PM: Thank you very much. This morning I had the opportunity to visit the memorial to the Bali bombings and to lay a wreath on behalf of Australians. It was a moving experience. Australians, I believe, will always remember where they were when they heard the news of the first Bali bombing and the second Bali bombing. The first Bali bombing cost us 88 Australian lives and so many others lost their life on that fateful night.
To see their names on the board in front of you as I laid the wreath was a moving experience. I want to thank the Indonesian people and Indonesian authorities who worked with us so closely at the time and the Governor of Bali was with me today and played a pivotal role as the police officer in charge of the investigation of the Bali bombing.
I also want to thank Indonesia for everything we've done since, collaborating and cooperating on counter-terrorism and much progress has been made, but it was a very moving moment.
On issues that do tug at your heart strings I do also want to take this opportunity to offer my condolences to the families who have lost loved ones in this dreadful fire in a nursing home. To imagine frail, elderly people caught up in a fire like that at risk of being engulfed by flames, it is truly horrifying. My condolences do go to the families who have lost loved ones and to those who's loved ones are now in hospital and who are with them, awaiting news of their condition.
I do want to issue some words of thanks too to the staff of the nursing home who played a role in the rescue efforts and to our remarkable fire fighters and police who always do the most amazing things in the most difficult of circumstances. But for many Aussie families this is very, very dark day.
I'm here in Bali for what is an appropriate end to a season of international summits; the G20, then APEC then the East Asia Summit here. The G20 is a pivotal forum for discussions of the global economy. APEC is a pivotal forum for discussions about deepening engagement in our region, regional integration of our economic agendas, freer trade, greater ability to work with each other and to see each other's goods and services work in what we hope will ultimately become a seamless regional market. And I'm here today for a meeting of the East Asia Summit.
This is an historic meeting, it will be the first time the United States and Russia are represented around this table. That means that the East Asia Summit is truly the summit for the Asian century; a meeting of the right members with the right mandate to discuss political, strategic, security questions and economic questions and I'm looking forward to the discussions at the East Asia Summit today.
Amongst those discussion which will be about deepening cooperation in our region, the purpose of the East Asia Summit being to ensure that we deepen cooperation and build norms across our region as our region grows and rises. There will be a number of topics discussed today and I particularly want to go to one and that is the question of disaster management.
Australians know what it's like to face natural disaster, so too do the people of Indonesia and we remember such devastating natural disasters in this place including the Boxing Day tsunami. For us as Australians reflecting back on the year that's been where we saw the Queensland floods and then wide scale flooding in other parts of the country, the tropical cyclone, then we watched the devastation in Christchurch and then we watched the true horrors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
This has been a time of natural disasters and as Prime Minister during those natural disasters I well remember receiving the calls from leaders in our region full of offers of help. The Kiwis came to assist us with the Queensland floods. The Singaporeans were very quickly offering their helicopters which were stationed in Australia. Indonesia offered and sent engineers to assist us. We fielded search and rescue teams both into New Zealand and into Japan. We fielded Aussie police officers into New Zealand as well. This is the kind of cooperation and assistance which really helps nations when they are most in need.
Today I will take to the East Asia Summit, alongside President Yudhoyono, a plan for us to better work in our region on disaster management. The key features of that plan are transparency about what each of our nations can do. So we've got a full understanding of the capabilities available at our disposal across our region if our nations face the worst of circumstances.
Then working on the bottlenecks to rapid deployment, the things that at the moment might slow us responding to someone else's need or someone in our region responding to Australia's need. And also moving to the stage of having exercises and tests so we know if the call comes we can see regional assistance deployed rapidly to the countries most in need.
To give you some statistics about our region, we are a region that has faced devastating natural disasters in the past. Indeed if you look at the year 2010, five of the ten deadliest natural disasters in the world that year happened in our region. If you look at the world at the year 2009, eight of the world's ten deadliest disasters happened in our region. So we are a region that knows what it's like to suffer, we are a region that knows what it is like to pull together and respond. This disaster management plan is about ensuring we can better respond when our friends are in need or when we are in need across our region.
