JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard in coming here, how determined are you to repair relations with Papua New Guinea and the Solomon's?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am always a person of great goodwill towards the people of both of those countries. There's great affection in Australia as you know for the people of Papua New Guinea, and there is also very great regard for the people of the Solomon Islands. And the RAMSI mission, which has very strong support in Australia, is of real long-term benefit to the people of the Solomon Islands, and it's something of a model, if you like, for other interventions that might be needed in the future. So it's really in the interests of the whole region that the RAMSI mission be successful.
JOURNALIST:
But you must admit that there is a rift that needs to be mended with these countries.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well let's just see how the meeting unfolds.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister the, what's it called? The Melanesian spear group, spearhead group.
PRIME MINISTER:
Spearhead group.
JOURNALIST:
Mono-Sodium Glutamine... said that the...
PRIME MINISTER:
That's your comment not mine.
JOURNALIST:
...the RAMSI intervention in the Prime Minister's office was a violation of sovereignty and had tainted RAMSI. What do you say about that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that was an operation carried out by the Solomon Islands Police Force and therefore it's not something I am going to comment on. I knew nothing about it until I heard about it in the media.
JOURNALIST:
There were Australian officers there though weren't there sir?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, but they weren't there acting at the instance of Australia. I mean I keep seeing these news reports saying Australian police, sure a number of the police come from Australia including the Police Commissioner, but he's acting as the head of the Solomon's Islands Police Force, he's under contract to the Government of the Solomon Islands. He doesn't take any instructions from me, or from any officials in Australia. So any suggestion that this was an action in which Australia was involved in in any way is totally wrong.
JOURNALIST:
How concerned are you that the stoush with the Solomon's seems to be widening now involving other Pacific countries?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have just arrived and we'll have a nice chat and we'll just see how it all works out. I am perfectly happy to talk through issues with my colleagues, our broad approach to RAMSI and our broad approach to aid to the Pacific is well understood and that won't be altering. But I am quite sure, as so often is the case with these things, that some gentle discussion in the balmy breezes of the Pacific can do wonders to soothe nerves and reconcile differences.
JOURNALIST:
Is Julian Moti a not-negotiable point?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look it is silly in a situation like this for me to be running around using words like not-negotiable.
JOURNALIST:
They've accused your government of violating their sovereignty, that's fairly serious.
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not quite sure they've said that, not my Government they haven't anyway. We haven't, in case anybody is in any doubt, we haven't violated anybody's sovereignty, and any suggestion that Australia had anything to do with that raid is wrong. Presumably the Police Commissioner had a legal warrant, they could only have obtained that through the judicial processes of the Solomon Islands. All of these actions are governed by Solomon Islands' law, we don't have anything to do with that, nothing at all.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard do you think this statement is unfair and will you be bringing that up with the Fijian Prime Minister when you speak to him shortly?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't...a lot of statements are made about me that are not necessarily totally accurate, but I am used to it.
JOURNALIST:
Would you like to see Australia's high profile within the RAMSI upper administration made a bit more diversified to...
PRIME MINISTER:
What does that mean?
JOURNALIST:
Well they want to see perhaps the more Pacific faces in the upper reaches of RAMSI.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I will see what people have got to say but we are very committed to RAMSI and RAMSI can't really work effectively with a very significant involvement from Australia because of our size and our relative wealth, I mean let's be realistic. We are a friendly country which is much better off than most of the countries in the Pacific and we want to help them and we want to lift their standard of living, we want to see them progress and take advantage of the opportunities of the future. We'll give significant aid, all we ask is that in return for that there be an improvement in governance standards and there will also be and improvement in economic management and greater economic growth. I don't think they are unreasonable conditions and what is more, I don't think my fellow Australians think they are unreasonable conditions either.
JOURNALIST:
But how...Mr Howard, how confident can you be that those standards can be improved and maintained, that RAMSI can do its job given the increasingly strident comments from Sogavare and his foreign minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
You are really asking me to be something I always decline to be.
