PRIME MINISTER:
Well this is another example like 'troops home by Christmas' of ad hoc policy making on radio. What Mr Latham has done by implying that East Timor would get a better deal under a Labor Government is to undermine the Australian Government's negotiating position. And that is against the national interest. When you're dealing with another country, you're both on the same side, it doesn't matter what the politics are. And this is another example of his ill thought out approach to foreign affairs, he hasn't thought through the consequences, I think he's even caught his foreign spokesman off guard. We have been patiently negotiating with East Timor and we want to bring those negotiations to a successful conclusion, but a conclusion which is fair to East Timor and consistent with our national interests. But this careless, arbitrary, on the run, on the radio intervention by Mr Latham runs the risk of undermining that strategy.
JOURNALIST:
Are you getting the message from the Sunrise (inaudible) that their project would be in jeopardy if an agreement is not reached by the end of the year at the East Timorese parliament (inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll be talking further to them both this afternoon and over the next couple of days in Perth, but self-evidently it is in everybody's interests that we bring these negotiations to an end as soon as possible, they can't go on indefinitely. There is a time imperative involved and this is an intervention, an unwelcome intervention, an inexperienced immature intervention from the Leader of the Opposition that is against the Australian national interest.
JOURNALIST:
Will the talks proceed in September as scheduled or...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they remained scheduled and our desire remains to continue the discussions (inaudible) bring things to a successful conclusion but what has happened through this intervention is to potentially undermine our negotiating strategy because self-evidently if the other party thinks a change of government might produce a better result they're not going to attend those negotiations with the same vigour and the same commitment, that stands to reason.
JOURNALIST:
Is there a potential for Woodside to put their money elsewhere (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look I'm not going to use alarmist language, I'm very careful about what I say regarding these things. But nobody should assume that investment doesn't go where the most attractive bargain is to be found, that's always been the case, and it's just very unfortunate that Mr Latham has been careless in what he said on the run without thinking through the consequences.
JOURNALIST:
Does the Opposition Leader have L-Plates on when it comes to foreign policy?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I'm not going to use descriptions, I'm dealing with particular issues. But he blundered over troops home by Christmas by something just coming out in an ad hoc way on radio and he's blundered again by implying there would be a different deal if there were a change of government. Now he must know on reflection that that potentially undermines our negotiating strategy, and that is very unhelpful.
JOURNALIST:
But both of these (inaudible) foreign policy issues.
PRIME MINISTER:
I leave it the commentators to draw conclusions, but they are two illustrations of him making decisions on the run without thinking through the consequences. Now they're two very important issues. He didn't think through the consequences of the troops home by Christmas, he made that up on the run and he hasn't thought through the consequences of this and that doesn't bode well for his capacity to deal with important foreign policy issues.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister I was wondering if you could comment on a breaking story out of Victoria, now apparently Victorian authorities say an Australian man and his cousin who were killed in Greece in a number of years ago were murdered, but Greek authorities say was murder/suicide, now the family of the Australian man has called on the Federal Government to intervene to try and sort out the bungle.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know anything about it ... and without being briefed I can't comment.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you said Barry Haase has done an excellent job in these parts, Barry's been campaigning for zone rebates, concessions for people that live in the bush, the Treasurer was here a few weeks ago, just wondering whether you'd consider it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Barry is continuing to talk to us about that issue, there are a lot of things that we have done in the taxation area for the mining industry, we did make some changes in relation to exploration in the last budget and of course many people working in the mining industry earn well above $52,000 a year and they would have benefited enormously from the taxation changes that were made in the budget. But other issues that Barry has put to us, we continue to consider.
JOURNALIST:
Barry campaigned on that last year...
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah well he's campaigned on a lot of things, he campaigned on that bursary scheme which I announced today and I listen carefully to everything Barry says.
JOURNALIST:
Have you held any discussions or been in contact with the East Timorese following Mr Latham's comment?
PRIME MINISTER:
The discussions are all being conducted very competently by Mr Downer.
Thank you.
[ends]