It's been fantastic to engage here with Alana at the Endo and Pelvic Pain Clinic here in Werribee. This is making an enormous difference to the lives of women. It's part of the biggest women's health program that Australia has ever seen by any government. Making a difference right across the board, whether it's a listing of new contraceptives, the women's reproductive health reform that's making a difference. And here we've seen a practical example, a young woman who had suffered pelvic pain, endometriosis, every month, dealing with practical care, getting the assistance that she's needed. And as Alana said, she wishes that this was available earlier.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are all women difficult or is it just Grace Tame? Do you regret calling her difficult?
PRIME MINISTER: No - I was at a forum, I was asked to describe people in one word. And Grace Tame, you certainly can't describe in one word. She has had a difficult life and that was what I was referring to. And what Grace Tame has done is to turn that difficult experience that she had into being a strong advocate for others, which is why she received, quite rightly, the Australian of the Year Award.
JOURNALIST: And you have a good relationship with her now?
PRIME MINISTER: I certainly have had. If there was any misinterpretation then I certainly apologise. I think that Grace Tame has taken what is personal trauma and that awful experience that she had and channelled that into helping, in particular, other young women, being a strong and powerful advocate, being quite courageous in the way that she has gone out there. Now, there are other issues such as the language that Grace Tame used, that I disagreed with, at the demonstration that was held in Sydney. So, that's why it's impossible to describe people in one word. And that wasn't meant to be taken that way. It was certainly just a word that comes to mind when different people are mentioned. And Grace Tame has had a very difficult life, but she deserves great credit for turning that into a benefit for others.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's reports today coming out of al-Roj camp that there were two additional ISIS brides, Australian ISIS brides. Were you aware of those?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we're aware of national security issues. We don't run those through the media. We've said that what we aren't doing is providing repatriation of these people. We've said that we have compassion for the children involved, but that others who chose to travel to that area have made those decisions in life. And that was a decision that was certainly contrary to not just Australian advice, but contrary to Australia's national interest.
JOURNALIST: If the US were to make an offer for you to transport those children to Australia, just the children, would you consider it?
PRIME MINISTER: We're not going to deal with hypotheticals going forward. We've made clear that what we haven't done is repatriate people, and we have no plans to do so. And indeed, one of the non-government organisations took us to court to suggest that we should do that, and we opposed that court action and were successful.
Thank you.
