JOURNALIST:
Who are you tipping for the Cup this afternoon?
PRIME MINISTER:
Duchovny.
JOURNALIST:
How has the day been? Have you enjoyed yourself?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look it';s great. It';s unique. And it';s the first Darwin Cup I';ve been to and it has a great, friendly, relaxed atmosphere and it';s a pity I have to leave but work beckons.
JOURNALIST:
It';s a long time since you';ve been to Darwin. Why now?
PRIME MINISTER:
It';s not a long time since I';ve been to Darwin. I come to Darwin quite regularly. You should check your records.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, on a question of the day – do you accept now that if you had answered differently that question on September 17 last year, you wouldn';t now be accused of having misled Parliament?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, the Labor Party will accuse me whether it';s true or false. But it';s false. I haven';t misled Parliament. The answer I gave related to the question I was asked, and the question I was asked was in relation to a particular shipment of ethanol from Brazil and at the time I had the meeting I didn';t know about the shipment.
JOURNALIST:
There were parts to the question though, weren';t there? You';re talking about the last part of the question.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I';m talking about the first question that was asked of me.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, in Ali Imron';s case in Bali today his lawyer including a quote that just like the Prime Minister of Australia, they should not get the death penalty.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the question of what penalty should be handed down is a matter for the Indonesian court. I';m not going to make any other comment.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, there is a report in The Age today that apparently the Government is not planning to change the family benefits system or making any changes to the family benefits system.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well any such report is wrong. What I have said is that the broad structure of family payments in Australia is sound, but that doesn';t mean for a moment that we won';t add to them or improve them or vary them in some way, but the basic structure remains sound and any suggestion that we have abandoned any future intention of improving or varying the benefits to make them work more smoothly is wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Senator Vanstone has said that working women would prefer additional childcare [inaudible] to get back to work instead of cash. Is that a vote of no confidence in the baby bonus?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
On the other issue Prime Minister, the question of your visit to indigenous communities. Can you give us some sort of picture of the approach that you';re bringing with you.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what I will be doing is listening and I';ll also be wanting to know how the restrictions on alcohol consumption have worked. I believe that if local communities want to impose those restrictions, they should be helped and encouraged to do so by both State and Federal governments. I am also keen to learn about the programs that the Cape York Land Council designed to shift people from welfare and get them back into work.
JOURNALIST:
There';s speculation you';re in Darwin today to talk to Shane Stone about setting up the Liberal Party in Darwin. Is that right?
PRIME MINISTER:
No.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, back on ethanol, how would you describe your relationship with Mr Honan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I know him. I know a lot of businessmen and women. And he';s quite a successful Australian businessman. He was also quite friendly with my predecessor Mr Keating. And I see a lot of businessmen and I';ll go on seeing a lot of businessmen, but the reality is that that';s part of your job.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Latham from the Opposition seems to have suggested that your relationship with him is close enough that you play golf together.
PRIME MINISTER:
I';ve never played golf with him in my life. He';s probably got a much better handicap than I have anyway.
[ends]