IL C93
TRANSCRIPT OF' INTERVIEW WITH TERRY WILLESEE AND KERRYANNE
KENNERLEY, GOOD MORNING AUSTRALIA, 12 NOVEMBER 1990
E 0 E PROOF ONLY
WILLESEE: Good morning, Mr Prime Minister.
PM: Good morning.
WILLESEE: Well you have some tough jobs in your
position, how tough has it been this morning? What are
your feelings; as you say goodbye to two more ships of
Australians off to the Gulf?
PM: Mixed feelings, of course, overwhelming and a sense
of pride at the good fortune that we in Australia have in
the quality of the ships and the crews, the personnel
that we're able to call upon to discharge Australia's
obligation in these times of crisis and when you meet the
men and their families you can't help but be proud to be
leader of thi~ s country because you see a commitment to do
their duty and at the same time you see the pangs of
sorrow at the departure. It's a very human situation to
be in.
WILLESEE: Mr Hawke, one of the questions that is being
asked today i~ s that because war appears now more likely,
what would be your reaction to sending even more troops
if that did occur?
PM: I refuse to get into a hypothetical question, Terry,
about the future. We have made a very firm, clear and
early decision about discharging what we see as the
obligations of Australia in this crisis. The reaction
that we've made has been, as it should be, properly
applauded and understood. We will deal with the
situation as it emerges. We are constantly monitoring
developments and it would be counter-productive to
respond to some hypothetical question because you simply
don't know the circumstances of the future.
WILLESEE: Mr Hawke, your attitude to the hostages has
been criticised
PM: Let me say it hasn't been criticised by the people
who've writtEn to me. I've had very touching
communications from some quarters there which I will not
go but there is very a clear understanding from those
who've communicated two letters and there is a very
considerable degree of understanding of the position of
Australia in this matter.
WILLESEE: Ycour fellow Party member, Tom Uren, has been
critical of you, suggesting you
PM: Well there's nothing new about Tom being critical of
me. WILLESEE: Well he says you're lacking compassion.
PM: Yes, well I'm not going to get into a slanging match
about the compassion meter with Tom Uren. I'm quite
prepared to look at my record in terms of compassion.
But I think it's pointless and undignified to get into
arguments about relative compassion.
WILLESEE: Wetll he says he will go in an attempt to free
some of the hostages. Does he go with your blessing?
PM: Well if Tom goes we have said, as we've said of
other unofficial people, they don't go with any official
sanction but we don't want to deter them. The fact is,
of course, that there's been a unanimous decision of the
European Council of Ministers on this regard that it is
counter-productive for governments to be involved
officially in these because it gives a standing to
Saddam Hussein which is not helpful to the achievement of
the objective that we're about and that is to get Saddam
Hussein to withdraw from the Gulf. But having said that,
I made it quite clear that if there are these unofficial
ventures whic~ h do lead to some people getting out well
then that's a matter of joy for those who are released.
The problem of course is that the overwhelming majority
are going to be retained there and those are the ones who
shouldn't be there at all. The only way you're going to
get all the hostages released is by Saddam Hussein
understanding that his actions aren't acceptable to the
rest of the wrorld.
KENNERLEY: Why do these private envoys up until now, why
have they had success, Anne Fairbairn, and certainly
other international envoys? What are they negotiating
with? PM: Well they are negotiating with a man who's trying to
divide the re-st Of the world and it suits this dictator
who has brutally annexed another country to have these
people coming and waiting upon him to give him a standing
and to say well here, we'll give you a couple, we'll keep
the great majority but here's some for you and some for
you. It suits him fine and that's precisely why, as I
say, unanimously the European Council of Ministers have
decided that there will be no official missions of this
kind. WILLESEE: Mr Prime Minister, thanks for your time this
morning. We really appreciate that.
PM: Thank you.
ENDS