PRIME MINISTER:
I just have something to say at the beginning which is directed to the Australia media, I mean other people can report if they want to, but I just want to say on behalf of the Government that the industrial relations policy released yesterday by the Labor Party is every bit as bad as I expected it to be. And if after the next election and Labor were to win and you had nine Labor Governments throughout Australia, industrial relations would go back to the regulatory dark ages. We now have in Australia union membership in the private sector of about 18 per cent and it is just beyond belief that the alternative government would want to reimpose a union dominated industrial relations system on our country when so few people in Australia in the private sector now belong to unions. Labor's industrial relations policy is a particular threat to the resource and energy sector, which is at the forefront of our burgeoning trade performance, particularly in the Asian region. Much of the productivity in the resource sector and much of the success that we have achieved in that sector over the last ten years has been due to the huge productivity increases made possible by workplace contracts, individual contracts and if they were to be removed, it would undermine the export competitiveness of our resource industries. I couldn't think of a worse change at a worse time in Australia's industrial relations policy.
JOURNALIST:
PM, what (inaudible) the Forum talked about Rugby today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we haven't reached that but I'm quite sure we will and I think it will be very constructive. I have been a strong supporter of a better deal for the Pacific Islands' rugby- playing nations. It was a matter that was raised in Auckland last year and I raised at that very time with the Australian Rugby Union because it coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Bledisloe Cup and I hope to see a Pacific Island team playing. It think it would be wonderful for the Pacific Islands, it would be wonderful for rugby and it would be a fair adjustment of a situation that has not worked in my view fairly for the smaller rugby playing countries of this region.
JOURNALIST:
... on Nauru?
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
What did...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, well, look, we've discussed Nauru's difficult situation and I indicated to the Forum that earlier this year Australia and Nauru had entered into an arrangement whereby we're providing $22.5 million to help with vital health and infrastructure and education services. Our two Foreign Ministers have met recently, progress is being made and we are placing people inside the bureaucracy in Nauru. Obviously, we provide aid, we are asking that there be changes in relation to governance. It's important that it be seen as a two way process. Nauru is in a difficult position. We are friendly, we've helped a lot in the past and we obviously stand ready to help in the future.
JOURNALIST:
You said always that aid would be tied to countries running themselves properly, is that happening the case of Nauru? Is that...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I've just said that there's a link between the aid and changes in governance.
JOURNALIST:
But you're still giving the aid...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the changes in governance are occurring as well.
JOURNALIST:
Any progress on the ACP candidacy?
PRIME MINISTER:
That matter has not been dealt with yet.
JOURNALIST:
What else have you dealt with this morning Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we had a discussion about transport and there's been an adoption of the principles embodied in the transport study that Australia sponsored and I announced a $2 million fund to help with facilitation and implementation of a number of the recommendations that were contained in that study. Everybody understands the importance of transport links between the members of the Pacific Forum and also between member states and other parts of the world. And we thought that that report and so did all of the other leaders was very good. And whilst conditions are going to vary from country to country we've made a bit of progress on that and we're prepared to put some more resources in the way of progressing it.
JOURNALIST:
Can you explain what is in the study Prime Minister? We haven't seen what the recommendations are...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there are recommendations about the need for transparency, the need for, whilst not saying that governments should own airlines or have corporatised airlines, that the major role of government is a regulatory one and that where there are subsidies they should be transparent and quite a number of other recommendations in relation to regulation, in relation to, I'm sorry, the need for transparency and a realistic recognition of the difficulty of some small units maintaining particular transport capacity.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you announced... or outlined in some of the papers this morning back in Australia a bit of an outline of how you'd be campaigning, some of the priorities. Can you prioritise those... any more...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Prioritise the priorities? Well, one of the things I will be campaigning on, I can tell you, is industrial relations. I wouldn't want anybody in Australia to be in any doubt about that. I think the Labor Party's industrial relations policy would be a disaster for our country. I mean, how on earth can you justify with fewer than 20 per cent of Australian workers in the private sector belonging to a union? How can you justify reimposing a union dominated industrial relations system? It is crazy and it just shows that the Labor Party is still beholden to the union movement. We have moved on. I mean, the Labor Party sometimes accuses me of living in the past. They are living in the past big time by talking about this industrial relations policy. It may have been relevant when close to 50 per cent of the Australian workforce was unionised, but it is utterly antiquated, out-dated and irrelevant to the modern progressive future looking Australian economy, particularly areas like the resource sector which I know will be mortified if they have to go back to a union dominated industrial relations system.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, in that Jana Pittman has broken down...
PRIME MINISTER:
I beg your pardon?
JOURNALIST:
In Europe, Jana Pittman has broken down.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I heard that and I was very concerned and I know that all Australians will be concerned. She's a wonderful athlete and a wonderful person and a great representative of our country and we all hope that she'll get better quickly and be ready.
JOURNALIST:
Will Australia grant Fiji an extension of the current TCF SPRTECA arrangement?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'll be saying something about that later on... yes, something later on. I think I should observe certain courtesies and I'll be saying... and, of course, it's something that applies, that particular programme is of importance to all counties, but it's a particular importance to Fiji. But I will have something to say on that later on.
JOURNALIST:
What's your reaction to the jailing of the Vice President in Fiji and his colleagues?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that's a matter for the Fijian legal system, it's not for me to comment on that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, are you concerned about media reports in Australia about the behaviour of the Tasmanian Governor Mr Butler?
PRIME MINISTER:
He was not my appointment.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think he's becoming an embarrassment?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that is a matter for the Tasmanian Government and the Tasmanian public, it is not a matter for me. I just repeat - he was not my appointment.
JOURNALIST:
Should Mr Butler himself consider stepping aside?
PRIME MINISTER:
That is a matter for him and a matter for the Tasmanian public and the Tasmanian Government. I simply repeat - he was not my appointment.
JOURNALIST:
Would you urge him to think about?
PRIME MINISTER:
I've got nothing more to say on that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, should Dawn Fraser have been given a ticket to Athens?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I know I'm to blame for everything. I mean, that is derigour in Australian politics - if something goes wrong, ah we'll blame John Howard for it. I don't know that I should sort of get...
JOURNALIST:
What are your thoughts on it?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I think she's a wonderful person and I think she was a great swimmer and one of the icons of Australian sport. I don't know the background of that and I don't think it's fair of me to give a on the run comment, but I'm sure it'll end up being my fault in the eyes of some.
JOURNALIST:
She doesn't blame you Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
She doesn't, phew!
[ends]