6 August 2003
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
MCGRATH:
You've been briefed this morning by your advisers. Is it Jemaah Islamiyah?
PRIME MINISTER:
There's no evidence of that but that is the strong suspicion. That's the view expressed by the Indonesian police. The type of attack carries the hallmarks of Jemaah Islamiyah, but as yet we don't have direct proof so I have to put it in those terms.
MCGRATH:
And what have your advisers told you about what is known about the circumstances leading up to this and what might have happened?
PRIME MINISTER:
Where there are mixed views. The majority belief probably is that it was a suicide bomber but other theories suggest that the bomb may have been detonated by remote control in some way, it's too early to know what the answer to that is. At this stage it would appear that the overwhelming majority of those killed and injured are Indonesian citizens. I'm told that amongst the dead there could be one Dutch citizen and one Singaporean citizen. The rest are believed at this time to be Indonesian, as are the great bulk of the casualties, those in hospital. That, of course, reminds us that although this was an attack on what is seen as a high-profile western target, the victims were the citizens of Indonesia overwhelmingly and this must be seen and should be seen and is an attack on the Indonesian state and an attack on the Indonesian people. And I feel for the people of Indonesia and for their President. I hope to talk to President Megawati later today, that can be arranged to convey the concern and the sympathy and the understanding of the Australian Government. We have, as you said earlier, sent an additional group of crime scene investigation Australian Federal Police officers, they left Australia a short while ago and they will join other officers of the Australian Federal Police to assist in the Indonesian police pursuit of the people responsible.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, you may have heard Sidney Jones just a moment ago saying that if it is JI, it's important for everyone to understand how complex, how skilled, how deadly, she said, this organisation is. It's a deeply worrying assessment. Do you think the Indonesian authorities can really cope with this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Indonesian authorities have done great things since Bali. They have, as Sidney Jones said, rounded up a lot of people. Everything, of course, is relative. You have to ask yourself how many more attacks might have occurred had it not been for the response of the Indonesian authorities. We have worked very closely with them. I'm very much in praise of the work of the Australian Federal Police and our security agencies, they have worked very closely with the Indonesians and they'll go on working very closely. But this is a fight sadly that will probably go on for years. Jemaah Islamiyah if it is, as many people believe, responsible for this is, is an organisation that is embedded in many parts of Indonesia and we have to be particularly vigilant and we are living in a more dangerous world and it's not something that you can defeat with one killer knock-out punch, terrorism is not like that. Think of the other countries that have gone through terrorism albeit in different circumstances - the British mainland was subject to sustained terrorist attacks over a long period of time, it took years before that settled down. As Sidney Jones rightly said, the Israelis have had to cope with suicide bombers almost on a daily basis and just because several attacks occur, it doesn't mean that there's been a total failure of the official response.
MCGRATH:
But this isn't one of the problems that you talked about, the British mainland, Israel, the demands there from the IRA and from the Palestinians are quite concrete. The demands here seem very general.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, whether you have concrete demands or not, terrorism and the killing of innocent people can never be defended. The implication apparently is well if this is a concrete demand that justifies terrorism, nothing…
MCGRATH:
Just in terms of opening negotiation…
PRIME MINISTER:
Nothing can ever justify the random indiscriminate killing and maiming of innocent people. I mean, most of the people who died yesterday were probably taxi drivers and restaurant employees, people on very low-incomes trying to make a living to support their families. They were not in anyway the instruments of suppression, they were just ordinary decent people going about their daily lives. Now, of course, you have to deal with intractable, seemingly intractable political problems and as far as the Middle East is concerned, I think one of the greatest things that's come out of the Iraqi war is the renewed emphasis for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians and that's something that I applaud very much and if it is achieved, it will take away something that terrorists endeavour to exploit.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, it seems incredible that no Australians have been killed. What's your message to Australians living in Jakarta today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I feel for you, take care - that's easy for me to say, it's in a way harder for you to carry out. Don't lose faith in the relationship and the friendship between our two countries, it's very important to our futures. I have to advise Australians again to avoid any non-essential travel to Indonesia. I have to warn them again, as we have repeatedly in the past, to be very wary of public places, particularly those frequented by westerners. In the end, of course, people will make their own personal judgments about whether they intend to remain. I guess a large number of Australians who've lived in that country for a long time they've become very attached to it and they will want to remain and I understand that, it's a difficult choice, and this is a fight that's going to go on for a long time. But extend a hand of sympathy and understanding to your Indonesian friends because this has been a terrible attack on the Indonesian state and the Indonesian people.
MCGRATH:
Mr Howard, you're speaking to us this morning from Cape York. You're going to travel to Aurukun today. Were you going to announce some financial funding for aboriginal communities to get involved in their own financing? Can you outline those to us?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we had a scheme that we've started which really encourages people to better manage their own finances and it's worked fairly well, and we're going to announce a modest expansion of that today. It's not the principal purpose of my visit, the principal purpose of my visit is to learn how effective the programs at the Cape York Land Council has carried out are being implemented. But the idea of encouraging people to adopt better methods of financial management is an idea that's relevant to all Australians, let me say, not just to our indigenous fellow Australians. But it certainly has very great relevance here and it has great resonance because the emphasis of the Cape York Land Council has been on self-improvement, on individual responsibility, on individual economic empowerment because the leaders of this community believe that the way ahead is for the generation of a greater sense of individual responsibly and a shift from the welfare dependency mentality which has in their judgement been damaging to aboriginal communities.
MCGRATH:
So you're definitely getting a good news story there as you travel and you see those communities, but are you seeing the broader problem up there as well? And have you seen anything that challenges any of your thoughts at the moment on the need for Aboriginal people to become more self-reliant?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Catherine, I'm very conscious of the broader problem and the broader problem is that Aboriginal people remain as a group the most disadvantaged of Australians. We all understand that that is the problem. The debate over recent times has been about how you lift our Aboriginal fellow Australians out of their disadvantage. The view of many Aboriginal leaders is that the problems of alcohol and other substance abuse, which is at the heart of much violence, domestic and family violence, that that has to be tackled and I support them in their efforts. And there's also a need for indigenous communities to focus on self-improvement, on individual resilience and if you can combine those things I believe you have a better way ahead, but it's a long way. And you say I've seen some good news things, I haven't come here just seeking good news stories, I've come here to understand and along the way I see the benefits of communities who through their own volition have placed restrictions on alcohol consumption. And in a short space of two months, I was told yesterday in one community, it had had a dramatic effect, most particularly on the admission rates for women being bashed up, into the local hospital.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, thanks…
PRIME MINISTER:
And that is a good news story in anybody's language.
MCGRATH:
Prime Minister, thanks for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]