PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen I've had a meeting with the President-elect. It was not an occasion to go into great detail about particular issues. It is on the eve of his inauguration. I told the President-elect that Indonesia had achieved a remarkable transition to democracy and it was a great tribute to the Indonesian political system and to the Indonesian people that for the first time in the history of this country, a democratically elected president by direct ballot. It's achieved without bloodshed and in a very smooth and effective way and I, on behalf of Australia, congratulated him not only on his victory but also the entire Indonesian nation on the embrace of democracy and the completion of that transition process that really began back in 1998.
Both of us are determined that the relationship between Australia and Indonesia will deepen. He is somebody who has personal connections with Australia, one of his children is studying at Curtin University, he obviously feels well disposed towards our country and that's very important. I invited him to visit Australia, he'd already indicated in his election campaign that he thought Australia was a country that he would like to visit. We do intend to have more detailed discussions in bilaterals at either or both at the upcoming meetings of APEC and ASEAN that we'll both be attending in November. We did however agree that a greater emphasise on the regular ministerial council meetings between the two countries would be helpful. We also agreed that the fight against terrorism remained very important. I thanked him for the co-operation that had led to the conviction of people responsible for the Bali attack and that how very important that was and I raised the desirability of a visit to Indonesia at an appropriate time of the head of, leaders of our security organisations to further emphasise the importance of links between the two countries in that area.
It was a very valuable meeting for both of us. It was a meeting that indicated at the beginning of his presidency and at the beginning of my fourth term as Prime Minister of Australia a wonderful opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the relationship. I'm glad that I've had the opportunity of coming to Jakarta to represent Australia at this very important event and through the symbolism of that as well as the value of having an opportunity of talking to him to communicate to him and to the Indonesian people the great importance my Government and the people of Australia place on the relationship.
JOURNALIST:
PM, do you believe (inaudible) relationship with Indonesia under President Yudhoyono as opposed his predecessors?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'm not going to make any comment on his predecessors. I look ahead. He is certainly an impressive man. I think the relationship with strengthen under his leadership. I believe that he has a store of goodwill towards Australia, as we do towards Indonesia.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) his election has a chance to start afresh?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think we need to start afresh, that sort of assumes that everything's in disarray, it's not. I think the relationship is basically very sound, it's had challenges in the past but they are receding into the past. The two most recent challenges that we've had to respond to, we've responded to very effectively and very co-operatively - the Bali attack and the attack outside our Embassy. And both of those events produced great co-operation.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) specially (inaudible) new security agreement past him?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I didn't raise that because it's not something that's appropriate to be raised. And in any event what we're talking about there is not so much a new security agreement but whether in the fullness of time some kind of treaty embracing a number of the points of reference and co-operation in our relationship might be brought together.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) that might be on the (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it may be but I don't think that we should of start making the mistake of benchmarking the relationship according to whether or not we have a treaty. Look can I make that clear, that is not a benchmark for the relationship. If it does emerge all well and good, if it can add value to the relationship. But I want to make it very clear, we're not going to benchmark the relationship according to whether or not we have a particular piece of paper, that is absurd.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think (inaudible) narrowed from what Mr Downer was proposing on the weekend, he was talking about a broader security agreement...
PRIME MINISTER:
I didn't think he was actually, I didn't interpret it that way.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) symbolic, he said it gave the impression of something that was bigger and broader and more encompassing...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think you're trying to generate a difference that doesn't exist.
JOURNALIST:
What do you see as the biggest challenge the two countries will face together over the next four or five years?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the war against terrorism, clearly. It's the biggest challenge that we have together in this part of the world and he is very strongly committed to it. I told him how much he had impressed the Australians when he gave that passionate speech at the Bali commemoration service just over a year ago. It was a very moving speech and it encapsulated the strength of his feeling, a strength of feeling that I share.
JOURNALIST:
Is there a danger that the focus on terrorism (inaudible)...
PRIME MINISTER:
Is there a danger of what? I don't hear you well, I'm sorry.
JOURNALIST:
Is there a danger that the focus, emphasise on terrorism, could (inaudible) other important issues (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don't think it will. I was asked what's the biggest challenge. I don't see our relationship just in the narrow dimension of fighting terrorism, important though that is, the relationship is much broader than that. There are more than 20,000 Indonesian students in Australia. More Indonesian students now go to study in Australia than to any other country and that's a very important dimension to the relationship.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, shortly after your re-election I think you said something about raising with the President-elect the Australian desire for the Bali bombing sentences to be carried out.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes well I actually mentioned that in our discussions tonight, I did touch on that, we didn't talk about that in enormous detail because it wasn't a discussion, but I did indicate to the President-elect that we had appreciated very much the co-operation that had led to the convictions and that it was the desire of the Australian Government that those convictions stand.
JOURNALIST:
Was there any response to your suggestion that (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Any response?
JOURNALIST:
Did he suggest he would now be coming to take up your offer of visit?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the sequence is this, I said I hoped he would visit and he said well during the election campaign I said Australia was a country I wanted to visit. Now he hasn't been sworn in yet. It's a bit hard to try and nail him down. I mean really, we shouldn't do that.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible) Bali bombing sentences, what was his response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he didn't respond specifically, he just understood I'm sure what I was saying. But I mean we didn't, this was not a meeting where we got down to the detail, to be fair he's not yet sworn in and I didn't regard it as an occasion to get into the detail of things, it was an occasion for me to convey the great goodwill of the Australian community to him, to congratulate him on a wonderful victory, to assure him of my personal commitment to the relationship, to reaffirm our common cause against terrorism and to touch briefly on some particular points in the bilateral relationship and then to agree that we would get into more detail when we next met.
JOURNALIST:
Did the President-elect mention in the context of terrorism specifically the Australian Embassy bombing?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think he may have just briefly mentioned it, but I mean once again Greg it's not a meeting that we got into the detail of everything. Anything else, cause it's getting a bit late?
JOURNALIST:
Staying on terrorism, the trial of Abu Bakar Bashir next week, he's being charged with the Bali bombing, how would you like to see the outcome of that trial?
PRIME MINISTER:
I want the law applied. But I'm not going to comment on the detail of something, it's before the Indonesian courts and I just look forward to the justice system working - fairly, properly and effectively.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, has Australia done anything about reports out of Thailand that the (inaudible) has been forced to resign by the...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've read the reports.
JOURNALIST:
(inaudible).
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't have any further information. Thank you.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, just one question, the Russian President Putin has today said that it would be better for the fight against terrorism if Mr Bush remained President of the US, do you agree with those sentiments?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't normally agree or disagree with every comment made by every other leader. However, my views about George Bush are well known. I wish him well and I hope he gets re-elected. I don't say that disrespectfully of his opponent, but I certainly think George Bush has given great leadership to the world fight against terrorism, I think he's been a very strong leader in that fight and I hope he wins.
Thank you.
[ends]