PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen, I';ll just make a couple of very quick remarks and then be happy to answer your questions. I';ll be meeting a delegation of the United States Chamber of Commerce in a few minutes to talk about the possibility of a US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. The Chamber of course is a very strong supporter and has lobbied very hard in Washington to secure the Agreement. I';ll be reminding them of the need for Australia to receive a proper and significant offer on agriculture, if there is to be any prospect of achieving the Free Trade Agreement. Representing manufacturers as the Chamber does, I';ll be pointing out the enormous benefits for American manufacturers if there is a Free Trade Agreement. It is still my hope that we can conclude one and quite unsolicited, certainly from our point of view, the President, when he was interviewed by the journalists a few days ago, reaffirmed his hope that it be concluded by Christmas. He used almost identical language to the language that he had used in Crawford. So it remains the joint aim of the two governments to achieve it, it';s still going to be quite hard and I don';t want to underestimate the challenges that are involved but we';re very committed, it would be very valuable if it can be pulled off but we do need a movement of significance by the Americans in relation to agriculture.
I might also point out that we';re still talking very intensely with the Government of Thailand, Mark Vaile has done a great job with his negotiating team over the past few days in relation to the Australian-Thai Free Trade Agreement. If that is concluded, there';s still some work to be done, but if that is concluded then that will be of very considerable benefit to Australia, particularly in relation to our automotive and wine industries.
Questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you have any details about a former Taliban fighter who entered Thailand a few days…
PRIME MINISTER:
This is the general with the Australian passport, yes? I';m told that they';ve let him go, there';s nothing in it. Beyond that I don';t have any information.
JOURNALIST:
How did he have an Australian passport?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t know Glenn, I';m not that good.
JOURNALIST:
Wouldn';t that make him a person of interest though?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well a lot of people are of interest to me Glenn, but I';ve only just heard about it and I';ve been told that he';s been let go, but as to how he got the passport, whether he should have had it, no doubt I';ll find out about that but right at the moment I don';t know.
JOURNALIST:
Have you been briefed on this latest Osama…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';ve been told about it and I';ve seen the CNN report. I might remind you of course that the material that';s come to us from interrogation of Al-Qaeda people indicates that Australia was of interest to Al-Qaeda before the 11th of September 2001 and the first time that we really scored a particular reference from senior bin Laden people was of course in relation to our role in East Timor, but whether it';s genuine I don';t know.
JOURNALIST:
Do you believe the timing of the release of this tape Prime Minister has got anything to do with the APEC meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
I can';t authoritatively say yes or no to that, I can only, like the rest of you, speculate and I don';t think I';ll bother to do that.
JOURNALIST:
What are the key outcomes do you think for Australia out of the next couple of days?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the maintenance of momentum for APEC, the important thing about APEC is to maintain its momentum, it is a special grouping of countries. One of the things that Australia has pushed very hard for is reform of the structures and the procedures of APEC and I hope that we can make some progress on that front. To have all of the leaders here this time and to have many of the key people like the President of the United States very focused and involved is very important. It is an organisation that is primarily but not exclusively about trade issues, clearly security is now a big issue, quite apart from anything else security has economic consequences, as the Foreign Minister pointed out yesterday the Bali attacks have taken one per cent off Indonesia';s GDP and of course has massively dislocated the economy of Bali.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister what is your response to Dr Mahathir';s remarks regarding treating Australia as a potential terrorist state …
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s just so over the top. He';s retiring and we all wish him a long and happy retirement.
JOURNALIST:
You';re glad he is going into retirement?
PRIME MINISTER:
We wish him a long and happy retirement.
JOURNALIST:
Would you be planning to speak to him over the next couple of days?
PRIME MINISTER:
Karen, I speak to a lot of people at these gatherings.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister on the issue of trade liberalisation, I see the trade ministers have agreed to broadly send an instruction to negotiators to get a move on. What can the leaders specifically do now to breathe some life back into the DOHA round?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think if the leaders were to produce a declaration that included a strong reference to the desirability of the DOHA round succeeding and a strong reference in particular to agricultural subsidies which are of such importance to developing countries then that would be very helpful and would put some pressure on, particularly the Europeans.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the Greens today have announced that as a way of protesting at President Bush';s visit that they have invited Mrs Mahdouh, the wife of a Guantanamo Bay detainee to be an official guest in the gallery on the day, they';ll also be wearing wattle and other insignia as a sign of protest, what is your reaction to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don';t have a particular reaction to that Paul other than to say that people are entitled to invite guests in accordance with the rules that apply to these things and I';m not going to, in my position, say who a Member of Parliament can invite as a guest, guests have obligations of good behaviour, like anybody else does, but beyond that I';m not going to get drawn into that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the suggestion seems to be that the FTA with Thailand in its recent stage where heads of government start finalising it, is that right, is that something you could achieve today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I am meeting the Thai Prime Minister, the discussions about the Thai FTA are still going on, Mark Vaile has made very good progress. You ask me if it';s going to be wrapped up this afternoon? Look I couldn';t be so bold as to make that prediction, but you never know with these things, it might, something might happen quickly, equally it might take a bit longer, I just don';t know. But I am, in any event, meeting the Thai Prime Minister this afternoon.
