Subjects: MV Tampa.
E&OE................................
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, if any of the asylum seekers aboard the Tampa had approached a SAS Officer for asylum, would the Government be obliged to act on that application?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I am not going to give legal opinions at a doorstop.
JOURNALIST:
Did the United Nations secretary general give approval of the actual..?
PRIME MINISTER
I'm not going to go into the detail of who we have spoken to except to say that there has been from the very beginning of this matter a great deal of contact with a number of countries and that goes on. I spoke last night to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to brief him on the contacts that I have had with other countries but I can't go into the detail of that Australia's position is clear. We will not allow these people to land in Australia. They do not have the legal right to come here. It is not our legal responsibility. We have acted in accordance with international law but we seek a resolution of the issue as soon as possible. It may take some time, people should be aware of that. If it was something that was capable of overnight resolution that would have happened before now but we will of course continue to maintain a strong humanitarian line of supply and support to the people on board this vessel. We're sympathetic their conditions but we have acted to improve their conditions but we obviously would like to see the matter resolved in a way that is consistent with Australia's interests.
Thank you