PRIME MINISTER:
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be back in Indonesia, this is my twelfth visit to this country since being Prime Minister and I look forward very much to my discussions tomorrow with the President Dr Yudhoyono, there's a lot to talk about, it's a very important bilateral relationship. There will always be some challenges in the relationship but the fundamentals of it are very sound. Indonesia has made remarkable strides towards democracy.
The difficulty of bringing about major reform both economically and politically, because it's such a vast country, is very significant and I greatly admire the leadership that the President has given to his country.
It's had to grapple with more than its fair share of natural disasters, the horrific loss of life in the tsunami and more than 5000 people have lost their lives and about a million left homeless as a result of the earthquake in Yogyakarta. So it's a country that deserves our understanding on that score alone but I will of course have an opportunity to speak to all of you all again tomorrow after I have met the President. Are there any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister exactly what steps do you expect the Indonesian Government to take in relationship to Abu Bakar Bashir now that he has been released from jail?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my position in relation to that man was set out in my letter and that's obviously something that will, amongst other things, be discussed tomorrow.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister that man has been taunting you today, he's challenging you to convert to Islam and asking you that... saying that he wants to preach in Australia. Are there any circumstances you can envisage that you would allow him to come and preach in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think he would find getting travel documents easy.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister specifically what can you hope to achieve by raising the matter with the President, the matter of Abu Bakar Bashir, that you had not already achieved by the letter that you sent on the 15th June?
PRIME MINISTER:
Raising these matters is not only done to achieve a response but it's also done to demonstrate the depth of concern in our own country about his involvement with the Bali attack.
JOURNALIST:
And is that your main concern Mr Howard, a demonstration of Australian concern, rather than any practical outcome?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I think they're both very important.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister given that it doesn't look like Abu Bakar Bashir is going to be travelling anywhere, it doesn't look like he's got access to any arms and he may not even have any assets, what is the point of raising this UN resolution 1267?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well because he was mentioned by the UN.
JOURNALIST:
But he doesn't have assets.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the reality is that he was mentioned by the UN.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister in relation to the migration amendment will you be in a position to give the President a guarantee that that legislation will in some form be passed when Parliament resumes in August?
PRIME MINISTER:
I wouldn't be seeking to give guarantees about any of the legislation to the leader of another country, that's a matter for Australia.
JOURNALIST:
But haven't the backbenchers that have blocked this legislation going through weakened your hand on this trip?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think it's had any effect.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard have you got any more information about the suggestions that Jose Ramos Horta has resigned in East Timor?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well all the information I have is that available to you and that is the reports that he's resigned. I think it's been an active day in Dili politically. Jose Ramos Horta is a very significant figure, I know him well, I think he's made a big contribution to East Timorese politics and I hope that he's not lost to the political scene in that country and I don't for a moment imagine that he is.
JOURNALIST:
So what are the consequences of this, what do you see as the implications of this Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Could you say that again, I just...
JOURNALIST:
What do you see as the consequences?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look Michelle I am not going to give a running commentary on what is plainly a highly charged domestic, political situation. I think the best thing I can do as the leader of a country that is very friendly towards East Timor is to express the hope that the East Timorese resolve their own differences through their own democratic processes. Australia cannot maintain forces in East Timor indefinitely, we have now something in the order of, when you add in the police, of some 2,500 in total of military and police personnel in East Timor and that's a very large number of people.
Now we went there with great goodwill and the men and women of the military under the police have done a great job, but we are of course keen to see the East Timorese resolve their own differences and they are in the process of doing that. And what a friend should do in those circumstances is not seek to be a commentator.
JOURNALIST:
It does have to be seen as a turn for the worse when a person of the experience and reputation of Jose Ramos Horta, a person who you just endorsed as a loss to the political scene, it must be a turn for the worse?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't think he is lost to the political scene. Jim I think what you may be seeing here is the natural reactions of working out of political differences inside a country and it's something that none of us of course are the least bit familiar with.
JOURNALIST:
So are you suggesting sir that this is a political tactic by the former Foreign Minister to put pressure on...
