargon is one central message, it's about jobs.
Because if the global economy does not work the way it should, if we don't stabilise the global economy and get it back on a path of growth then that will cost jobs. And for Australians whilst we live in a strong and resilient economy because we're not immune from the global economic circumstances then of course measures to strengthen the global economy mean more Australian jobs.
Yes Steven.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister, from your talks today, what's your understanding about Greece's position on the bailout and referendum and if there isn't a resolution of this issue by the end of the summit, does that mean the G20 Summit has failed?
PM:I think for the G20 what is important is laying out a plan for the global economy which gives people a sense of certainty.
Leaders need to grapple with the issues here, the full package of global economy issues, clearly here has been a sharp focus on Europe, but I do want to stress that the discussions about the global economy today were wider than the issues in the eurozone.
For the circumstances of Greece, the important thing there is that the Greek nation recognises that its best future is by remaining within the eurozone and by seeing the agreement of 27 October implemented.
Dennis.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister, you've mentioned that the Greek crisis obviously, but you also come here wanting to talk about longer term issues, job creation and so forth. Are you disappointed that this meeting has been overshadowed somewhat and do you see any way of changing the G20 so it can move away from crisis management?
PM:I think in the question you've really inappropriately segmented what is happening here.
Of course there is a focus on what is happening in the eurozone and particularly what is happening with Greece and that is understandable. As this meeting has come together there has been a set of dramatic events and it wasn't until 27October that European leaders came together and struck the framework for addressing the problems in the eurozone.
So having that focus is understandable and important for the G20. But in the economic discussions we have had today about the global economy, people have been focused on medium term factors as well. I wouldn't want anyone to get the impression that the only thing that has been talked about is responding to the eurozone problems.
People have talked about the need to find new sources of growth in developed countries, people have talked about the need to find new sources of domestic growth in developing nations. There have been mentions of the need for a market based exchange rates, this has been an important issue that the G20 has been dealing with and then the trade question and particularly getting to a stage where we've got some resolution, better resolution of global trade circumstances is about medium term growth, it's about getting a shot in the arm for the global economy, which would mean more jobs and more prosperity over the medium term.
Yes.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister, with regards to resourcing of the IMF, what discussions were had by other nations, excluding Australia, in terms of what additional resources they would give the IMF, and regarding China what's your reading on where they're placed to assist in a further European support?
PM:I think there are, the view - there's a broad view amongst G20 leaders that there does need to be additional IMF resourcing - clearly that will be worked on overnight and into tomorrow, but I do believe there is a broad view about the need for additional resourcing.
I think that's because leaders recognise that is an appropriate move at this point in the global economy, an appropriate move to send a message of confidence, an appropriate move so people could be reassured that the IMF had sufficient resources available to it should it need to address newly emerging global economic circumstances. That is, if there was some broader issues that came onto the horizon that the IMF needed to deal with.
For Australians part, we've been supportive of that. I indicated on the way into the G20 that Australia was prepared to play its part in increasing resourcing for the IMF.
Now we would do that because ultimately global economic stability, global financial stability, using the central institutions of the global economy, like the IMF, is about jobs and prosperity in Australia, that's why we're prepared to do it.
For the circumstances of other countries I think it's probably better for me to leave very direct questions to those leaders.
Yes.
JOURNALIST:What sort of magnitude of increase in IMF resources are we looking at? Doubling possibly? Are we talking about increasing SDR's or borrowing power and finally are these going to be linked to governance reform (inaudible)?
PM:Well the G20 has already spoken prior to this meeting on the need for IMF governance reforms. In terms of arrangements, the actual mechanisms that would be used, work is still being performed, we've just had the first day of the G20, we have more to do tonight, more to do into the night and more to do tomorrow to strike agreement on what would be the best mechanism.
But in these circumstances, from my point of view, I think it's very important that it's a mechanism that can be bought to fruition quickly and make new resources available quickly.
I'd remind that in London, when there was IMF resourcing raised, there was a particular mechanism settled upon at that time.
Yes.
JOURNALIST:You talked about fragmenting the trade agenda rather than having a big round, are there any particular topics that you think might be able to be advanced in this new approach and secondly the IMF's a big investor in Greece, do you like the idea that Australia will be lending money so the IMF can invest in Greece?
PM:OK, I'll take both questions. On the trade agenda, we come to it with the maximum level of ambition. We are a great trading nation and so we've got nothing to fear from freer and freer trade.
On all of the reports available to me from our Trade Minister, and this was certainly replicated in the room during the G20 discussions, the Doha Round has proceeded on the basis that everyone needs to agree all things and it is, before anything is settled, everyone needs to agree all things and it is clear and it has been, I think, clear for some time now that that's not going to be possible. And so segmenting the round, whether it's on a topic basis or whether it's limiting the number of countries that are prepared to strike an agreement, we are open to both possibilities and combinations of those possibilities in order to maximise agreement and progress.
On the question you put about Australian money in Greece, that is a complete misunderstanding of the way in which IMF resourcing works and I do want to address this because as I understand that in Australia the opposition has been peddling some falsehoods about this and let me be clear as I explain this about the IMF.
I am not going to make any apology for striking appropriate arrangements to support Australian jobs. Because at the end of the day, this is what this is about.
The way in which additional resourcing from Australia for the IMF would work, is like IMF resourcing now, Australia says that it will make available a certain amount of money. If that is drawn down upon, then the money is conveyed.
Because it is a loan, it is an asset on our balance sheet and because it is a loan on which interest is paid - very important to recognise that - a loan on which interest is paid, it is an asset on our balance sheet.