In addition, I anticipate that at the East Asia Summit today we will talk about circumstances in the global economy including the continuing concerns about the Eurozone crisis. I believe we will focus on trade and that the East Asia Summit will lend its voice to the message that has been consistent now across CHOGM, the G20 and APEC, and that is that we cannot turn our faces back to the past, move back to the days of closed markets, that this is a time to continue to work together to see freer and freer trade and this is a time too to take a fresh approach to getting movement in global trade talks. The DOHA round has become stuck. We have been talking as leaders across these summits about getting talks moving again and I believe the East Asia Summit will also lend its voice to an innovative new approach to move trade talks forward.
I believe we will also talk about the issue of climate change, it was a feature of the dinner last night in the cultural performance, a focus on climate change and the work that we can do together. I believe in these discussions today we will be looking at areas such as mitigation, adaption and clean energy. And given the rapid and growing urbanisation across Asia, we, Australia, will also be highlighting the importance of building environmentally sustainable cities and Australia will host seminars on sustainable cities and climate change adaptation in Indonesia and Vietnam in 2012. A real focus on doing what we need to to make sure that cities are sustainable including questions like integrated urban water management systems and sustainable urban design.
At this meeting we will also have the opportunity to talk about security questions including maritime security, non-proliferation in our region, important security questions for us all.
And then tomorrow I will look forward to the first Australia-Indonesia leader's meeting, the first of it's type to be held. This the first leaders level summit since these new bilateral arrangements were agreed when President Yudhoyono visited Australia in March 2010 and had the opportunity then to address our Parliament. And having this first leaders level summit is a sign of the growing strategic partnership between our two countries.
So I'm looking forward to the discussions today. Certainly Australia's voice will be heard on disaster management and the plan we've worked on with Indonesia, it's a step forward for our region as well as on the other questions I've raised with you.
I'm happy to take questions. Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister are you expecting any leaders to raise concerns with you about America's increasing military presence in Australia? Can you understand why China might be upset and do you expect that decision will play into these discussions about maritime security focussing on the South China Sea?
PM: Well there are a million premises in those questions so let me unpack them. This is a leaders level summit where leaders can raise whatever they want to, that's it's beauty, that it's got the right membership and right mandate, the right people around the table able to raise any issue that they wish to, so leaders can raise whatever they want today.
On our arrangement with the United States that President Obama and I announced in Australia, we are long term allies with the United States. We have been marking our 60th anniversary of ANZUS. It is well known to everyone in our region that we are long time allies of the United States and President Obama and I announced the next step forward in cooperation in our alliance. This is regular deployments into the Northern Territory for training purposes starting with 250 marines moving in staged way to 2,500 marines who will be in Australia for around six months at a time, training and exercising in the Northern Territory. As I made very clear in Australia, this is in our national interest, it gives our ADF the ability to train with the American Marines.
As I also made clear in Australia, having America, the United States strongly engaged in our region is a force for stability and is supported by Australia. On the reaction of China, having seen the official comments from China, China recognises that we are a long term ally of the United States and that this is part of our bilateral relationship. China also recognises that engagement with the United States is good for China, good for the United States and good for this region and of course we've got our strong bilateral relationship with China; strong economic partnership but a bilateral relationship that comprehends more than that.
So it is possible and we will continue to have our alliance with the United States and our friendship with China. I believe that is what will be on display here and beyond, that we will be working with both the United States and China. As I said in Australia, it is possible for us to have an ally in Washington and a friend in Beijing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister do you believe our region is safer now from the sort of terrorist attack we saw nine years ago here?
