JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister can I ask in the wake of the Paris attacks, do you believe there is a stronger case for stronger military action against ISIL and what are your hopes for a political solution now in Syria?
PRIME MINISTER:
The defeat of Daesh or ISIL in the field has always been of primary importance, their attractiveness, their recruiting ability has depended in large part on their claim to military success, so defeating them is very important that’s why we are there, Australia is there assisting, supporting, partaking in, participating in the work against Daesh, campaign against Daesh.
Ultimately there will need to be of course a political solution in Syria so the reports I’ve just been, just been made aware of, the discussions in Vienna appear to be promising so there will need to be a political solution.
Now that is acknowledged by all of the, all the powers involved, all of the participants. Once that can be achieved, once there is a greater unity of purpose it will be easier, or not easier, it will be less challenging to defeat Daesh.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Australia is, obviously as you made the point, a strong contributor to that military campaign in Syria and Iraq. Is Australia open to doing more in that campaign? The rules of engagement for example are regarded as fairly slow and cumbersome after the identification of targets. Do these things need to be looked at, does the international community need to step up the military campaign?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well everything we have done in Iraq and indeed in Syria we have done in defence of Iraq in pursuing that across the border, it has been done in coordination with our allies, so discussions will continue.
Australia is making a very significant contribution and has done for some time and will consider what future contributions and what the shape of it will be in the light of those discussions. But, it is a theatre in which greater co-ordination is needed by all of the players and ultimately while a military defeat of Daesh is critically important, longer term overall to settle Syria and to enable the refugees to return, you’re going to need a political solution.
JOURNALIST:
But in the field, do you mean by boots on the ground because there’s already I mean obviously there might be a request that comes through for Special Forces as the first step?
PRIME MINISTER:
The, most effective boots on the ground are going to be Syrian boots on the ground. The support of the Syrian, Free Syrian Army, for example, which is a very high priority on the part of the Turkish government, whose President I was speaking with earlier today, of course, is best able to take on the defence of its own country.
JOURNALIST:
Can I just ask about the 19 year old Australian, have you been able to speak to her or get an assurance that she is OK?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes, I have, I have spoken with her. Our ambassador, our Stephen Brady, who is in Paris, has been seeing her. He was with her at her bedside, in fact, after her surgery and I spoke to her. He called me. I spoke to her on the phone and did my best to cheer her up. I told her that we’re all thinking of her, all of us, every parent can sympathise with the thought that their child has been injured in something like this, some incident like this, and I have to say, she was - she's a brave girl and in all the circumstances, in good spirits. I think Stephen Brady's company and my call, discussion with her, cheered her up a bit. But nothing will equal how good she’ll feel when her mum arrives in a day or so.
JOURNALIST:
In the event that the G20 leaders make some progress in achieving a political solution in Syria over this weekend, do you see a role for peacekeepers in a transitional government situation in Syria? Do you see a role for Australia playing a role in a peacekeeping mission?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, Katherine there, there could be. The critical thing is achieving some degree of common purpose between the various parties in Syria. It's a very, very complex part of the world. Extremely complex and the politics, the interest groups have been shifting considerably.
If the great powers can have a common purpose, so that what is happening in Syria is not a proxy war, then there is a greater prospect of there being a political settlement on the ground. But the enmities, the animosities, the record of oppression in within Syria is considerable. And so finding that common purpose within Syria is going to be very challenging. This is - nobody with whom I’ve spoken about the Syrian situation regards it as anything other than at the absolute height of difficulty and complexity.
But there appears, you know there are, there are some good signs coming out of Vienna, and a settlement, some form of transition to a new government, there may well be a role for peacekeepers. But I'd have to say that I think the most - it would be very important that any external peacekeeping forces were, wherever possible, provided by countries within this region, because that is, they are likely to receive greater acceptance from the people in Syria. So that's an important practical political point. I mean, our commitment is absolute to supporting a settlement, a resolution of the challenges in Syria, but we have to make sure that everything we do and everything we support is calculated to achieve that.
You know the outcome that we want is a resolution, a stabilisation in Syria, a transition to a government that has broad support and a restoration of a peace so that order can be restored and of course those millions of refugees can go back to the homes that they want to return to.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, Francois Hollande calls this a war against terrorism. You've obviously been very affected by the events in Paris. Does it feel like a war to you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, it's you know guns and bombs, yes, it looks, it does look like a war. We have to recognise that the resources, the strength of our States, of our nations, are so much greater than those of the terrorists.
The President of Turkey was, as I was talking with earlier today, reminds us and I, we’re very well aware, of course, of the history of terrorism in this country. A huge attack, well over 100 people killed in Ankara not so long ago. I passed on our condolences to the Prime Minister, Mr Davutoglu at the time and discussed it with him and discussed it with the President today.
Now, Turkey is a strong country with a, with a strong economy. It faces some economic challenges. It faces security challenges. But the terrorism has not diverted it from its purpose. And so while it's important to remember that while the issue of security, the issue of terrorism will be a major issue, taking a considerable amount of attention here at the G20, we also will be focusing, as we should, as every government should, on growing our economies, on ensuring that there are jobs and better jobs for our children and grandchildren in the years ahead.
Strong economic growth is absolutely critical. So we have to work here in Antalya to ensure that we cooperate to deliver strong security, physical security, as well as strong economic security in the years ahead. So both national security if you like and economic security are going to be focuses of this G20 conference.
Thank you very much.