So this misapprehension that the opposition has been trying to peddle, that this is money out of the Australian budget going to other countries is completely untrue. This is resourcing for the IMF; it would be made available as a contingent facility. If it was drawn down upon then it is an asset on our budget sheet because it is a loan and we would receive interest on that loan.
And anybody who is standing in the way of discussions here at the G20 about better resourcing of the IMF is effectively standing in the way of a strong global economy and Australian jobs.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister, on the question of jobs, there is speculation about yours. Are you confident you will remain as Prime Minister?
PM:Yes
JOURNALIST:And are you angered that you are answering questions about your job when you are here to protect other Australian jobs?
PM:Look, I'm at the G20 focused on what is a very difficult set of global economic circumstances and the appropriate response.
JOURNALIST:What will it take to quell the Caucus unrest about the leadership?
PM: Look, I've just dealt with the question.
JOURNALIST:Could I ask about the bilateral with Brazil? I'm wondering, in particular there has been evidence that the global slowdown is affecting Australia's iron ore exports, is that something that you managed to talk about with the Brazilian President?
PM:Look we did both reflect that we have some similar economic challenges, we're both great resources nations and so we both have resources sectors that are steaming ahead and that is a good thing to have.
Our resources boom is a great thing for our economy and for jobs and opportunity in Australia, but it does mean that our currency is strong, our Aussie dollar is strong and that puts pressure on other parts of the economy including manufacturing.
Brazil is in a comparable set of economic circumstances so we did reflect on the similarities in our economies. We didn't get to the point of talking about individual commodity prices.
JOURNALIST:What did you make about the Bill Gates' presentation on development and alternative ways of funding development and do you have any ideas of your own and what were some of the ideas he presented?
PM:As you would've seen in Perth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, we have partnered with Bill Gates and his foundation on the all important task of eradicating polio from the world.
We did that at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting because three out of the four remaining countries that have polio are Commonwealth nations. And so Bill Gates, when he spoke today and presented his development agenda, did talk about vaccines. He's brought to this task some of the things from his life as an IT guru and he talked about that today.
He talked about the agility that the IT sector has, he talked about the real-time information that the IT sector has, always feeding into better products and better applications because it is so in touch with its customers; and taking that into the development agenda he is obviously very focused on things that are cost effective with demonstrable and measurable returns, and there's no doubt in the world that things like vaccinating a child absolutely have got demonstrable and measurable returns and you can show it in terms of the number of children who live and you can show it in the eradication of diseases so that no one has to worry about them anymore.
He presented some work for G20 leaders to digest. We in the lead-up to this G20 have focused on some important development questions. One of them is the cost of remittances, in the world that we live in now and we will live in the future, many people will go to other nations to work and the cost of people getting money back home is quite prohibitive at the moment. If we can bring that cost down then that in and of itself, means that there is a more reliable stream of income for developing countries, for those members of the country who either permanently migrate or for a period of their lives work overseas.
JOURNALIST:Have you had any cause to rethink your position on his call for a Robin Hood tax?
PM: Look Australia is not supportive of financial transactions tax. And we've got to think about purpose here, when people talk about a financial transactions tax, the two main purposes people say they want one for is they say, firstly they say they want it to fund development and aid monies, well we are already increasing our aid money and on a journey to meet out Millennium Development Goals.
And then number two people say that they want a financial transactions tax in order to finance clean energy, investments and action on climate change, well we've done that through carbon pricing.
Yes.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister how can you be confident that the world is on the right path when you've got such chaos in Greece today for example we didn't know for several hours who the Prime Minister was, we can't be confident for the next couple of days who the Prime Minister will be, what the constitution of government will be. What gives you that optimism that there is a solution?
PM:It's not for me to make pronouncements about Greek politics, and who the Prime Minister should be or who should form the government, that is for the people of Greece to address.
But here at the G20 where we are considering circumstances in the global economy and particularly the circumstances in the eurozone, I could certainly offer the advice that Greece will have a more prosperous future within the eurozone than outside it; and the agreement, the framework struck by European leaders on 27 October helps Greece achieve that, by reducing their indebtedness through the haircut that was agreed upon and that seems to me to be very important to the future of Greece.
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister, regarding your bilateral with the Turkish Prime Minister, I gather that the centennial celebration in 2015 came up. Can you take us through what's planned, whether you will have trips with him, whether you'll be hosting him in years to come and what those centenary celebration, how they're shaping up, and if you could take us through, blow by blow, your bilateral with Angela Merkel too that would be wonderful.
PM:Well I can't promise that, but what I can say for Australia and Turkey, we are moving towards a very important commemoration,n one hundred years since Gallipoli.
I did very much thank the Turkish Prime Minister for how welcoming they are of Australians, they see Australians in such large numbers, they've been very generous about infrastructure development in order to facilitate Australians who want to go to Gallipoli memorial services and he certainly said that they were looking forward to working with us very strongly in the lead up to 2015.
So both of our nations could take their proper part in the commemoration of Gallipoli, and he was obviously very generously saying that the kinds of things that Turkey has been prepared to do in the past to facilitate the many Australians who want to go, that they'll do again, when I anticipate numbers will swell to new records.
JOURNALIST:And Merkel?
PM:We have had a comprehensive discussion about circumstances in the eurozone.
I thanked Chancellor Merkel for her strong leadership. There is a lot on her shoulders and I think her fortitude in those circumstances is to be very much admired. So we shared notes on that, and talked generally about the bilateral relationship between Australia and Germany which is a very strong one.
I indicated that any time she'd like to visit Australia she'd be more than welcome.
Thank you very much.