PM: I believe we've taken some very big steps forward in counter-terrorism. Now in terms of defeating and addressing terrorism, you've got to be eternally vigilant, you can never rule the line and say the job is done, now counter-terrorism is where it needs to be. Every day, every week, every month, every year we keep reviewing and renewing and refreshing to make sure that our counter-terrorism is up to the mark. But the collaboration we've had particularly here in Indonesia has been tremendously strong and I believe great progress has been made.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, back on China, just bouncing off your initial response, it sounds like it's very different to Kevin Rudd who told the 7.30 Report that there was indeed some consternation in Beijing about this decision-
PM: I doubt if you display the words there's any difference at all. We've seen the official response from the Chinese Government. We've also seen some commentary in Chinese newspapers. I am making the common sense point and the Foreign Minister will make exactly the same common sense point and we would have made it several months ago and we'll be making it for the years ahead: this is a question for us, Australia, working alongside the United States but also continuing to deepen our partnership with China. We are strongly engaged with China, we have a strong economic partnership, we have growing links in other areas, strong people to people links, education links, we work on all of those links, we'll be shortly - in the next year celebrating the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China and across that time we've seen our relationship strengthen and grow.
JOURNALIST: Will you be talking to Premier Wen about this issue either in a bilateral or at the leaders forum and what will you be telling him?
PM: I will be hoping to have a discussion with Premier Wen, a bilateral discussion, but of course arrangements are made as we go at these summits. I would say to Premier Wen what I've said to you now about Australia's alliance with the United States and how we have, in Australia, made an announcement with President Obama about the rotation of deployment of marines into the Northern Territory for the purpose of exercising, that having the US engaged in our region is a force for stability, that having those marines training alongside the ADF in Australia enables us to have a strengthened capacity to respond to regional contingencies including things like natural disasters when we often rely on our people in uniform to be the ones who are there first on the ground lending a helping hand.
JOURNALIST: So essentially that it's not a threat to China?
PM: Certainly not, absolutely not.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the same topic, Barack Obama said yesterday that he and the Indonesian President have agreed to increase US support for Indonesian military. Do you think that China could see that as a threat, as being another military build up or support from the US in China's backyard?
PM: I think everybody needs to just take a breath and get a sense of perspective. We have direct relationships military to military with China. Across our region Australia does military to military links and military to military exercises. To give you one example I've referred to today, the reason that Singapore contacted me during the summer of natural disasters and said can we help you with helicopters is because they're in Australia. Singapore military helicopters are there in Australia and they're there for the purposes of exercising and training. So there is a huge network here of collaboration and joint exercising and work between our military and other militaries in our region. It's therefore entirely unsurprising that the US would be here in Indonesia, talking to Indonesia about military to military cooperation as well. This is business as usual, this is what we do.
JOURNALIST: Tomorrow you'll talk to President Yudhoyono. There are a number of issues that have been difficult in that relationship over the past six months: juveniles in Australian detention, a juvenile in Indonesian detention, the cattle issue. How difficult would you expect that conversation to be and what do you expect potential sticking points will be?
PM: We have a very strong friendship and partnership with Indonesia and so when I meet with President Yudhoyono tomorrow in this first leader's level summit under our new agreement to have these summits annually, I believe we'll talk about the full range of our relationship and the strength of our relationship and building on it for the future.
Yes, there have been some issues that we've needed to work through during the past 12 months. On the live cattle question, the trade has resume, there's more than 120,000 head of cattle moved into Indonesia since the trade was resumed.
On the question of the Bali Boy, you know, clearly we are grateful to Indonesian authorities for the steps that they have taken to assist with the welfare of this boy including ensuring that he is held by himself, not with other people and that his parents have ongoing and ready access to him. That matter is due to return to court on 25 November so it's not in the interests of this young boy for me to make any commentary about the legal case itself and I won't.
So these issues, yes we've worked through them during the course of the last 12 months and clearly in relation to the Bali Boy and the number of other Australians here in Bali, we continue to provide consular support and from time to time to raise these matters with Indonesian authorities. But overall the relationship is a strong one and we are aiming to keep building on that strength for the future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister will you be raising the issue of Papua and ongoing concerns about human rights abuses in Papua with the President and on the subject of human rights, Burma has been given the green light to be the chair of ASEAN in 2014, do you have any reservations about that? Will you be reviewing the sanctions against the regime or the individuals in the regime that are currently facing sanctions?
