PRIME MINISTER:
Welcome, good to see you all. The Minister and I have called this news conference to announce that Australia has decided to send an Australian Defence Force reconstruction taskforce to Afghanistan. It will begin deploying we think, late in July. It will be part of a Netherlands-led Provincial Reconstruction Team. The ADF contribution will be a mixed security and reconstruction taskforce of approximately 200 personnel and will be deployed over a period of two years. I think you will all be aware that this will be in addition to the mixture of Special Forces and Commandos that we already have in Afghanistan and is further evidence of the Government's ongoing commitment to assist the people of Afghanistan in consolidating their embrace of democracy and resisting any attempt on the part of the Taliban to come back and to overturn the events of several years ago.
We have a Special Forces task group in Afghanistan on a 12-month deployment which is currently scheduled to finish in September of 2006. As I say, the deployment will commence in July and be completed some weeks later and I know this is a commitment that will have wide support in the Australian community. It goes without saying that we wish the ADF personnel well and we'll have an opportunity of expressing that more fully at the appropriate time.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister do you know what specific tasks will be involved?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Minister might want to add to what I say. And I'm sure he will because he's got all the details, but it's a mixture of security and reconstruction.
MINISTER:
This is a NATO-led activity, the International Security Assistance Force Phase III for Afghanistan. As the Prime Minister says we are partnering with the Dutch. We will be sending up to and around 200 Australian personnel. About half of them will be tradies and engineers who will be essentially building roads and bridges and reconstructing local communities and the other half logistics and light armoured protection. The nuts and bolts of the operation will be negotiated with the Dutch. The Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp will be here in Australia next month and I will be meeting with him and having discussions and our Vice Chief of Defence will shortly travel to Europe to also put the bits and pieces together.
JOURNALIST:
What part of Afghanistan will the team be operating in?
MINISTER:
The team will be operating in the Oruzgan Province in the south of France.* Australians need to appreciate that fighting terrorism is a global activity and we're not going to wait for these people to turn up on Australian beaches so to speak, but this is quite a risky activity. It's one that we don't take on lightly but it's one that we know is, and will make a difference.
JOURNALIST:
How many troops are going and what will that bring the total number of our troops in Afghanistan to?
MINISTER:
Well we've currently got 200, as the Prime Minister said, Special Forces in an operation task group in the general area; I wouldn't obviously be any more specific than that. We recently made the decision to deploy two Chinook helicopters, who are in fact, that are about to deploy at the moment and 110 people in support of them. So the total Australian numbers will come to just over 500, of whom about 100 of which will be specifically engaged in helping to rebuild the Afghanistan economy. It ought to be remembered also that the Foreign Minister announced recently another $150 million in aid development for Afghanistan so this is a multi-national activity and Australia's carrying its fair share of the burden.
JOURNALIST:
Have you and the Cabinet been assured by the ADF that this additional commitment can be carried out without stretching and straining its capability given we're also in Iraq and other parts of the world?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes very much so. Very, very much so. We are confident based on the advice we have received that it can be carried out without imposing an unreasonable, unfair strain on the ADF.
JOURNALIST:
Will there be any role for the Australian team in trying to stem the opium trade and the opium growing activities in that part of Afghanistan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well dealing with that is overwhelmingly the responsibility of the local authorities. These additional forces will go there with particular tasks in mind. They will go to a particular province. They will be part of a Dutch-led reconstruction force and will act in accordance with their mission objectives.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, have you made any decision about further resources for counselling for women seeking a termination of pregnancy?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not in a position to make any announcement about that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, could I just ask, the Special Forces in Afghanistan. Is there any possibility they will be extended beyond September?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the current deployment is for September. I think that's all I am really in a position to say.
JOURNALIST:
The area where the Provincial Reconstruction Team is going to go, how dangerous is that area?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Minister may want to comment on that but I would simply say that any theatre of operation in Afghanistan is dangerous.
JOURNALIST:
Will today's announcement have any bearing on the deployment of troops in Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. None whatsoever. I should point out that the possibility of sending this group was foreshadowed some time ago.
JOURNALIST:
Will we have an independent command from the Dutch or will we be following orders from the Dutch?
PRIME MINISTER:
We'll be part of an overall Dutch-led group but we will, as always, act in accordance with our own rules of engagement. We always do and always will.
JOURNALIST:
Are our troops likely to operate as a cohesive unit within the Dutch organisation or would they be scattered through it?
