SENATOR MCCAIN: It is my distinct privilege and honour to welcome Prime Minister Gillard to Washington, DC and to Capitol Hill. A number of us will be meeting with the Prime Minister later today, and we are looking forward to her addressing a joint session of Congress tomorrow. Madame Prime Minister we are honoured by your presence here in our nation's capitol.
No matter who occupies the White House, and no matter what party holds power in Congress, America's commitment to the security and success of our ally Australia is enduring and unbreakable.
This year we celebrate the 60thanniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, and as we do, we recognize that we are bound together by far more than that one document. We are united by ties of family and friendship, mutual interests and common values, and our shared sacrifice in service of each other.
We were just viewing a photography exhibit in the Russell Rotunda, that commemorates more than one century of shared military struggle and sacrifice that Australians and Americans have undertaken together. And on a personal note, my father was a submarine commander in World War II and was based out of a base in Perth, Australia and some of his fondest memories were there relationships and friendships between the United States and Australia in that great war. And I also, during the Vietnam War, had the honour of spending some time also in the beautiful city of Sydney, Australia.
I also want to mention that more than 50,000 Australians served, and 521 gave their lives, in the war in Vietnam - and as I was personally very moved by, and very grateful for the Prime Minister's visit to the Vietnam War Memorial yesterday, and especially her generous contribution to the education centre that's now being built there.
Our nations have given much together; they are still giving in Afghanistan, Iraq and wars since the beginning of this last century, not this but the last century.
So Madame Prime Minister, if you take only one message back to Australian from your time in Washington, let it be the thanks of this grateful nation - which values our historic alliance, which values the brave Australians who are serving with our men and women in uniform in Afghanistan, and which values above all else the safer, freer, and better world that your nation does far more than its fair share to promote. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PM: Thank you very much, it's privilege to be here with you Senator McCain and to have the opportunity to open with you the photographic exhibition we've just seen.
It's an exhibition to celebrate the 60 years of ANZUS and as we've walked past some of the photographs we've seen a photograph of the very famous Great White Fleet and the Australia writer David Malouf described that visit by the Pacific Fleet in August 1908 as one of the shining moments of our national memory, this huge outpouring of feeling for America and Americans.
And Senator, you yourself wrote at the time of the 100 year anniversary of the Great White Fleet, that is was then that Australians and Americans recognised the kindred spirit of two rugged and energetic peoples separated by half the globe but united by shared hopes for mankind.
I think those words ring very true today. The 60 photographs here are borrowed from our Department of Defence and from the sanctuary of Australia's traditions of the Australian War Memorial and I do thank those institutions for allowing these photographs to travel here to Washington, they are very, very important parts of their collection.
I'd also like to acknowledge Australia's Ambassador, Kim Beazley, for his personal interest in helping to select the images that you will see in this exhibition, they're a fitting tribute.
There are obviously some things that photographs can show us that words can never quite tell. Those images of Australian and American servicemen and servicewomen in this exhibition do capture a personal reality and they add to our reflections on war.
It's a reality Senator McCain has faced himself, in his distinguished military career and one that had given him permanent reminders. Senator McCain I'd like to use your words again, you once said. “Courage is not the absence of fear but the capacity for action despite our fears”. Australia and the United State have always taken action together, despite our fears. We've been bold and we will continue to do so.
This exhibition is not just a record of our shared past, I believe it's an inspiration for our shared future and it's a great honour to be here to open it with you. Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Thank you Senator and Prime Minister. Senator is time running out for American action to help (inaudible) Libya and to you Prime Minister, is a message to America (inaudible) about the need for American (inaudible) on comprehensive solutions to climate change?
SENATOR MCCAIN: I don't know (inaudible) time is right now, but I do know that as we speak (inaudible) people of Libya being massacred from the air and in recent days we have seen a (inaudible) in air attacks both helicopter and fixed wing. I've just got one other point and that is that there are (inaudible) which are very vulnerable to air attacks, which could possibly lead to catastrophic and (inaudible) consequences.
Remember when we drove Saddam Hussein (inaudible) and I would not put it past Mr Quaddafi to take similar action in his desperation.
PM: We share one planet and we share the problem of climate change. In our nations we need to make decisions about how we will end up with a clean energy future and here in the United States President Obama, has announced his strategy for a clean energy future. In Australia we have announced our strategy too, we believe that the most efficient way of reducing the amount of carbon pollution our economy generates is to put a price on carbon and so we will be legislating to price carbon from the 1st July 2012, firstly with a fixed price and then moving to a full cap and trade emissions scheme.