PM: If I can go to the question of Burma first. I did in the margins of last night's leaders' dinner have the opportunity to speak to the representative of Burma who is here, the President, President Thein Sein, and I made the point to him that Australia welcomes the progress that has been made in Burma. The fact that Secretary of State Clinton is visiting Burma is a recognition that some progress has been made and indeed our Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Rudd has already visited Burma in recognition of the progress that has been made but there is a lot more to do, a lot more to do in Burma in releasing political prisoners, in ensuring there is proper democratic structures and that there is proper responses for human rights and I made that point directly to the President. But the progress that has been made to date is welcome.
On Burma chairing ASEAN in 2014, that of course is a decision for ASEAN and it has been taken and as a result of it being taken that does mean that Burma will chair the East Asia Summit in 2014. What I would say about that is for the nations of the East Asia Summit, I believe it will be very important to see the continuing progress in the days between now and that hosting in 2014, very important for them to see continuing progress.
JOURNALIST: Will you review the sanctions that are currently in place?
PM: Look, we're welcoming the developments, the developments are happening rapidly. We will obviously calibrate issues about sanctions against change as it occurs but I do want to be very, very clear- there is a lot more to do in Burma. We are welcoming of the steps so far, I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this is the best progress we've seen in 20 years but they're at the start of this journey, welcome progress, but a lot more to do.
On the question of Papua, I've raised that with the President of Indonesia last time I met with him, we need to be very clear here, we recognise Indonesia's territorial sovereignty but we welcome the steps that Indonesia and particularly President Yudhoyono has taken to look towards greater self management in the area. There is a need to continue to address human rights questions in the area and President Yudhoyono has been very clear about his intentions that any questions about human rights abuses are investigated. So we very much welcome the progress that Indonesia is making in that area.
JOURNALIST: So returning to the issue of the 2014 summit, is there a possibility that Australia might boycott that summit if progress in human rights and political rights are seen to be not, is seen to be - I'm searching for the word-
PM: We've got a collaborative spirit amongst the journalists and that's nice to see. Any decision about attending a summit in 2014 will be taken in 2014, I think that's just a very common sense point and the bigger point that I'm making is that of course East Asia Summit nations would want to see continued progress between now and 2014.
We'll just take a question over here and then come back over.
JOURNALIST: Thank you. What will you say to President Yudhoyono in relation to Indonesia's concerns about Indonesian minors in Australian gaols?
PM: Well I think it's very important that we've got the facts on the table here. We do not have in Australian gaols Indonesians who have been found by courts to be minors. We don't. Since September 2008 we have returned to Indonesia 77 people found to be minors or believed to be minors and we always err on the side of caution here so our policy outlook is that we return Indonesia minors to Indonesia. They are not the subject of gaoling in Australia.
Having said that, I do have concerns that the amount of time that has been taken in some cases to establish people's ages has been too long. Now I absolutely accept the advice from the police that this can be a very difficult thing to establish in circumstances were age is disputed to determine someone's age in those circumstances, no papers, then with an incentive to make a claim they are a minor because they will be returned to Indonesia, that that can be a complex task for the police.
But having said that I am concerned that this has taken too long and we do want to, and we are in the process now of working through with Indonesia some arrangements which would enable us to work collaboratively with the Indonesian police so that they would assist in helping us have the information we need to make age determination and to speed the process.
Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the question of uranium sales to India, will you be having any discussions with the Indian Prime Minister about this? Do you have a bilateral lined up?