JOURNALIST:
Can you expand on the benefits of an FTA with Thailand if it does come off?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well amongst the things that would obtain fair freer and less expensive entry into Thailand would be exports of Australian automobiles, or motor cars as well call them, and wine. So it would not be an unpopular development for the people of South Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, can you give us any update on negotiations with the sheep?
PRIME MINISTER:
The sheep?
JOURNALIST:
Can you tell us at what point you will have to fix on your plan to…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they';re, I mean the, where it sits at the moment is that we are, we';ve put ourselves in a position where it';s heading in a direction that can readily bring it to Australia, but equally we';re still at this stage hoping that we can land them elsewhere.
JOURNALIST:
But at what point do you have confirm?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we';ll let you know, I mean it';s very hard because it';s still overwhelmingly our desire that we land them somewhere else and we continue to work towards that end.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Mr Bush has indicated that he';s interested in perhaps putting pressure on China and Japan over currency devaluation in his talks. What would Australia';s position in relation to those issues be, if it comes up in the Leaders'; meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
I doubt very much that it will come up at the Leaders'; meeting. What is our view? Our view generally is that if the United States wants to put an argument, well it';s an argument that it';s got to be put to the country involved, we don';t automatically take sides with the United States in relation to views it takes regarding the currency levels of other countries. We don';t automatically side with the Americans on that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard have you been satisfied from how you';ve been advised on security preparation for this meeting this weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
And that every steps been taken obviously in light of the number of world leaders and the high profile…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well yes I think the Thais have gone to extraordinary security lengths but you have to these days, but nothing';s suggested to me that anything';s going to happen, you just don';t know do you?
JOURNALIST:
There was a letter to the local paper today, highly critical of the fact that people may not have been able to go to the park where you walked this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
There were a lot of people there, were you there? I';ve got to tell you Paul, if that was a cordoned off park… were you there? There were thousands of people there. Mate, were you there?
JOURNALIST:
I had to tell you Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
No, can I say that we didn';t ask that anything be cordoned off, and nothing was cordoned off but I commend your zeal in reading the letters to the editors, I';m struggling to read them.
JOURNALIST:
You';re meeting President Megawati tomorrow, can you sort of expand upon what your message going into that meeting is going to be?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it';s very much a business as usual in a relationship that is very close and very practical and very purposeful. Indonesia and Australia have co-operated very well over the last couple of years in response to the terrorist threat, Indonesia and Australia have close relations, we don';t always agree on things but I see it as very much part of a continuum of the very strong bilateral relationship.
JOURNALIST:
Do you see Burma coming up as part of the Leaders'; meeting, that was raised amongst the foreign ministers, will the issue of that be coming…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it could.
JOURNALIST:
PM do you expect a strong focus on North Korea in these meetings?
PRIME MINISTER:
There will be talk about North Korea, yes, I think we have to ensure though that the processes that are already underway and the various approaches that are being made and the encouragements that are being given aren';t derailed or sidetracked by anything that comes out of this meeting.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister you say that one of the objectives is to maintain the momentum of APEC, where is it slowing down, in the trade area…
PRIME MINISTER:
I think over the last couple of years there';s been some loss of momentum on the trade front, yes I do. Now with the reviving American economy I see real signs of the American economy reviving and some signs of the Japanese economy reviving and they are still the two great economic locomotives, let';s never lose sight of proportion and reality, America and Japan are still the two and China is closing fast but America and Japan are still very very powerful and I think that will help recover the momentum. I';ve got to go to a meeting?
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the Bogar ambitions are still realistic or have you put them aside?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think Geoff with a lot of these things you';ve always got to have aspirational goals, and once you start asking yourself if they';re realistic or unrealistic they lose their value.
Thank you.
[ends]