Mr HOWARD (Prime Minister) (3:44 PM) —I suggested earlier that I could add to an answer and I said that I would do it at the end of question time. For the information of the House, I had a meeting with Mr Toomey and other people from Air New Zealand and Ansett on 27 June. What I was told then was substantially to the effect of what the Deputy Prime Minister has already said—that the Air New Zealand group had financial reserves of around $1 billion.

Mr HOWARD —I know the Leader of the Opposition has great powers of perception and everything; I am just informing the House what Mr Toomey told me. Mr Toomey said that the group has financial reserves of around $1 billion. Obviously that was not inexhaustible, and the advice I had was that it was likely to be exhausted within a year. I was informed during that meeting that they needed a capital injection. The capital injection talked about was obviously a capital injection that was to come from the Singapore Airlines application to the New Zealand government being accepted and, in turn, Air New Zealand injecting more money into Ansett. We discussed that.

I indicated that the objectives of the government were to ensure competition in the domestic market and to ensure that, on the assumption that two major airlines continued, at least one major airline was Australian owned. That is why the government did unashamedly have a preference for what was called the Qantas option for quite some time—quite unashamedly—because we took the view that, if you are going to have two airlines, it would be a good idea that one of them was Australian owned. I do not think there is anything wrong with that. The reality is that that is what happened on 27 June. That is when Toomey said, `We have group reserves of $1 billion.' Of course they are losing money. Ansett have been in a difficult financial position for some time. People knew that. It has been known for months. It is not the result of any dramatic briefings.

Also, for the information of the House, there was a bit of an exchange about documents, and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition falsely claimed that a document in my possession, the possession of the Treasurer and the possession of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is this document—

Mr Crean —That is the Qantas brief.

Mr Brereton —That is the Qantas brief, not Ansett.

Mr HOWARD —It does not matter what it is. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition falsely asserted that it was the document in his possession. I had not taken any decision to table this document until such time as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition falsely asserted—

Mr Crean —Yes, you had. You already had.

Mr HOWARD —You are not listening.

Mr SPEAKER —The Prime Minister is adding to an answer. There are some constraints.

Mr SPEAKER —I would remind the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the Prime Minister has the call. The Prime Minister is adding to an answer. There are constraints on the additions to answers.

Mr HOWARD —Yes, Mr Speaker—

Mr SPEAKER —I am being tolerant in the light of interjections.

Mr HOWARD —I will continue. I will repeat the last bit.

Mr SPEAKER —Prime Minister, I am seeking to gain your attention.

Mr HOWARD —Yes.

Mr Leo McLeay —A bully!

Mr SPEAKER —I warn the Chief Opposition Whip! I would point out to the Prime Minister that there are constraints on the additions to an answer. In light of the interjections, I have in fact been allowing the Prime Minister to continue. I would invite him now to continue to address the remarks he has raised and to be heard in silence.

Mr HOWARD —Thank you, Mr Speaker. I had not taken any decision to table this document until the false claim made by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition that this document is the same as the one that they were waving around in front of the Deputy Prime Minister. It is a completely different document. It is a Qantas document, but so what! I was not seeking to put this at that stage in argument, but I tabled it to demonstrate the falsity of the claim made by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Just as a matter of record, it confirms the advice widely held in the market as late as 1 August—that is a full six weeks after I saw Mr Toomey—that the ANZ group had reserves of $1 billion. In other words, the Qantas assessment on that score was exactly the same as the assessment given to me by Mr Toomey on 27 June. Once again, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition has misled the parliament.

Mr Crean —Mr Speaker, I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Mr SPEAKER —The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.

Mr Crean —But I want to make a personal explanation.

Mr SPEAKER —The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat or I will deal with him!