PM: I'm joined today by the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith. We're here in Lisbon for what will be an important round of talks about the future strategy in Afghanistan.
Tomorrow, 48 nations will meet for discussions about the strategy in Afghanistan. These are the nations within NATO and beyond that are contributing to the efforts there.
The meeting will, of course, talk about the strategy for transition. When I spoke to the Australian parliament at the opening of our parliamentary debate on Afghanistan, I spoke about the strategy for transition. President Karzai has indicated that it is his goal that local Afghan forces take the security lead in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. In the parliament, I spoke about how transition would happen place by place and be conditions based, and we will be having that discussion at the talks tomorrow.
We will also be discussing the enduring commitment that nations must have to Afghanistan. When I spoke in the Australian parliament I said that beyond transition we would remain engaged with Afghanistan to the end of this decade at least, with that engagement taking the form of training and support, and of course civilian aid works, so that enduring commitment to Afghanistan will also be the subject of discussion at this meeting tomorrow.
This is an important meeting at an important moment to ensure that the nations engaged in Afghanistan and Afghanistan itself have an agreed strategy forward in Afghanistan as we move to transition and beyond.
Since arriving here in Lisbon with Minister Smith, I've had the opportunity to meet with General Petraeus. I've had the opportunity to meet with Mark Sedwill, the lead civilian representative in Afghanistan. I've also met with President Karzai. In separate bilateral discussions I've met with the President of Poland, the President of turkey, and the Foreign Minister of the UAE.
I'm looking forward to these discussions tomorrow. Our commitment in Afghanistan is an important one for the Australian people. It's important so that we deny terrorists a safe haven in Afghanistan. It's important to our alliance with the United States, and of course it's important because we have troops fighting there and we have lost Australian lives, so we wanted Australia's voice to be heard at this table as the future strategy for Afghanistan is shaped.
I'm very happy to take any questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's a report out today from 29 aid agencies, led by Oxfam, that are working in Afghanistan, saying they fear that NATO's assessment of the situation there is overly optimistic and urging the NATO and non-NATO countries here not to look for quick fixes to get out of Afghanistan.
How do you respond to that report?
PM: General Petraeus will give a report to the meeting tomorrow and I had the opportunity to get a preliminary assessment from him in my meeting with him today. I also had the opportunity to meet with General Petraeus when I was in Afghanistan myself.
I believe General Petraeus is providing good advice on the situation in Afghanistan. Much of it accords with the advice that we receive from our very own Defence Force, and they are telling us that progress is being made in establishing security, but there is more to be done. There is more to be done in establishing security; more to be done in establishing governance; and, obviously, more to be done in civil aid and re-construction.
So, as I said to the Australian parliament, this is a process. It will take effort. It will take time. Transition does need to be place by place and conditions based. Our estimates are 2-4 years, and President Karzai has outline his goal of by the end of 2014, so I want to be very frank with people - progress is being made, but for security to transition will take some time yet.
JOURNALIST: There's a report in the Sydney Morning Herald today suggesting that you're closing - I think it's six - intelligence posts around the world. How does that fit with the strategy on Afghanistan? Are you re-focussing on the region, or are you undermining Australia's security strategy?
PM: We have contributed a great deal of resourcing to Afghanistan, to our efforts there, and we will continue to do so. Assessments are made from time to time about where efforts are best placed, so you do, in terms of our global effort, see individual positions move from post to post, but in Afghanistan we have increased our troop commitment by 40 per cent. That was increased last April, so we are dedicating resources to our work in Uruzgan province and we'll continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you express to President Karzai any concern about continuing levels of corruption within his Government?
PM: I certainly expressed to President Karzai that Australia wants to see continuing work on the question of fighting corruption in Afghanistan. He indicated to me that efforts are being made within Afghanistan to deal with corruption questions.
Of course, we want to continue to assist and as governance capacity is built in Afghanistan we want that governance capacity to be corruption-free, so, yes, the issue was raised by me in our meeting.
JOURNALIST: How do you assess when or how well Afghan troops will be ready to take over the task of controlling security of the country?
PM: Well, the assessment is going to be made or needs to be made from the ground up, from people who are in a position like our own Defence Force is in Uruzgan, people who are working alongside the Afghan National Army, people who are engaged in the training, people who are therefore involved very closely as the Afghan National Army goes about its work and are in a position to assess its capabilities to provide security.
That security assessment needs, too, to take into account what is happening with governance. Governance matters to the maintenance of security, so all of these factors need to be assessed and the reason we talk about transition happening place by place, that there's no single transition day but rather it's a process, place by place, is that stabilisation and security are happening at different rates in different places.
JOURNALIST: President Karzai has had some fairly tough things to say in a London Financial Times interview today about America in particular and operations. Was any of that re-discussed? Did he repeat those concerns?
PM: The discussion I had with President Karzai was focussed on the meeting tomorrow and the strategy that will be discussed tomorrow and the need for unity around that strategy. President Karzai and ISAF, Australia - we are on the same page, wanting to see Afghan leadership of security. President Karzai has expressed his goal of 2014 and of course we have accepted that expression of his goal, as have all of the other ISAF partners, including the Americans, so we are working on the same agenda about enabling Afghan security leadership in Afghanistan.
I understand why President Karzai puts forward the sovereignty of his country, and the end of this is for Afghanistan to be functioning as a sovereign nation with the ability to take security lead and to engage in strategic denial of Afghanistan from terrorists who would seek to use it as a safe haven and training area.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask you about another matter? There's been a mine collapse in New Zealand and 27 miners are missing. I'm wondering what your response is to that and whether Australia can offer any assistance?
PM: I have certainly heard of this and our hearts do go out to the New Zealanders who would now be waiting very, very anxiously for news of their loved ones and friends. If there's any assistance that we can offer, then certainly we will offer it and we'll stay in touch with our New Zealand counterparts about it.
The world has witnessed a mine disaster already this year, and a miracle when people came out alive, and so our very best wishes go to the New Zealanders as they deal with this situation.
Thank you very much.