JOURNALIST:
Mr Costello, what are you going to take away from these few days out here in the bush?
TREASURER:
Well, I think it has been a great opportunity as an Ambassador for the Outback to promote the outback in 2002. I am going to take away a lot of memories of the people that we have met, experiences that we have had, the warmth of character as people have greeted us and talked about their problems. And also I think the way in which there are many success stories, communities that are growing, (inaudible) developing new opportunities for themselves and for their citizens. And I think that has been one of the real positives of this tour.
JOURNALIST:
What did you learn?
TREASURER:
What I have learnt is that there are a lot of communities here that really are taking hold of their own futures. And they are really getting better opportunities for their communities whether it be through tourism or niche manufacturing as you have seen with some of the Teddies or whether it be in the great industry of cattle (inaudible). It is so dry at the moment, about me, but you are seeing a lot of those communities (inaudible) which are embracing the future in a very positive way.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer is the Government going to be able to provide rural Australians (inaudible) Telstra services are sufficiently sound to justify full sale?
TREASURER:
Well, we will have an inquiry. And the inquiry will be a genuine inquiry to look at the state of services. I think the state of services has picked up enormously over the last couple of years since we did the second part of Telstra and allocated from that monies to improve services in rural and regional Australia. Money like as I outlined yesterday, $20 million for spot mobile coverage on highways, like Networking the Nation Program which is designed to bring internet facilities into communities that did not have them before. So, we will have an inquiry and we will await its report to see whether or not improvements are sufficient to satisfy the Government. But I think, over the last couple of years, there has been a very considerable improvement in the standard of services.
JOURNALIST:
Is there anything that you saw specifically on this trip that makes you think that?
TREASURER:
Oh look, you go through a town like Morven and you see the Rural Transaction Centre and people that are able to access Centrelink, and able to access Billpay, and able to access Australia Post services and then in another corner you have the Networking the Nation, where people can come in and use internet facilities which were not there previously. And this has made a real difference. That was done from the proceeds from the second part of Telstra. And if we had not have had the proceeds of the second part of Telstra it would not have been done. Now we have got to make sure that services continue to improve, and we have got to make sure that we put in place service obligations so that Telstra continues to deliver new technology in regional areas, and that is our policy.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Costello (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
Well, I have driven 800km with a mob of unruly journalists. I have managed to keep them under control. And whatever Harry did, I think controlling cattle would be easier than controlling the Canberra Press Gallery.
JOURNALIST:
Treasurer, drought is a burning issue here. Why is it that you didn't go out to a property that is affected by the drought and see it first hand for yourself?
TREASURER:
We talked to everybody in all of the towns that we passed. And we have talked to the station owners in all of those areas. And we talked to them about the conditions, and the conditions in the areas that we have gone through are dry but they have not applied for a Declaration of Drought. If there were circumstances to apply for a Declaration of Drought, the application would be made first to the Queensland Government and in a subsidiary way, Exceptional Circumstances to the Commonwealth. But, as you have seen, the areas that we have been through are dry and people are hoping for rain. But the advice that we had, everybody we met from station owners was that they were not yet at the stage to seek drought declaration.
JOURNALIST:
Denis Napthine (inaudible)?
TREASURER:
Look, I said yesterday, and I am a long way away from Victorian State politics here in Roma, western Queensland. And it is very hard for me to follow it. And even if I did, can I say, this is a matter for the Victorian State Parliamentary Party. And they have to decide who their Leader is. Just as the Federal Parliamentary Party very closely guards its right to determine the Leader of the Parliamentary Party, so the Victorian Parliamentary Party guards its right. And I am not going to intervene. It is a matter for them to sort out. The only thing I would say, is that they had better sort it out pretty quickly and get themselves ready to fight an election. And that is what I would advise all of those that are considering these matters in Victoria.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Costello (inaudible) Telstra say that their benchmark is that they are guaranteeing access to update the technology as they come on line, can you give them a guarantee that will be the position of Telstra?
TREASURER:
Oh I think yes. The Government policy is as new technologies become available they should be made available to all Australians. That is our position and we will be doing that through legislation and such other means as required. That is our position, and as I said earlier, in the days before Telstra was part privatised, when it was Government owned it was not offering nearly the kind of mobile phone services that it is offering now. It is offering better mobile phone services now than it was in the days when it was fully nationalised. It is offering internet services which it did not offer in the days when it was fully nationalised. And as new technologies become available (inaudible) you can mandate the introduction on a universal service obligation basis of that and that has always been our position.
JOURNALIST:
And they also say they won't support a full sale unless some of the money goes back to (inaudible) infrastructure (inaudible)...
TREASURER:
I am not going to get into arguments about the proceeds of the Telstra sale which is yet to clear the Senate. It is yet to clear the Senate. And I hear various Senators incidentally who are voting against the Telstra sale saying that they would like to determine where the proceeds go. Can I say to those Senators if they vote against it, there are no proceeds. So there is no point them trying to join a debate as to how the proceeds should be applied. I have also said, the fact that we as a Government have now been able to pay $62 billion of the Labor Party's debt is giving us a year by year saving, not a once off, but a year by year saving which we would not otherwise have had. And as a consequence we can now invest in the kinds of things that would not have been possible otherwise. Now, if we retire debt, if we get the Government's interest bill down, if we reduce the costs of Labor Party Government, when they ran up that debt between 1990 and 1996, you get a yearly saving which gives the Government the opportunity to invest in better schools, and hospitals and roads through good financial management. Now that is the point I have been making over and over here, yearly. But if you just take the money and if you spend the money on pet projects at the end of the year you have got no Telstra shares and you have spent the proceeds anyway. I would like to apply the proceeds in an economically responsible way which will give generations of Australians benefits out of our policies. Sorry, you had a (inaudible).
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) Mr Costello you said the Liberal Government should have a look at Right to Farm legislation. Do you find that an attractive idea?
TREASURER:
Well, the point was made to me last year, last night, was that with environmental controls restricting the use of land and other controls, as to ensure that we do not unduly restrict the right to farm, that should be protected by legislation. As I said last night, I have never considered it before, but I wouldn't rule it out (inaudible) it is something I think that in the context of environmental policy ought to be looked at. I am not going any further than that because I only heard of the idea last night. I will think about it on the way home and no doubt it is something that can be discussed with our colleagues.
JOURNALIST:
You have had widespread publicity in the cities from this tour, how do you think that will help to broaden your image given that you are doing your last doorstop wearing a hat?
TREASURER:
Well, I am doing my last doorstop wearing a hat, number one because I was given it last night and this is the Year of the Outback. Number two if I took my hat off after all of that exertion auctioneering you will see that my hair is plastered in funny angles. So it is a way of actually hiding my bad hair day as a consequence of the auction. But other than that look, for me it is a great opportunity to get out of Canberra and to talk to another part of Australia and if I had more spare days and I hope that I do, in future months I would love to come out here and to do it because you meet the different kinds of problems people want to talk to you about, you get a much broader view of the whole of the country and in the Year of the Outback, I hope I have done a little bit to bring the outback back to urban Australia.
Thanks very much.