business of government must go on and it will go on and that's why treasurer hawkey and finance minister corman will shortly be releasing the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook as planned. finally, this is a very disturbing incident. i can understand the concerns and anxieties of the australian people at a time like this. but our thoughts and prayers must above all go out to the individuals who are caught up in this. i can think of almost nothing more distressing, more terrifying than to be caught up in such a situation. and our hearts go out to those people. >> [ inaudible ]. >> i'm going to leave it to the new south wales police, who are in operational charge of this incident, to provide those kinds of details. obviously, in a situation like this all sorts of reports fly around. all sorts of claims are made. so i do urge everyone to exercise caution in their reporting, but i will leave all the operational details to the new south wales police, who as i understand it will begin providing operational updates shortly. thank you. >> australia's prime minister tony abbott speaking a number of ho