PRIME MINISTER:
Okay. All I wanted to say is to repeat what I said in there - how proud everybody should be of the extraordinary ability of this regiment, and they deserve the praise that's been justifiably heaped on them by many and expressed so well today by the Governor-General at the parade.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the official notes on this say that the outstanding gallantry to deny the Iraqi forces the ability to employ weapons of mass destruction. Given that there hasn't been any found, doesn't that take the gloss off a little bit?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it doesn't because the military operations that they were charged with, they carried out with very great distinction.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, should the Governor-General have supported George Bush's comments on Latham's policy on withdrawing troops from Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't think he was endeavouring in any way to interfere in domestic politics. He's doing a very good job and he's a scrupulously apolitical Governor-General.
JOURNALIST:
Would you describe those as wise comments though?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't have any specific comment to make on them except what I've just said.
JOURNALIST:
This UN resolution - what effect would that have on the ground in Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think what it will do in the short term, it might strengthen the resolve of some people to indulge in more violence. In the medium to longer term it's extremely good news because what it does is to give unambiguous international authority to the handover. It's the next big step along the path to a truly democratic Iraq. But I think we all have to steel ourselves for the fact that between now and the 30th of June there will be a continuation of violence because the terrorists are determined to prevent a democratic Iraq emerging, that's the point I make.
JOURNALIST:
Why is it so important to have the UN involvement now, when it wasn't important when we originally joined?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we thought it was important, but as you will recall because of the attitude taken by certain permanent members of the Security Council, the Security Council declined to get involved. It wasn't through want of trying, and for the record it should be repeated that the United States and the United Kingdom tried very hard to get a further resolution but the support of certain countries on the Security Council was not then forthcoming. We'd have been delighted if the further resolution had been passed last year, but we couldn't get the support that has now been forthcoming and I welcome that and it's a question now of putting those differences behind us, to the extent that you can, and working together to build a democratic Iraq.
JOURNALIST:
Do you expect the new Iraqi government to ask us to leave by Christmas?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I wouldn't think there's any possibility of that. The Foreign Minister of Iraq said to the Security Council last week that if there were any premature withdrawal it would provoke violence, possible civil war if I recollect correctly, and it would be a foothold for terrorists. I can't imagine the circumstances are going to so dramatically change over the next five months that he would ask us to leave by Christmas.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, what do you make of Mr Latham's non-attendance at today's parade?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know. That's a matter for him. I'm not going to make a comment on that. He was invited and he was invited at my express instructions. I was asked whether he... and I made sure that he was invited and I extended courtesy to his representative. She was invited to speak. I didn't want in any way to politicise the occasion. I don't know what it is, but I'm not criticising him. I just don't know. You should ask him.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Latham came in for more criticism from the US overnight. Do you think that his policies on Iraq are beginning to interfere in current US-Australian relations?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well his policies on Iraq are wrong and while you've got a wrong policy at such a critical time, he will get criticised and that's very understandable. But I've made my position very clear. I think one of the things Mr Latham has got to do is have the courage to actually explain his policies. He's getting away with this mono-syllabic response, he puts out a statement, he says I'm against the Government, but he never... I mean, he should go into more... he should actually engage the Australian public and try and explain to them. I mean I've engaged the Australian public. I made a major speech a couple of weeks ago. I continue to argue the case. I'll be making another major speech on foreign affairs at the end of next week, in which I will deal again with the Iraqi issue and other issues as well. I think one of Mr Latham's responsibilities is to actually walk up to the crease and start explaining why he has this attitude, not sort of just think he can slide around it and deal with it by staccato criticisms of the Government.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think a change of Government in the United States later in the year would have any impact on the coalition in Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't. I don't think there would be any impact because Kerry has said that we've got to stay there and finish the job. The point, Ian, is that the British Government and the British Opposition think we should stay there and finish the job; the American administration does; the alternative President of the United States does; the Iraqi Foreign Minister does; Mr Latham doesn't. Well, all I can simply say is maybe we're all wrong, he's right. I don't believe so, and I think he's got an obligation to get out there and explain it.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be pushing home that difference in the run up to the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
Are you going to be pushing home that difference in the run up to...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'll be... look, I'll be... we're in the run up to the election now, aren't we?
JOURNALIST:
But do you see this as an election issue?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, look it's an issue. It's not the dominant issue, but it's an issue and it is not an issue that I will run away from. If you look at the polls it's not a popular issue at the moment, on Iraqi specific polls, but that's because we've been through a bad couple of months.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you accept that the citation for the SAS...
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
Do you accept that the citation for the SAS...
PRIME MINISTER:
I accept it?
JOURNALIST:
Sorry, do you accept that the citation is wrong when it referred to the weapons of mass destruction?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't think the citation was wrong at all. That was a perfectly historical reference, absolutely correct, there's nothing wrong with the citation. Now come on, let's not nitpick on the citation.
JOURNALIST:
But do you accept now that there were no weapons of mass destruction?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have said in the past that the work of the Iraq Survey Group goes on.
JOURNALIST:
The UN resolution says that the new Iraqi government can tell foreign troops to leave whenever they want. Does that concern you?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, it doesn't. That's consistent with sovereignty. If the new Iraqi administration says on the 1st of July we want all the foreign troops to go home, they will go home, including the Australians. But I'm quite certain the administration won't do that because it would leave a chronically unstable, dangerous country potentially lurching into civil war and providing a comfort for terrorists, and that's my paraphrase of what the Iraqi Foreign Minister said.
JOURNALIST:
Do you still favour an October, November election?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, Ian, what's the next question?
JOURNALIST:
In light of revelations of Major O'Kane's involvement in a letter drafted on the Abu Ghraib prison, do you think there's any situation where Iraqi POWs do not... should not be afforded the protection of the Geneva Convention?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I haven't got myself across all the detail of that so-called revelation so I'm not going to get into giving a specific answer on that except to repeat the obvious, and that is that Australians were in no way involved in any abuse of Iraqi prisoners. We didn't encourage it. We didn't condone it and we've appropriately condemned it and are in no way associated with it. Thank you.
[ends]