PM: I spoke to the Prime Minister of India about this personally and directly when I was in Australia on the day that the decision was announced by me in Australia. I had conveyed the decision to me in writing before it was announced and I followed it up with a telephone call on the day that it was announced. In the margins of the dinner last night, the Prime Minister of India said to me in person what he had said to me on the phone during that telephone call which was that he thanked me for making this decision. He understand that we now have some Labor Party processes to come.
JOURNALIST: Why didn't you consult with Mr Rudd over that decision Prime Minister?
PM: It's a leader's decision and I made it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just back to Jo's question, what will you be saying though to President Yudhoyono because you do have Indonesians who claim to be minors who are behind bars in detention centres in Australia so that's not very different from being in gaol for a child and what are you going to say to him?
PM: Well my understanding is that there's 17 Indonesians where age is an issues in their court proceedings, my advice is 17, where age is an issues in their court proceedings. I'll certainly be saying to President Yudhoyono that we do want to work cooperatively with them. Processes are already underway so this has already been started, but I would be saying to President Yudhoyono that we do want to work cooperatively with Indonesian authorities including Indonesian police to do what we can to speed the determination of people's ages.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you know that the x-ray, sorry, the x-ray technology is hugely controversial, it was actually rejected by a Perth court as a way of determining age. Shouldn't we just drop it?
PM: Well you need a way of determining people's age. I obviously leave these operational questions to the Federal Police, they are not questions for the Prime Minister as to how police go about collecting evidence in that sense and whether or not they've got a view of the use of wrist x-rays, you'll have to direct those questions to the Commissioner of the Federal Police, that's probably for him, but I am indicating to you that I am concerned about the amount of time that has been taken and we have already started a process with Indonesian authorities to see if we can get access to the kind of information that Indonesia would have that we don't about it's nationals which may enable us to make determinations about age more easily.
Now I do think we've got to be just fair to Federal Police here, I just think intuitively we all know that this is a complicated task and if you've got a young person in front of you who claims to be a minor, making a determination about whether they are 17 or 19, you know, this is not an easy thing in the absence of - no papers, no documents, no identification. So that's what the police are dealing with and if we can collaborate with Indonesia to speed access to documents and evidence which may be available in Indonesia that is not available directly in Australia then that's a good thing because it will help us speed up the determination.
We'll go here and come here, we'll take two and then we'll call it a day. I do have some big things to do today. Yes.
JOURNALIST: It's a regional question. How important has Indonesia's leadership been in the past year in the region and is Australia committed to supporting it?
PM: President Yudhoyono is a great friend of Australia and under his leadership of Indonesia we have seen our friendship, our partnership, our bilateral relationship grow stronger and stronger. This is the Asian century, as I've said in Australia and we need to make sure as a nation that we are accessing all of the opportunities that lie before us in this, the Asian century, when we live in this growing, dynamic region of the world. That what has traditionally been thought about as the tyranny of distance now becomes the great advantage of being adjacent to the growth region of the world.
Now I'm well aware when I use that terminology in Australia people's minds quickly run to China and India. Their minds should also run to the full region and to this place, to Indonesia, to this growing, vibrant democracy, growing in economic strength and weight, just to our north and a great partner and friend and President Yudhoyono's leadership has been pivotal to that.
Last question here.
JOURNALIST: Just speaking of minds running back to China, I just wanted to return to the question of maritime security and ask what sort of the message that you would be taking and you would expect to see the leaders taking in terms of preserving maritime access to the South China Sea?
PM: Well I'll speak on behalf of Australia, what leaders want to say at the East Asia Summit is a matter for them. Our position on the South China Sea is that we do not take a view or position on the competing claims here. We don't take a view on that, but we do have a very strong view that any competing claims should be resolved through appropriate processes in accordance with the international law of the sea and in accordance with the processes of adjudication that flow from that. We want to see across our region in all places the ability for there to be freedom of navigation for people to see these ships go through. We are a great trading nation, we get our goods to market by ship, it's in our interest to see freedom of navigation, it's in the interests of this incredible, dynamic growth region in the world to see that freedom of navigation.
Thank you very much.