PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning, nice and brisk, everybody ready? Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Do you support the hostile remarks that backbenchers are making about one another embroiled in this asylum seeker debate?
PRIME MINISTER:
I won't be joining any of those exchanges. This is one of those issues that any long-term government has from time to time. We have debated this matter at very great length. A lot of changes have been made to accommodate the concerns of some colleagues, but in the end, as happens in any democratic party, the overwhelming majority view must be respected, and that is why we are going ahead with the legislation. The Australian public wants strong, border protection legislation, that is what this is all about, and that is why the Government is going ahead with the legislation.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, is it going too far to call those Liberal moderates selfish and petulant, for crossing the floor?
PRIME MINISTER:
I indicated earlier, that I was not joining those discussions.
JOURNALIST:
Will you condemn them?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not joining those discussions.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think it usurps the democratic process as one...
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not joining those discussions.
JOURNALIST:
The concern of Barnaby Joyce in particular is for asylum seekers whose first port of call is Australia. What can you say to allay those concerns?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't intend, the matter having been debated at great length inside the Party Room and being likely to be debated at great length on the floor in the Parliament, I am not going to join the debate any further.
JOURNALIST:
Are you concerned about the message it would send to Indonesia if it does not get through?
PRIME MINISTER:
The message I want to send is to the Australian people, that the government I lead has a strong border protection approach and that is something that the overwhelming majority of the Australian people support. And that strong border protection approach is being opposed by the Labor Party, it is being supported by the Government.
JOURNALIST:
Will you be embarrassed if it is defeated?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let's see what happens in the House.
JOURNALIST:
Is there a future of affordable motoring in LPG conversions, and if so what can the Government do to assist?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are looking at a number of practical measures which might, at the margin, provide some response to the difficulties I know Australians are experiencing with high petrol prices. And one of the issues, one of the number of issues we are examining, is that one, but there are quite a number of others. When our examination has been completed, then if out of that examination there are announcements or policy changes, then there will be an announcement made about those policy changes. But we must not lose sight of the central fact, that the cause of high petrol prices is the high world price of crude oil. It's affecting everybody and that is something that no Australian government can control, and it's very easy for some in the community, including the Opposition leader to make populist comments. But he knows, and I know he knows, that this is due to world circumstances that nobody can control. But at the margin, we may be able to make a difference and that's what we are looking at.
JOURNALIST:
Do you rule out cutting the excise between now and the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are not going to cut the excise.
JOURNALIST:
And LPG is due to have excise placed upon it in the next few years. Is a deferral of that excise imposition under consideration?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let's remember that what is proposed is from 2011 and when it comes into operation, it will still be dramatically lower than the excise on petroleum spirit, and if my memory serves me correctly, incidentally, that legislation when it came before the parliament, was not opposed by the Labor Party. But, I think the point about LPG is that we have very large supplies of it, there's not a problem with its availability. But we are looking at a number of things and one of things we are looking at I am quite open about, is whether we should assist with the conversion costs of existing motor vehicles so that they might be useable for LPG. Now that is a sensible, practical measure that the Australia public wants us to look at, and we are looking at that. We haven't made any final decision on it. If we do, then an announcement will be made, but these are things at the margin. It can't alter the central reality that we are bound by the high world price of crude oil and nothing I have heard from anybody alters that fact, and we ought to constantly remind ourselves of that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister what concerns do you have about level of danger that Australian troops will face in Afghanistan when they deploy there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Afghanistan has got more dangers. I will be making a statement to the Parliament after question time about our future deployments. We are proposing an increase to provide protection for the group going as part of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. It is more dangerous, there is no point in denying that, that's why we are taking every measure needed to protect our people, because the safety of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, when they go overseas in our name, is my biggest concern, and I am not going to leave a stone unturned to make sure they are given the maximum protection.
Thank you
[ends]