Our end point is a clean energy future, that's the drive here in the United States and it's the drive in Australia.
SENATOR MCCAIN: Could I just (inaudible), every day that goes by, every hour that goes by, innocent Libyans are being attacked and massacred from the air and I worry about additional action that Quaddafi could take, such as bombing oil facilities, which could also have extreme environmental consequences.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
SENATOR MCCAIN: I think we should reach out to any Libyan, but particularly his inner circle to come over to our side. He is being propped up, as you know, by family members and mercenaries to a significant degree. I met yesterday with the former Libyan Ambassador, who has come over and is now in opposition to Quaddafi and so I'm very hopeful that some of those people would desert Quaddafi and that's the best way to persuade him to step down.
I would point out again on this issue of a no fly zone, the President of the United States has said that Quaddafi should leave power - that's American policy. Then therefore it means that one of the ways to achieve that goal is with a no fly zone and I want to repeat my opposition to ground troops in Libya. That in my view that would not be a productive enterprise.
JOURNALIST: Senator McCain, on Guantanamo Bay, (inaudible). Do you think that any of these places will ever be (inaudible)
SENATOR MCCAIN: I think they'll be tried in Guantanamo on a Military Commission which I think is the appropriate way to treat these cases.
JOURNALIST: Senator, do you think there is a likelihood that Julian Assange will be charged in the United States and would you want Australia to support any extradition that then flowed from that? And Prime Minister, your reaction?
SENATOR MCCAIN: I'd be interested in the Prime Minister's views on this issue. It is the greatest, largest, most damaging security brief in the history of this country and I understand the aspect of it where American diplomats and State Department are embarrassed by the revelation of certain conversations, but what's more disturbing is a revelation of individuals in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, who were cooperating with the United States. That literally puts their lives in danger.
I don't know exactly how this situation should be treated best, but I would like to see those responsible for Private First Class Manning's ability to all by himself be responsible for these massive leaks, be held responsible. As far as I know, not anyone besides Private First Class Manning has been charged with anything, has gotten a letter of reprimand, has been fired and he couldn't have done all of that just by himself, other people are responsible as well.
PM: Well I wouldn't speculate on hypothetical situations, the only legal matters facing Mr Assange are the legal matters stemming out of proceedings in Sweden and of course at every stage Mr Assange has received consular assistance, just as any other Australian citizen would have received such assistance.
JOURNALIST: The US is currently undergoing the Force Posture Review, would you like see the end result of that the US having a greater force presence in Australia once that's complete?
SENATOR MCCAIN: I think the ties between our two countries are as close, or closer than almost any other country in the world and probably the facts that I would like Americans to know more about is that the Australian Government and military have played a vital role in parts of the Pacific where the small island nations have had great struggles and great challenges, including a large nation of New Guinea and it's been at significant cost to the Australian taxpayer, it has been an act on the part of the Australian government to try to bring about stability and a better life in some of these small island nations.
I regret to say that a lot of my countrymen are not aware of the incredible role that Australia - partnering with New Zealand - are playing in the entire Pacific region. So I'm very happy with our military to military relationship. I'm very grateful for the sacrifice and service of the Australian military. Prime Minister was just telling me she just attended a funeral of a brave young Australian who just lost his life in an attack in Afghanistan. This is the kind of friendship and relationship which is really remarkable.
JOURNALIST: Senator, just following on (inaudible) if I may, with the military rise of China, do you see it as inevitable that there will be closer military links (inaudible)
SENATOR MCCAIN: I think facts are, somebody said facts are stubborn things and the fact is that the Chinese just announced a 12.5 per cent increase in their defence spending. It's also a fact that we don't know the extent of Chinese defence spending because they're opaque in many respects, but there's no doubt that the Chinese are fulfilling Deng Xiaoping's last priority and that is a military build up. They have been acting very assertively in the region, the Spratleys and in other areas, including latest dust up that they've had in a collision, I believe it was with the Vietnamese, but the fact is that there are a rising power and they are a military power.
Now that doesn't mean to me that there's going to be conflict, that's not necessarily so, but it does mean to me that Australia and the United States must ensure that basics like freedom of the seas are observed by the Chinese. They have talked about the South China Sea being quote “special zones” and that kind of thing. So I do think that the United States and Australia will be working more actively to make sure that there is not any tensions in the region and I do not predict any conflicts, but I do say that there the best way to prevent that is for the United States and Australia to assert the basic principles of conduct that all nations should adhere to.
Thank you very much.