PM:Kate and I are here today to express the best wishes of Australia for our Olympics team, headed off very soon to Beijing to represent all of us.
We have had a very simple message today to all of our Olympians and Paralympians, and that is, the whole Australian nation is behind them.
And on top of that, the whole Australian nation is proud of them.
For these Olympians and Paralympians to have reached where they have got, which is to be members of the Australian team, is an extraordinary personal achievement for them, their mums, their dads, their coaches and those who have supported them.
As I said in my remarks before, the whole nation is going to be cheering them on, right across Australia, country and city.
This is when the nation legitimately grinds to a halt as we sit in front of the TV screens and watch those final events.
I am looking forward very much, and at the invitation of the Chinese Government, to be there at the Opening Ceremony in the first few days myself, to help cheer the team on.
I have got to say, having spoken to many of the team this morning, they are right and ready to go. They are looking forward to it. They are excited, as they should be. They have reached the peak of their profession, the peak of their sport, and they are doing a fantastic job for Australia already.
A quick word from Kate and then I will take your questions.
ELLIS:Well with 50 days to go until the Olympics, it is an incredibly proud occasion to get to officially farewell our AIS athletes who are Beijing bound.
It is also a really important time for us to stop and celebrate the remarkable achievements of the Australian Institute of Sport. We have seen today that almost half of the team have trained here - 200 out of the Olympic team of 440. And well over half of the Paralympic team. And the Government is tremendously proud of the AIS.
And we are also lifting our eyes beyond Beijing to make sure that we can continue to have the greatest facilities, the greatest support and the best programs in place for Australian athletes.
PM:Over to you folks
JOURNALIST:Prime Minister any early predictions on the number of medals (inaudible)
PM:What sort of question is that?
We are there backing every Australian athlete, every Australian Olympian and Paralympian. And you know something, these young people are going to do their absolute best for Australia. And win lose or draw, they are going to have the support of every Australia.
They are a very professional mob. And the great thing about Australians is, and I have seen them in so many sporting environments over the years, is there is always a ‘never say die' approach. Out there, fighting hard, win, lose or draw.
So win lose or draw, every Australian is going to be out there pitching in for Australia supporting them.
JOURNALIST:Mr Rudd, just on the decision to go Beijing for the opening, did you ever consider not going?
PM: Oh look, what I had to work out, as I said, I think at the time, is a few scheduling things back here. But we have made it work and I'll be going to the Opening Ceremony and I'll be there for a few days after that and come back. I think all together about three days.
JOURNALIST: Are you worried that that delay has upset Beijing? And what do you say to the reports of the diplomatic (inaudible)
PM: I'm unaware of any of that. So I'm pretty relaxed about going. The Chinese Government have extended the invitation. The Australian Olympics Committee have been supportive of the decision to go. I think it's the right thing to do. And more importantly, just to cheer for the Australian team and respond positively to the invitation which has been extended to me personally by the Chinese President.
JOURNALIST: A number of weeks ago Olympic officials expressed concern about the number of medals Australia will win (inaudible)
PM: I'll hand over to Kate.
ELLIS: Certainly we're in ongoing conversations with the whole sporting community about continuing to advance Australian sport. And as I said, that means beyond Beijing, which is why we've already put out a direction paper about where we need to go to make sure that we've got the long term plans in place to make sure that Australian sport continues to, perhaps overachieve on the international stage.
Now, in all of our conversations people have made clear that this isn't just about funding. It's about making sure that we get the best bang for every buck that we put into sport.
Which is why I was so happy that we met with each of the state Sports Ministers just a couple of weeks ago and have agreed to sit down and work together: remove duplication from the system and make sure that we've got a sporting system which continues to do all Australians proud.
It's well and truly on the agenda and we're working beyond Beijing and looking for how we can continue to deliver in London and beyond that as well.
JOURNALIST:Mr Rudd, just on petrol, there has been a call this morning for a ten cent a litre cut in the excise (inaudible)
PM:Australian motorists are doing it tough because of rising price of petrol because of the global oil shock, the biggest global oil shock that the world has seen in 30 years.
