ANDREW STEVENS:
The Australian Prime Minister John Howard says his country's playing a leading role in the massive aid efforts for countries hit by the tsunami. Well Mr Howard addressed the nation on Sunday night and said Canberra's aid pledge to Indonesia is the biggest aid package in the country's history. Well the Prime Minister joins us now live from Sydney to talk about that package. Mr Howard thanks very much for joining us. You unveiled a $1 billion dollar, Australian dollar aid package, some $760 million US dollars worth of aid. At the time you said this was an historic step in Australian and Indonesian relations, can you just explain what you mean by that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is the biggest aid package to anybody in Australia's history and it's designed to deal with the longer term challenge of reconstruction and rebuilding. It's going to be administered by a joint commission chaired by myself and the Indonesian President and we will have the final say in where the aid monies are distributed. It's very much a bilateral partnership and because of the size of the aid and the distinctly bilateral character of it between the heads of the two governments, it is different from some other aid packages that have been delivered in the past and it sends a very strong message to the people of Indonesia of our desire to help them. Indonesia of course is Australia's nearest neighbour and no country has lost more in human terms than Indonesia, I am not playing down for a moment the terrible losses in Thailand and Sri Lanka and India and we have assisted the aid effort in those countries as well, but we saw a particular need for Australia to help in relation to Indonesia and we are very strongly committed to helping that country, which is still going through a development phase to rebuild.
ANDREW STEVENS:
Mr Howard relations between Australia and Indonesia have been volatile in the past, what longer term political impact do you expect this deal to have, or what do you hope it will have?
PRIME MINISTER:
Its purpose is humanitarian. I believe it will be very positive for the relationship, there's is no doubt about that. Our relationship has had its difficulties but its been on a very positive plane for some time now, and relations between the new Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and myself, have been very close and friendly, and I believe that this response to this terrible tragedy will be seen as it is by the people of Indonesia, and that it is a genuine desire on the part of Australia, which is in a position to help. We are a relatively wealthy country, and we are in a position to help and this is an historic, a tragically historic opportunity to do that, and we intend to demonstrate that we are in every sense a regional mate as far as Indonesia is concerned.
ANDREW STEVENS:
One of the most devastated... or the most devastated areas is Aceh province in Sumatra Island. That is, of course, the home of an insurgency, of an independence movement, which has been going on for some 30 years, has killed thousands of Acehnese. There has been a call by the UN association for Australia to take a lead in peace efforts in this particular conflict. Will you be pushing that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well our prime aim at the present is to help with the aid and reconstruction effort. If we do that successfully, as I believe we are and will in the future, that is the most powerful and evocative thing that we can do in Aceh. We're going there as good neighbours giving practical help. The relationship, the working relationship between the Australian military forces and the Indonesian military forces is smooth. We're not in the business of picking sides. That is an internal domestic matter for Indonesia. We are there as a friend trying to give practical help, and I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of the local Acehnese, and Indonesian population generally, will see it in those terms.
ANDREW STEVENS:
There are reports, Mr Howard, that there have been continuing clashes between the Indonesian military and Aceh separatists during this disaster recovery. Do you have concerns that Australian military or Australian aid organizations could get caught in the crossfire?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's something that we will keep a very careful eye on, as will our military, but thus far we believe that the security situation can be handled effectively and it's not in any way impeding the delivery of aid, particularly the medical aid which has been on the ground from the very beginning.
ANDREW STEVENS:
Australian support is going to build up to some 900 troops. It will have a dozen aircraft and helicopters in the region, a field hospital. Do expect there to be requests for more military operations by the Australians in Indonesia, and also, how long do you think this phase of the operation will see Australian military on the ground in Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we're not engaged in military operations in Indonesia, and we won't be, and we don't expect any requests to be. What we are engaged in is a humanitarian aid operation, which involves, inevitably, military personnel, just as the Unites States has deployed military personnel to help in the aid effort - a lot of them. But we're not there in a military role, it's just that our military are there in a humanitarian role, and they do it very well, and they do it very effectively. And I am very proud of the way in which the Australian military forces have been able to get on the ground so very quickly and render this aid so very effectively.
ANDREW STEVENS:
Mr Howard, thank you very much for joining us.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]