PM Transcripts

MUNRO:
Prime Minister thanks for your time. When you got into politics did you ever think, in your wildest dreams, that you would one day be sending Australians into battle?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no never in a month of Sundays, indeed as recently as the 10th of September, the day before the attack on New York - I reminisced with the, about that with the President last night on the phone, we spent three hour together during my visit to Washington on the 10th of September and we both agreed it seemed an age ago and all of that has changed as a result of that terrible day.
MUNRO:
Can I ask you what went through your mind the moment that you hung up from President Bush last night?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well just the feeling of the enormity of what had happened, that we were finally going to go to the next stage of actually making arrangements for young Australian men and women to go overseas, to risk their lives.
MUNRO:
But sending twice as many?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, 1550 and they are going to potentially a very dangerous theatre of operation. They are very well trained. I want to say to their loved ones, they are very well trained, there are none in the fighting forces of the world that are better trained than our special forces and people should understand that
MUNRO:
Are there any restrictions on what the SAS can get involved in on the ground?
PRIME MINISTER:
No there are none, they are involved in the full bit and …
MUNRO:
Hand to hand combat?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there could be, they will fight under an Australian commander and they will be part of the overall American operation.
MUNRO:
Did President Bush mention the risk of casualties?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh yes, we both, we both in, you know, we didn';t go into the specifics of that because you hope, you always hope that that won';t happen but we are both very conscious of that.
MUNRO:
Does our much larger commitment mean that America is not getting enough military support from its allies?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don';t think it means that. I think it means that we are held in very high esteem by the Americans and indeed by others. The East Timor operation led by General Cosgrove was greatly to the credit of this country and it';s admired around the world. I think that is part of it and there are others, I gather, making a contribution. It';s for their leaders to announce those contributions but there is safety in numbers as the saying goes and it';s better to assemble a force with overwhelming capacity. It is more likely to get the right result more quickly.
MUNRO:
Did he indicate perhaps how long the bombing would continue for?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I don';t think he knows and he made it clear to me that the whole thing could go on for a while and I have to say that to my fellow Australians that we could be involved here for a while. I hope not for too long but it could be for longer than all of us would like but we have to do it. I mean our way of life is under attack. We have no argument with the Afghan people, we don';t and we want to see a country with a, with a more benign government but we have a quarrel with the terrorists and Afghanistan is harbouring those terrorists. If they handed them over there, there would be no quarrel between us and them.
MUNRO:
Could it be another Vietnam?
PRIME MINISTER:
No it is a different kind of battle, we are not fighting for the hearts and minds of thousands upon thousands of villages. We are seeking out a cell of people who visited foul murder on 7000 innocent people. That could happen anywhere around the world and it is a fight that the free world has got to win.
MUNRO:
How much do you think that this increases the possibility that Australia might be attacked by terrorists?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are more vulnerable now but anybody who imagines that by walking away we make ourselves safe is deluding themselves. Eventually a free society can become a target for terrorism irrespective of whether they are involved. Therefore the only security, the only guarantee of safety is to get rid of the terrorists, not to hope that they will go away or hope they won';t notice you.
MUNRO:
But is this a help or a hindrance in the middle of an election campaign?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I didn';t wish this. With all my heart if I could turn the clock back and not have the 11th of September I along with 19 million Australians would be the happiest people in the world. I mean I really don';t want to talk about its impact on the elet want to talk about its impact on the election campaign. I am working with the Opposition on this, I rang Mr Beazley last night, I told him what President Bush had said and I spoke to him again this morning. These men will go over in the name of our country, they will not go over in the name of one side of politics.
MUNRO:
OK, Well Prime Minister thanks very much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ENDS]