PRIME MINISTER:
Geof, I am simply saying that it's a matter for the people of East Timor to resolve. That they should, in resolving it, understand that Australia is not going to remain indefinitely in East Timor, it's not really good if we do.
JOURNALIST:
Is that putting the weights then on them to reach...
PRIME MINISTER:
No it's just stating what I have a right to state as the leader of the Government of Australia, it's not putting the weights on them.
JOURNALIST:
Your view is not to cut and run from a situation, I mean how...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I think by using that expression you are seeking to draw a parallel between East Timor in Iraq and Geof even in the most exaggerated moments you can't really do that.
JOURNALIST:
Well what is the timeframe Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't have a timeframe except that we are not going to be there indefinitely and we really do want the East Timorese to resolve it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard would you...
PRIME MINISTER:
You don't in these situations set a timetable, I mean that is an absurd way of approaching a military commitment whether it's Iraq or East Timor or Afghanistan, it is tied to events, it's not tied to a particular time.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, General Casey in the United States, he has set a timetable for beginning to pull troops out of Iraq. September has been set as the time that combat brigades will begin to leave Iraq, is that, I mean how does Australian policy fit in with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't know which particular comment of his you are referring to, but the last authoritative statement on this was made by President Bush and Mr Blair when they had a meeting in Washington only a few weeks ago.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister what would be the sort of outcome you would want to see that would govern when Australian troops did come home, I mean what would be an end point?
PRIME MINISTER:
From where?
JOURNALIST:
From East Timor.
PRIME MINISTER:
From East Timor? Well I would like to see a situation where the country was more politically stable than it is now and I would like to see a situation where there was no reasonable prospect of the kind of disorder and chaos that we were asked to put down and respond to only a few weeks ago by the East Timorese Government. Bear in mind that we are there at the invitation of the Government of East Timor, we are not there as a result of some independent decision of our own, and obviously if the East Timorese Government ask us to go, we go.
But the point I am making and let's use commonsense about this and stop talking about trying to fix particular time, I mean that is foolish and I am not going to play that game. We are saying to these people of East Timor at a political level, we have great goodwill towards your country and we are willing to help you in all sorts of ways but we are not going to be in a situation where the assumption is made that come what may, Australian troops will stay there indefinitely. I mean that is just not something that we are willing to do and the political leadership of East Timor has got to accept responsibility for providing a more stable situation.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister will you be discussing the political situation in East Timor with President Yudhoyono?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am sure it will come up.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard would you agree it's not a great commentary on the relationship with Indonesia that you and your office were only able to confirm that you actually were having a meeting with the Indonesian President two days before the meeting occurred?
PRIME MINISTER:
You always hold these tightly Tim.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, do you hope that you will be able to emerge from tomorrow's talks with a joint declaration or is the relationship still too rocky to hope for that. Is that too much to expect?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the idea of a joint, the idea of... I mean there was some talk a few weeks ago about security, or a declaration about one, that's not something that I ever thought was likely. I mean I don't rule out the possibility of something of that kind emerging, but you've probably heard me say this before but let me say it to you again, it's the substance of relations between countries that matters, not the architecture or the framework, or the bits of paper. The things that really count in the relationship is the substance.
Now Australia and Indonesia are very different countries but we are thrown together by geography and history and particularly recent history and we'll be forever partners in this part of the world and there's an obligation on the part of the leaders of the countries, whoever they may be from time to time, to work hard on the relationship, and it's an important relationship to Australia and we've demonstrated our friendship with the people of Indonesia in the past. We've had our differences, we are culturally very different.
Our size, population-wise is very different, but here we are together in this part of the world and I have certainly worked very hard as Prime Minister to put the relationship on a good footing and I think I've had some success, but that doesn't mean to say there won't be challenges, and that doesn't mean to say we won't have differences of opinion on certain issues, but in the long run I think there is fundamental goodwill, and I have certainly found in Dr Yudhoyono, a person of great strength and great commitment to the relationship and I look forward very much to seeing him again tomorrow. One more question.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, are you satisfied with the way Indonesia has treated Abu Bakar Bashir now since his release?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have indicated my position in relation to that man in the letter I wrote to the President and I don't have anything to add to or subtract from that statement. Thank you.
[ends]