E&OE..........................................................................................
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister welcome to Dateline. Before we begin with APEC,
may I ask you some questions about some international developments.
First of all, Iraq have you got any updates from President
Clinton?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I received a letter from President Clinton this morning outlining
the history of recent events, asking for Australian support in the
event of an American military strike. Certainly there was nothing
in the letter that I disagreed with. There's no doubt that
the patience of the world has been sorely tested by Saddam Hussein.
The agreement that was made some months ago that averted military
action should have been observed, and if some military activity
takes place then it will be on the head of Saddam Hussein because
the world cannot accept his continued refusal to submit himself
to a proper United Nations supervised inspection.
JOURNALIST:
So you are offering political support. Would you be offering any
military support if that was asked?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that's a completely hypothetical question. It's
not been asked and I don't expect it to be asked.
JOURNALIST:
Well, closer to this region, your reaction to the developments
in Indonesia yesterday? It seems to be returning to the chaos of
really May?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know that it is as serious as that but certainly any
civil disturbance is of concern. Deaths are extremely regrettable.
We had hoped with the new administration that there would be some
progress towards a more open society and that has plainly happened.
Dr Habibie has gone further than many of his critics suggested.
I don't want to jump to conclusions on the basis of what has
occurred over the last few days. Obviously it is disturbing but
we are still maintaining a sense of optimism and hope about the
future in Indonesia. It is a very important country to us and we
are very sympathetic to the enormous economic adjustment that the
country is now going through and it is very much in Australia's
interests that that adjustment occur and there is some faint indication
that the economy of Indonesia is starting to adjust.
JOURNALIST:
But could President Habibie hurry those reforms, or should the
students be a little bit more patient?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you could always argue either of those arguments. You can
always say that maybe he could hurry up the reforms, on the other
hand, you can say that people should understand that when you've
been used to a fairly authoritarian system for a long time, any
movement down another road is progress. Certainly Dr Habibie has
surprised a lot of people with what he's done. He has gone
further. He's gone further with East Timor than many people
suggested, and I just hope he keeps the momentum going. But it is
a difficult situation. There's a lot of social strain. The
living standard of that country has plunged, and there are tens
of millions of Indonesians living below the poverty line. So, it
is a potent cocktail for discontent and civil disturbance.
JOURNALIST:
Well Mr Howard, looking forward to the APEC summit, you know APEC
has come under heavy criticism, certainly in the light of the Asian
economic crisis and its perceived irrelevance to it. How decisive
will this meeting be in terms of restoring confidence in the organisation
or rendering it totally irrelevent?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think APEC has had anything to do with the Asian economic
downturn.
JOURNALIST:
But in terms of offering support and being relevant to it...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well APEC was never meant to be a supplement to international financial
institutions, never. APEC was always designed as a political forum
to promote the cause of trade liberalisation in the region. It was
never meant to supplement or replace or augment the role of bodies
like the IMF or the World Bank. Now it is a difficult time and there
are pressures for the trade liberalisation process to slow down.
We understand the difficulty of many of the economies that have
gone into recession, on the other hand, it is in their interests,
both medium and longer term that the trade liberalisation process
be maintained. And we'll be arguing for that and we'll
be arguing for policies that will re-ignite growth in the region
and we'll be putting the case for broader reforms to the international
financial architecture along the lines that I outlined in my speech
to the Banking Supervisors conference in Sydney a few weeks ago.
JOURNALIST:
Well certainly Dr Mahathir has said that he doesn't expect
a lot to develop at this conference and has asked some of the stronger
economies to be understanding. Is it really a bit much to ask some
of the very hurt economies to liberalise at a time when their instincts
will be telling them to protect themselves?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we are talking about a liberalisation goal for those countries
of the year 2020, which is 22 years away from now, so we are not
saying you have got to open every trade barrier or tear down every
trade barrier tomorrow. We are talking about a measured period of
time. So therefore you've got to look and you can afford to
look at the medium to longer term and we'd be saying to those
countries that the way out is not to retreat it back to protection.
I mean, we saw what happened in the 30s when that occurred.
Any suggestion that you solve the economic challenges of the region
by reverting to protection is badly misplaced. Of course we understand
their difficulties and no country has done more relatively than
Australia to help. We after all have given to the three, IMF rescue
packages, along with Japan, we are the only country in the world
to have done that. So our credentials in Kuala Lumpur as a strong
country willing to help are quite impeccable and one of the advantages
I will have is that I'll be speaking on behalf of a country
whose domestic economy has weathered the storm better than anybody
expected and also a country that was very willing to help Indonesia,
Korea and Thailand in their time of economic trouble.
JOURNALIST:
And of course you will be taking a leading role in promoting good
economic governance at this summit.
PRIME MINISTER:
I will.
JOURNALIST:
What does that mean? I mean, are we actually telling them that
it is perhaps their fault because they have been into crony capitalism
and perhaps they haven't had very good economic practices?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well these things are always a combination of domestic doings and
international financial development, and quite plainly a transparent
prudent banking system is very important to economic strength. And
there is certainly some evidence that in some of these countries
that hasn't been perhaps as evident as it might have been and
if improvements are to occur in that area then that will go a long
way towards providing a stronger economic infrastructure and foundation
for the future, yes.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think they'll be responsive to such advice. I mean,
this is all happening in Malaysia, a country that has put up the
shutters instead of looking towards reform in order to protect itself?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, many of these countries have already started to do things
on that front. The Thais have done it, the Koreans have done it,
there's been no lack of willingness on the part of many of
the APEC countries to adjust their own situation and I'm full
of admiration for the things like what has occurred in Thailand,
taking an example, I mean, Thailand has taken some very nasty medicine
to put her own house in order and I congratulate the Thai leadership
and their Prime Minister for what he has done. I know how hard it
is for their people, because you are talking about millions of people
being in absolute poverty, so the adjustment process has begun and
we'll be continuing courteously, but with appropriate firmness
to be arguing a point of view.
JOURNALIST:
And Mr Howard, finally, you have indicated that you will be having
bilateral discussions with Dr Mahathir. You'll be bringing
up, I believe, the question of Anwar Ibrahim, even though the Malaysians
have said they would prefer leaders not bring up that issue even
in bilateral discussions.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm not going to get into the detail of what I might
say to the Malaysian Prime Minister, except to say that when I have
a bilateral discussion such as this I think it is always appropriate
that any issue that is relevant to the bilateral relationship should
be raised, but as to the detail of how it might be raised, or what
might be assumed to be views of people advising the Malaysian Government,
I'm not going to get into that, but it is an important bilateral
relationship. I think it is important I speak to Dr Mahathir. I
have expressed some views on Dr Anwar in the past. I certainly hold
to those views quite strongly, but I also regard the relationship
as incredibly important to this country, and it is appropriate that
the Australian Prime Minister and the Malaysian Prime Minister always
talk very directly to each other.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, thank you very much for your time.
[ends]