MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Mr Abbott, good morning, thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Morning, Michael.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
What are you hoping today's service will provide for those families?
PRIME MINISTER:
Reassurance that while they've just been through the worst year of their lives that our country has not forgotten them, our country is standing by them and our country is continuing to seek justice for them.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
What message and you’ll be speaking to a lot of the families both publicly and privately, what will you be telling them?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’ll be doing my best to reassure them that we are standing by them in their grief. I know that nothing anyone can do can bring back their loved ones, nothing anyone can say can make it easier for them. But nevertheless the fact that the nation is pausing to acknowledge them, to remember those who were lost, the fact that there will henceforth be a memorial to the Australians lost in the atrocity in the Parliament House gardens, I think that might be of some comfort to them in a very sad time.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
You will unveil that memorial plaque in the House of Reps garden shortly before the service. There are lots of great words today, songs and hymns, but how important is it that there is going to be that tangible reminder of those names?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I think it always helps to know that there is something there – there is something there. Why do people visit cemeteries? To pay tribute to their ancestors. Why do people go to church on the anniversaries of the deaths of people who are important to them? Because we like to do things that are tangible, we like to be able to touch and feel things because there's just something in us that wants to reach out and hold those who are gone.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
A huge impact on the families, a huge impact on you as well as the nation's leader. How did you first find out about this atrocity?
PRIME MINISTER:
Michael, it was about 5.30 in the morning, I was in the gym at the Australian Police College down there at Barton and obviously the news was trickling through on to one of your rival channels and it was pretty obvious that something terrible had happened and just as I left the gym, the news came through that there had been at least one Australian on MH17 and within a pretty short space of time it became apparent that there had been lots of Australians on that flight. By about 6.45 in the morning it was obvious that this was a catastrophe – an absolute catastrophe – a catastrophe that touched many, many Australians.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Could you grapple with the sheer enormity of it?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am pleased you used the word enormity, because it is an enormity, it was an enormity, it remains an enormity. This was not just a tragedy. It was an atrocity. This was not an accident. This plane was deliberately shot down by Russian-backed rebels, we think, using Russian-supplied missiles and that is why it is important that the ongoing criminal investigation, the ongoing air safety investigation, does get to the bottom of this. We owe to it the victims to do justice and that's what we are still trying to do.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Prime Minister, we will look at where the investigation is going in just a moment, but as you’re aware News Corp this morning have got hold of video showing pro-Russian separatists going through the wreckage of MH17. I will get you to have a look at that.
It’s showing callous disregard for the victims and their possessions. What are your thoughts on that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, again, it just highlights the enormity of what happened. It highlights the fact that this was an atrocity, it was in no way an accident. They may not have known that they were shooting down a civilian passenger plane, but they were deliberately shooting out of the sky what they knew was a large aircraft. There was a reckless indifference –if you like – to where that missile was going and plainly rebels don't get hold of this kind of weaponry by accident. This was obviously very sophisticated weaponry. We are confident that it was weaponry that came across the border from Russia, fired and then shortly thereafter once it was realised what had happened it went back into Russia.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
There's still a lot of anger on the part of many families, in many cases white hot anger that the perpetrators are still at large. Does it worry you though that it is now one year on, the evidence may have been concealed and those responsible could have just filtered back into Russia with no hope of being caught?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there is a very thorough criminal investigation taking place. Yes, the criminal investigators have not been given full access to the site. There was a recent Dutch attempt to get to the site and it withdrew because of military activity in and around the site. But nevertheless despite all the difficulties, a very, very thorough investigation is taking place. We hope that people can be brought to justice. Julie Bishop will shortly be in New York. There will be action again in the Security Council. There will be an attempt to establish an international criminal tribunal so that the case can be brought and made out and people can be punished.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Russians, as you know, have veto power in the Security Council there, they will veto any move, they have said as much in Moscow. Where does the international community go next?
PRIME MINISTER:
Let's wait and see – let’s wait and see. My understanding is that the Dutch have investigated this, the Dutch-led team with Australian assistance and the assistance of other nations, has been as thorough as it is possible to be under these circumstances.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also spoke overnight to Vladimir Putin. Putin in that conversation told him that the international community should not jump to any conclusions. What is your message today as you are preparing to grieve with the families of the Australian victims? What is your message to Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I am not suggesting that the Russian President knew anything about this in advance. I suspect, based on my own conversations with him last year, that he is horrified that all of this has happened. And the point that I made to him when we spoke about this was that, as a parent and as a human being, he owed it to the families of the victims to do what he could to try to get to the bottom of this. I think it would reflect credit on Russia and on President Putin if there was full cooperation with this investigation. Yes, we know that Russia has a dog in the fight, so to speak. But given what's happened, I think it would reflect enormous credit on Russia and on the Russian President if he was to say let's for a moment leave aside the geopolitics of the eastern Ukraine and let's just treat this as a criminal matter and cooperate with it.
MICHAEL ROWLAND:
Prime Minister, thank you very much for your time this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you, Michael.
[ends]