I think what we've had, I think, from the Liberals today is probably their third position. One is what Dr Nelson has said and then there has been Mr Turnbull saying that he wouldn't necessarily implement what Dr Nelson has said. Now we have another proposal on top of that. So I don't think, frankly, the Liberals have a consistent position on this at all.
I think the other thing that I'd say about petrol is, just take a practical example of prices in Sydney the last 24 hours or so. If you were to look at the price variation within metro Sydney, we've had price variations in Sydney yesterday, I'm advised, of up to 20 cents a litre. Take in Eastwood, and in Carlingford, you have a nine cent a litre variation. In Mosman, you have a 16 cent a litre variation between different petrol stations in virtually the same area.
Simple question I've got for the Liberals is, why shouldn't motorists have access to that information? That's what we're trying to provide motorists, access to that information, so that motorists can make their choice about where they're going to go and buy their fuel. What's wrong with that?
That's what we're saying. And as I said in Sydney itself, the variations have been huge. As I said, they are the two examples that lie in those two particular areas. We've got a pretty clear approach to that.
The Liberals have opposed it, and their alternative is, first of all, Dr Nelson's position. Then there's Mr Turnbull's position which is not to implement Dr Nelson's position. And then we have another position again from a Liberal Party representative today.
JOURNALIST: Don't you think that drivers in most of your electorates would prefer to be paying 10 cents a litre less?
PM: I think a thing, and we've never overstated the significance of FuelWatch, we've always described it as a modest measure, is that motorists deserve to have effective consumer choice. We've always said this is about boosting the power of the motorist over the big oil companies.
What we have done is back motorist's consumer choice and consumer power. And what our opponents seem to be doing is constantly taking the side of the big oil companies.
I go back to this: why is it that every big oil company, virtually in the country, doesn't want FuelWatch? Anyone sort of work that out? And, why is it that a significant number of the motoring organisations support FuelWatch? Not all of them. But a significant number.
We think it's pretty basic. Motorists should have this information available to them, be made available to them. The petrol companies do through their own internal information system. Why shouldn't motorists have that information publicly available to them?
JOURNALIST:(Inaudible)
PM:I think long term we have said that in dealing with the challenge of petrol, we have responsibility to assist with working families, working Australians under financial pressure. Which is why through the Budget, as a result of this Budget, your typical young family will be $52 a week better off. That's against the $2.50 which Dr Nelson offers, if Mr Turnbull supports Dr Nelson, with his excise proposal. So, $2.50 which the Liberal Party is offering - $52.50 which is what we're providing though the Budget. That's a clear alternative, here and now.
Then we have an approach to help motorists with consumer choice - that's called FuelWatch.
And then, longer term, the Energy Minister is working on a long term energy strategy for Australia. There hasn't been one before. And part of that lies with long term incentives for exploration as well.
But it covers the raft of challenges.
The pressures on global oil, in terms of supply. The pressures in terms of demand and what you do in terms of energy efficiency in major developing countries like China and India who are sucking in so much oil at present. What you can do in terms of alternative fuels. What you can do in terms of fuel efficiency and fuel efficient cars. Hence our decision recently on hybrid cars. And on top of that, what you're investing in public transport.
And, longer term, incentives and support for the industry, vis-à-vis exploration.
So, that is an integrated strategy for dealing with these challenges long term. It comes in addition to the measures which are obviously of more immediate application. Including the Budget measures which I mentioned before.
JOURNALIST:(inaudible)
PM:Well, firstly, I think, as most people realise, this was a Howard Government measure from the Howard Government's 2006 Budget, I seem to recall - six or seven. And it's flow through effect is to commence operation as of 1 July 2008.
When our Government's Ministers became aware of this, they began immediately their consultations with the sector, the community and charitable sector, to make sure that we could bring about changes to again do everything possible to eliminate unintended consequences for those working in the church, charitable and community sectors.
Those consultations are underway. Ministers are working hard on this at the moment together with their advisers. We have an objective of reaching a policy decision on this very, very soon. But as the Minister said yesterday in her statement to the Parliament, it will take a little while to then turn the administrative machinery around. But we are working on this as quickly as we can given that we inherited a set of arrangements which had long been put in place by our predecessors.
And I've got to get back to Parliament. Good to see you.