JOURNALIST:
But that's essentially the central point of this conference isn't it Mr Howard?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I'll let you write... you do the commentary, I will just represent the views of the Government.
JOURNALIST:
The smaller island nations raised the issue of labour mobility and said that they would like to still continue the dialogue with Australia and New Zealand about allowing in workers and this would be a way to help them. Are you any more inclined to listen to that argument or that plea this year, do you have any ideas for how Australia could assist the nations in this way?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the best way at the moment we believe Australia can help is through the establishment of the Australian Technical College for the South Pacific and I will be saying more about that over the course of the next day or so. I am quite happy to listen to what they have to say on the labour mobility issue, but I have indicated in the past that we are disinclined to go in that direction. I will listen to what they've got to say, we think the technical college approach will be of even greater help because what it will do is give to their young people especially, some skills that can be used in the region and can be used very effectively.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard can you respond to reports that (inaudible) is coming back early to Australia from the Solomon's because of, quote, deteriorating conditions there?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I have read the report, I am not going to comment on them, I haven't been to the Solomon Islands recently and I am in no position to pass judgement on what he said. I've read what he said and I am aware of what he is doing but I am not going to make a comment on it.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard how do you plan to resolve this stand-off with Manasseh Sogavare who is adamant that Julian Moti isn't going back to Australia, yet you say Australia has to uphold the law and ensure his extradition?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is the case that we have to respect the law, everybody has to respect the law, that's surely a given in our system of government and I wouldn't have thought that was in any way negotiable. You can't negotiate whether somebody faces a criminal charge, that's a matter for the police. I mean it's a cardinal principle of the operation of our system of government that you don't interfere in police prosecutions. There would be an uproar if that were to occur in Australia in relation to something that occurred completely within the confines of Australia. The idea that the Federal Government or the state governments for that matter would negotiate whether a prosecution would go ahead against somebody, that's a matter for the police. Now I don't know that all the facts and circumstances apart from what's been reported in the press, but that's a matter for the police, it's not something that we are either pushing or restraining. It's entirely a matter for the police if they decide on a certain course of action then that's what happens. If they don't then it won't happen, but we are not going to get involved in police prosecutions, that would be quite wrong.
JOURNALIST:
Do you plan to meet Mr Sogavare, Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
Of course, of course I am happy to meet anybody. Any Prime Minister that wants to talk to me at this meeting I am happy to see.
JOURNALIST:
What about Mr Somare? Will you meet with him given that you have suspended ministerial relations...?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am very happy to talk to Sir Michael, of course.
JOURNALIST:
Would you initiate...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't get into the minutiae of my diary and who rings who, I mean heavens above, it's too nice a day for that.
JOURNALIST:
What would Mr Moti's appointment as Attorney-General say about the effectiveness of RAMSI's continued operations in the region if it happened, if it was confirmed rather?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think in these circumstances it's better to let the law takes its course.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Sogavare has made an allegation that all of the actions against him are due to Australia's efforts to prevent an inquiry to embarrass Australian personnel. He also specifically claimed that you made such a claim in a phone call with him, that you didn't want Australian personnel to be embarrassed by such an inquiry.
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't know what he is talking about.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard what do you think would actually happen in the Solomon Islands now Helen Clark has warned that Australians should stay there and the forum should get behind that, what do you think would happen in the Solomon's if RAMSI suddenly collapsed?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well RAMSI is very valuable to the Solomon's, it has very strong support from the ordinary people because it is designed to help them. It is not designed to help any particular political group, it is designed to help the people and it would be a great tragedy for the people of the Solomon Islands if RAMSI were undermined because it offers them hope, and they need hope, they need law and order, they need stability, they need economic help, and they need a hope for the future and that's what RAMSI offers them. It would be a great shame and a great pity for the people of the Solomon Islands if RAMSI were to retreat. Thank you.
[ends]