Subjects: Bali tragedy
E&OE...........
JOURNALIST:
Joining us now on the line the Prime Minister of Australia, Mr John Howard. Prime Minister good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning John.
JOURNALIST:
PM, have you had a briefing today at all as yet from Alexander Downer in Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, not additional to overnight because there is a time lag and I';ve actually not got anything new until later this morning. He is in Jakarta to push as hard and effectively we can for an effective investigation by the Indonesians with our help and full co-operation. It is of course a crime that was carried out in a foreign country and it has to be investigated by the authorities of that foreign country. We want to help in any way we can and we have police and forensic and intelligence experts, all the people that we can make available are being made available and will do everything we humanly can to try and find the people who did this, it won';t be easy, I don';t want to mislead the Australian people on that, it';s very hard to catch terrorists and particularly when the terrorist network has been regrettably allowed to build up in Indonesia and it';s something that we have expressed concern about and the Americans have expressed concern about at least for the last 13 months.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Ross Davey here, high on the list of suspects is the organisation abbreviated to JI, you';ve called on the United Nations to list this organisation as a terror organisation, what is the likelihood of that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think that will happen, we';ve had indications of support from the Americans on that, I think we will get Security Council support. I will be staggered if the United Nations refuses to list this as a terrorist organisation. That of itself won';t of course abolish the organisation but it does trigger the operation of certain laws in our country and gives us a slightly stronger legal capacity to deal with people in Australia who might be associated with the organisation.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, a senior foreign affairs analyst that we had on the programme earlier this morning was saying that he believed that the Indonesians either lacked the capability to properly investigate this, or indeed the will to properly investigate it because essentially there are so many Islamic fundamentalist sympathisers within senior ranks of particularly the Indonesian military.
PRIME MINISTER:
John you will understand that at a time when above all other times we need the co-operation of the Indonesian Government that it';s not helpful to Australia';s interests for me to be analysing in detail that comment.
JOURNALIST:
Okay, I understand that but let';s face it…
PRIME MINISTER:
I can say this, that we have been urging greater action in relation to terrorist behaviour in Indonesia for some time, so have the Americans. We have been concerned and have issued general warnings about the situation, the potential danger of visiting parts of Indonesia. And that';s come off the back of our concern about the existence of terrorist organisations and that is the history of it. We are now confronted with an immediate requirement of mobilising the resources of the Indonesian Government to try and find these people. And bear in mind that there were Indonesians killed as well in this as well as so many of our own countrymen and women.
JOURNALIST:
We do understand the need for diplomatic language at this time and I';m sure…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it';s a question of Australia';s interests.
JOURNALIST:
Sure.
PRIME MINISTER:
It';s not just a question of diplomatic language, I mean we will catch these people if we get maximum co-operation and we have a great deal of good fortune in the investigation. It';s not going to be easy and without the co-operation of the Indonesian authorities it becomes impossible.
JOURNALIST:
You mentioned just then the fact that, and as we were saying when we came to you, there are a number of other nationalities who are dead, but the death toll for Australians is very serious. I';ve been told that the toll, well let me put it this way without too being alarmist, that we need to brace ourselves for a much higher death toll.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there';s no doubt about that, I said that on Sunday night and it remains the case. There are still upwards of 150 to 180 Australians unaccounted for. Sadly a lot of those people are dead. And just how many I don';t know. We would all hope there were no more than 30 but it';s unrealistic to think so because there are still so many people unaccounted for. So I remain of the view that we should be prepared for a much higher death toll than 30.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard with the known links that JI has Al Qaeda will you be making some formal approaches to the US for their help as they';ve done with us in the Iraq situation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well they are different and they have no incidentally in relation to Iraq made a formal request for assistance because there is no decision taken as yet by the United States. So we have to remember that. There';s talk and we certainly support what the Americans are doing in the Security Council on that. If we need any help from the Americans in relation to this we will ask for it and I';m sure we will get it. When President Bush spoke to me on Monday morning he said any assistance you need, please let us know and he was thinking immediately of medical and forensic and investigative capacity and so forth. We don';t need that at present, we have our own resources. I think there may be one or two FBI agents around the place anyway and we';ve also I think got some forensic people from the British, they';ve sent four forensic investigators who I think are now helping out in Bali, in some of the more gruesome work that';s needed to be done. But the Americans will provide assistance, I am sure, if it is needed.
JOURNALIST:
What about our own security Mr Howard and our own coastline?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I said on Monday that we would review all of our counter-terrorist capacity. When something like this happens you must do that, it doesn';t mean to say that everything we have is inadequate and it doesn';t mean to say that we have to double everything and it doesn';t mean to say that even if you did that would protect you. The problem with fighting terrorism, and this is what makes it so insidious, is that no matter what protection you mount and no matter what things you do something can still happen because we live in an open society. I mean people we should, saw a suggestion the other day I think a State Premier that we should mount guards on nightclubs, well why would you stop at nightclubs? There are a gathering of people at a church, at a bowling club, at a leagues club, at an RSL club. I mean there are gatherings of people as we go about our daily lives, everywhere, you can';t guard every place, no country can do that and I don';t think we want to live in a country that had armed guards everywhere, I mean this is the dilemma you face, where do you stop, what priorities do you allocate and it';s something that we will tackle conscientiously, I';m sure we';ll get some things right, I';m sure we';ll get some things wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, we appreciate your time is limited and thank you for talking to us this morning, just before we go though I think you would agree that our armed forces, the RAAF and the doctors who';ve been involved in the rescue effort of people, even our Qantas flights have all done a magnificent job.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the way in which people reacted immediately, and I would include in that our consular people in Indonesia, our foreign affairs people in both Jakarta and also in Bali, they were on the ground, they had to deal with understandably distraught relatives and friends and the doctors and nurses, everybody has combined in that great Australian tradition of rallying together and putting everything else aside when you have a national disaster and this is the worst thing that';s happened in peace time to this country in my living memory and the way people have come together has been inspiring.
JOURNALIST:
And on that note Mr Howard will you be calling on Australians to come together on Sunday on the national day of mourning?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I certainly will, I would hope in different ways people will, if they are disposed, to worship in a church or some other kind of commemoration. It';s a matter for the individual but it';s an opportunity for the whole country to stop and reflect, think about the people who';ve died, think about the people suffering, think about the grieving mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and everybody else who';s been affected by this, it';s an opportunity and an occasion to do it, we should recognise that this is a terrible occurrence of our country and something we never dreamt would occur, it';s the worst peacetime diaster imaginable and it is also occasion for national mourning and in different ways I know Australians will mark it as such.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister once again apologises for keeping you longer than we expected but it has been an interesting and most informative chat, thank you very much.
JOURNALIST:
Thanks John.
[ends]