MINISTER:
Our troops and our contingent of 200 will be essentially working cooperatively with, but in a sense independent from the Dutch. That's going to be a product obviously of negotiation with the Dutch, but our people will be commanded by Australians, work with Australians, but work very cooperatively with the Dutch. And we'll have an interdependent relationship in the sense of protection from Dutch forces.
PRIME MINISTER:
And they will operate under and behave according to Australian law.
JOURNALIST:
Not taking away from the importance of the task, the reconstruction task, but a decision to deploy Australian troops, is it an easy decision still to make?
PRIME MINISTER:
These decisions are never easy and there is a tendency because we have been in Afghanistan in different stages over a number of years now to get a little, some in the community, get a little blas‚; they shouldn't. It's still a quite dangerous country and any kind of military operation in Afghanistan and certainly this is one of them, carries an element of danger and these deployment decisions are anything but easy.
JOURNALIST:
On Friday Prime Minister, evidence was given to the Cole Commission that the AWB board was told about the type of petroleum deal in 2004. On Thursday, the day before, you told Parliament that Mr Stewart, Mr Brendan Stewart had given you an assurance that he knew nothing about any of the kickbacks or deals dealing with Iraq. Will you now call him in and seek further assurances before you include him on the delegation to go to Iraq?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh well I am not going to start calling people in. I am not conducting the inquiry. The man who is doing the calling in and the man who will make decisions in relation to this is Mr Cole QC, and I am not going to get engaged in a running commentary on the Cole inquiry. We established the inquiry, we are confident in the commissioner's ability. He's a very well respected person and I am simply not going to start double guessing him or putting myself in his place and I think Paul Bongiorno was trying very hard to ask a question. I think I got the thrust of the question. You want to know what is my response to what Mr Cole said this morning.
JOURNALIST:
Well will you or any of your Ministers accept his invitation to go to the Commission?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have already provided all the evidence we have.
JOURNALIST:
So you won't be putting in a personal submission? That was his invitation.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what I have to submit is the material within my, I have no knowledge of this issue beyond the material which is in the possession of the Government and which has been provided. And I have made it clear to all the Departments that all documents relevant to the matters under discussion before the commission, and that includes clearly the involvement of officials and the involvement of Ministers, that that documentation should be provided. So the commission has all the material from the Government, so I am advised and certainly in accordance with the instruction I've given, if there are any questions the commission has in relation to the material or evidence or whatever description you want to give it that they already have, well we would obviously be willing to respond. But I don't have anything further to offer other than a repetition of what I've previously said.
JOURNALIST:
On the question of AWB Prime Minister did you have any contact direct or indirect with Paul Volcker during the period that his inquiry into the Oil-For-Food Programme was afoot and if so what was it about?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't recall myself having a discussion with Mr Volcker directly while the inquiry was under way. I saw Mr Volcker in the United States, I think it was in September of last year, I think it was in September of last year, and I saw him at a function and there was a brief reference made in a, what you might call a, chit-chat conversation. It was at a function I think involving him and the presentation of an award or I think involving the Jewish community and we just chatted in very general terms but it wasn't the sort of discussion that went to the substance of the issues.
JOURNALIST:
So at no point did he make any, raise anything or ask for anything to be raised of you in relation to....
PRIME MINISTER:
Well he did express some views through the Australian, he did express some views to the Government through the, I think it would have been, through our Embassy in the United Nations at the beginning of last year, and my response to that when it was brought to my attention was to say that there had to be full transparency and full cooperation with Mr Volcker's inquiry.
JOURNALIST:
It didn't raise any alarms bells with you as to the way in which AWB was behaving?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think what I should say in relation to that is that what he communicated to me I responded with the language that I have just used.
JOURNALIST:
What did he communicate and during...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think that is a matter, the Commission has all of the relevant documentation, so I'll leave it.
JOURNALIST:
During the chit-chat, was the Inquiry mentioned at all?
PRIME MINISTER:
The chit-chat was chit-chat; it didn't go to the substance of the issue, it was separately...
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. So there is no misunderstanding about this, I was advised by my Department at the beginning of last year of some observations of Mr Volcker's and I responded to those observations by saying that there had to be full disclosure and transparency, I think they were the words that I used. The relevant documentation in relation to that has been in the possession of the Cole inquiry for, I don't know how long, but Cole has all of that documentation. But that was separate and apart from the chit-chat. The chit-chat was at a non-AWB, non-Volcker Inquiry related function. I know Mr Volcker, he was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve when I was Treasurer. I have a very, very high regard for him and I made it all very clear all along to everybody who could hear me and read my handwriting that there had to be full cooperation and transparency.
