PM CLARK: (tape starts) ... It is just a chance to touch base on all the plans that we a common interest in. I have just had the opportunity to go around to a lot of the summits (inaudible), whether we are starting with the Pacific Island Forum in Tonga, APEC here in September, the East Asia Summit in Singapore, CHOGM in Uganda, and just to talk about some of the issues that have been arising there, just a bit of a heads up on some of the things we need to talk about when we meet more formally with officials just to ensure that any issues are on Kevin's radar screen. So, I'm really pleased we've been able to find time to come across early and do this.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, we do not know very much about you. What is your relationship like with our country?
PM RUDD: Well, I regard myself as a friend of Helen's, going back quite a number of years. When we first met she kindly took me to dinner at the Beehive. And I've known Helen and Phil Goff for a long, long time. So, it's just renewing friendships I've had going back over the years.
As for New Zealand, we have so many things in common. From Australia's point of view, this is our sixth largest trading relationship. We have common security policy interests. New Zealand's role in the South Pacific has been outstanding under Helen's leadership. And I look forward to not just continuing this relationship but broadening it.
JOURNALIST: How would you say Australia has done in the South Pacific over the last 11 years?
PM RUDD: Well, today's not the day for partisan comments about anything. It's a day for looking forward. I've always been impressed by what the Kiwis have done on the ground in the South Pacific. They've always been very attentive to emerging problems and what needs to be done. None of us ever get it perfectly right because it's a complex region. But I look forward to working very closely with the New Zealand Government and with Helen's Government on the challenges we face there.
Just as you came in, we were, of course, talking about climate change and Bali, and briefings from our respective delegations up there. I'm heading there on Tuesday. And we'll be in close contact as governments on the challenges we face with climate change, the challenges we face with Bali, plus the negotiating agenda over the next couple of years, it's going to be a tough, hard negotiation. But when you've friends with common interests then we can work these things through.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM CLARK: I think there's two issues here. One, the Bali Conference is endeavouring to get a global, comprehensive, negotiation going. And from New Zealand's point of view, we would like to see out of that negotiation a long-term emissions goal agreed on which is comprehensive and everybody needs to be in on that. But there's a second track going on, and that's going on between the Annex I countries to the Kyoto Protocol, and that's where this indicative range of the 20-40 per cent is being talked about. Now, up until now, Australia hasn't been part of that discussion because it hadn't ratified the Protocol and Australia will now come into that discussion. So, let's separate the two things out. I think that one of the critical negotiations for all of us in Annexe 1 is going to be when it's finally agreed, what the Annex I countries emissions reduction goal should be, how that is then distributed across Australia, New Zealand, EU, Japan, Russia, Canada, etc, and that is a discussion that is yet to be had.
PM RUDD: I think the key challenge for us all, and we've got to go and have some lunch, is as Helen was saying, members of Bali wish to set up a framework and a timeline critically to resolve these questions. The move we've taken as Australia is to be part of the process for the first time, comprehensively. And we want this next two year period to be intensive, comprehensive, because we've got obligations to the region and the planet. We take those very seriously. This is going to be tough, full of hard negotiations, of course, but I'd rather be around the negotiating table than absent from the field.
Having said that, I wish you a very good afternoon.
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