JOURNALIST:
So wheat was not mentioned at all in the chit-chat?
PRIME MINISTER:
The chit-chat alluded to his investigation but not to the substance of it.
JOURNALIST:
Dr Nelson, on the weekend you talked about speaking with the Chief of the Defence Force about coming up with a plan of action on tackling illegal fishing. Has he come back to you and what sort of role, greater role do you have in mind in the north of Australia?
MINISTER:
Well the Government obviously has a whole-of-Government approach to illegal fishing and border protection in general and we have developed some further proposals for the consideration of the Government. We're working with the maritime fishing authority, Customs and all of the agencies that are involved in protecting Australia's borders from illegal fishing and we will be presenting more options in consideration of that process.
JOURNALIST:
What would be those options Dr Nelson?
MINISTER:
Well at this stage I am not going to extrapolate further on them. But needless to say this is something that we take very seriously and that will be reflected in the Government's approach.
JOURNALIST:
There was a lot of tough talking on the Sunday show. Could you match that with some tough options?
MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister there has been some quite serious allegations of alleged sexual abuse of elderly people at a nursing home in Victoria. Can you respond to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes well I saw the ABC programme last night. It was a very distressing programme and if those allegations are true it is just a very, very distasteful, appalling, tragic situation. The law has kicked in, a man has been arrested and has been charged and obviously I can't express a view about his guilt or innocence. I have heard the response of the Minister, I think it's entirely appropriate. He says he has an open mind on mandatory reporting and that's appropriate and clearly he is going to gather all the facts. I do agree with him that if these allegations are true it is an appalling crime and very distressing to the relatives and it is unbelievable that anybody could treat such frail, vulnerable people in such a fashion in circumstances where they are in care and entrusted into the hands of others.
Having said that I don't think of course it would be fair to extrapolate from this incident, if it did take place, a general view about nursing homes in Australia and I think it is important that people who have relatives in nursing homes in Australia be reassured that the overwhelming; more than that; 99.9 per cent of them are operated in caring, sensitive way and people are properly looked after. But I can't at this stage of course say anything further about the particular issue except to express my horror, my disgust and almost disbelief that anybody could be treated in that fashion.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what is your view on mandatory reporting then?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I share the Minister's view.
JOURNALIST:
Just with AWB, you say the Government's has nothing more to offer the inquiry, yet this announcement included today Members of Parliament.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes. I think, look I am not going to put words; it is not for me to put words into the commissioner's mouth. He made a statement and he is asking people who have got information and evidence to come forward. Well we have already come forward. We have provided all the information and when I have been asked questions that have been a little bit away, which I was a moment ago, a little bit away from things that have been right in front of the inquiry I have endeavoured to respond to them and have responded to them, but what more can I say? I have given him my documents. He's got my file. He's got Mr Downer's file. He's got the Defence Minister's file. He's got the Attorney Generals' file. He's given notices to produce to all these Government Departments, and let him do his job. I mean, we have been saying this all along. We are the only country that in response to Volcker has established an inquiry with the powers of a royal commissioner. The only country in the world that has done this. And I said all along, let the blame fall where it may. Now that's it, thank you.
JOURNALIST:
If Commissioner Cole's statement today isn't putting pressure on the Government to come forward, who it is putting pressure on?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I am not going to interpret, double guess or anything, put meanings of the commissioner's statement. He's made a statement. He's asked people who have evidence and who have things they want to say that are relevant to the terms of reference and the issues under inquiry to come forward. Now we have already come forward. We have provided all of our documents and plainly if he wants to cross examine people on those documents and there will be DFAT officials giving evidence later this week or next week, I don't know when, if he wants anything further he will obviously ask for it. But there's nothing more I can offer. I didn't know the kickbacks were being paid, I've said that before, and nor did any of my Ministers. We have provided all of our documents and to the best of my knowledge, information, belief and advice, all documents relevant to this matter, within the matters under inquiry within DFAT and within my own Department have been provided. I can't do more than that. Now as for how others react to it, well that is a matter for them. But it is not right for me to say well this statement really means x, y and z. I am not getting into the business interpreting Mr Cole's statement, I think it was written in very plain, cogent and readily-understandable English. I don't think he needs me, and I certainly decline, the invitation to interpret what he said.
Thank you.
[ends]
*sic. Afghanistan