E&OE...........
JONES:
The Prime Minister's on the line. Prime Minister, good morning.
PRIME MINSITER:
Good morning, Alan.
JONES:
They're tough times, aren't they?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah, it's a very sad day for Australia, a very sad day indeed. There are many Australians still unaccounted for and we must prepare ourselves for a large number of deaths in the official toll, just how many I can't say. We are in the process of bringing the seriously and critically injured people back to Australia and that's going on at present, it will probably take another day or two to complete. But the final death toll and injury toll will also be several days at least before that is known. It's quite chaotic in Bali. No community of course is ready for something like this when it happens, but the medical services are not as plentiful as the circumstances would require and that's of course one of the reasons why we're bringing critically and seriously injured people back to Australia. And I do want to thank the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Defence Department, and the RAAF, and all the other people who did respond so very quickly. It's one of the positives, one of the very few positives things you can say about this outrage, and that is that the crisis response units did react very well and within a short time of the blast, arrangements had been made for the C-130s to go, and as a result the first of the people were in Darwin last night, and some have arrived in Perth and they will come in various convoys, air convoys during the day.
JONES:
Yes, they've been brilliant Prime Minister. We've had reports this morning, people have left leave, they've gone from all parts of the country to lend their support. PM, as you know, you're talking at the moment to hundreds of thousands of Australians, many of them are wondering what is the best way, is the only way for them to know the fate of relatives or friends to use the numbers? Or will there be lists made available? Is there a website or somewhere where they can…?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, at this stage using the numbers is the best way. The names of people will not be published officially until next of kin have been notified, that is the usual thing. Sadly, identification….
JONES:
Is going to be difficult.
PRIME MINISTER:
Very difficult in some cases because of the fact that the bodies have been so badly destroyed. That's a hard thing to say, but it has to be said to explain why more information isn't available. There is really no quicker way than to try and reach that telephone number, I'd repeat…
JONES:
I'll just repeat that PM that it';s 1800 002 214, 1800 002 214, 1800 002 214, the Foreign Affairs number is 1300 555 135, 1300 555 135, 1300 555 135.
PRIME MINISTER:
And I'd repeat the request already made that just one family member or one representative of the group need to ring because the lines have been understandably clogged. They took something like 8,000 calls within a short period of time yesterday. Now, this is all perfectly understandable, we'd all do exactly the same in a similar situation. But having a situation where people can get through is very important.
JONES:
Yes. PM, who's done this?
PRIME MINISTER:
The evidence suggest it's a terrorist attack. I can't say at this stage which group. The suspicion must fall on terrorists groups in Indonesia, some of whom have loose links with Al Qaeda, some have closer links – Jemaah Islamiah if one of those groups. I'm not saying it is that group, I don't have that evidence. But there is little doubt from what I've been told by our security people and also what the security people in Indonesia have told their Government, that it was a terrorist attack and it is just a terrible reminder that terrorism can hit anywhere and hit anybody at anytime without warning, and of course always without justification.
JONES:
Prime Minister, you did warn hotheaded responses, I guess one of those responses may well be some fingerpointing at Indonesia. The President Megawati Sukarnoputri is in a virtually impossible position, isn't she? She takes very firm action against the militant groups in a very predominantly Islamic country and she's in trouble, she takes no action that's she's in trouble. What kind of international assistance will be made available to President Sukarnoputri?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we are prepared to help; the Americans are prepared to help, the British have offered assistance. We will give any help that can usefully assist Indonesia in dealing with a terrorist problem and we have offered that. The Americans have been pressing the Indonesians for months, and have offered assistance, and there are many things that we can do - we can provide police and intelligence assistance. But it does require a willingness on the part of the Indonesian authorities to have people sit with them and work with them in dealing with this problem. And I respect and understand Indonesian sensitivities and Indonesian sovereignty fully, that goes without saying. But I also speak on behalf of a country who's not only a neighbour, but whose sons and daughters have died in this outrage, and it's therefore very important that we work together, and that all of us in this region understand the urgency of this issue and that people understand that this is not a problem confined to America, or the Middle East, or Europe, it's right on our doorstep and it has claimed the lives of our young and it';s something that we have to deal with. It won';t go away and we have to deal with it and have to steel ourselves to take the measures that are necessary. But we';ve obviously got to do that in a calm and sober fashion and that';s what I was saying last night.
JONES:
Prime Minister, is it valid to argue that the crackdown in the United States and Europe following the September 11 attacks has made it more difficult for terrorist groups to operate there and therefore makes countries like Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines far more attractive to them? Do you have any intelligence that groups like Al Qaeda and its supporters, and of course this one that you just alluded to is one of them, have moved their activities to here, that the centre of gravity for terrorism has shifted say to the Asian region?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I don't have any evidence suggesting that the centre of gravity has been squeezed out of those other areas and ended up in our part of the world. We do have evidence that terrorist groups have been operating and have cells in the South East Asian region. I mean Jemaah Islamiah, the group I mentioned, has in fact been in existence in Indonesia for decades.
JONES:
And their leader is wanted in Malaysia and Singapore.
PRIME MINISTER:
That is correct. It is not a new organisation. It';s been there for quite a long time and concerns were expressed about terrorist groups in our part of the world in the wake of the 11th of September. So it';s not something that has a reason as a direct consequence of the response of the Americans and others to the 11th of September. There is a pattern to this. There is now little doubt that the explosion on that French tanker was an act of terrorism. There have been French and German civilians killed in terrorist attacks in Tunisia and Pakistan. The common thread in much of this is an anti-Western thread in this particular instance.
JONES:
The Asian Wall Street Journal last week quoted US officials as saying that they have uncovered evidence that this Abubakar Baasyir, the cleric head of Jemaah Islamiah, had ordered the grenade attack in Jakarta on September 23 that had been confirmed as a bungled attempt to bomb the house of a US official. This is going to intensify US pressure nonetheless isn';t it for a tougher response to extremist groups by the Indonesian government and of course Jemaah Islamiah lies at the top of that list. How do you sensibly go about this though? How difficult is that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is difficult but it has to be navigated because we have a right and I have a duty to push upon and press upon the Indonesian government the need for a cooperative effort in the region. I mean I understand President Megawati';s challenges. I mean it is a hugely difficult country to govern. It';s very big, it';s very disparate, there are strong emotions on many issues and I understand all of that and we must understand that. Even the morning after this appalling tragedy we have to understand that. But equally we have a right because we have lost people and we visit there and we are close to the country we have a right to put our view and we will be of course seeking to work as closely as possible in cooperation with others. I mean we';ve got to involve as many people from other parts of the world in the response to this, as many people as we possibly can.
JONES:
Yes we';ve got to get people on side haven';t we. You rightly said last night that no religion has any tenet of all which condones this sort of behaviour.
PRIME MINISTER:
No of course not. I mean this is an outrage to decent people of the Islamic faith as it is to other decent people. It';s an outrage to everybody. Only the evil and the perverted would seek to justify an attack of this kind. No matter where they come from and what god they worship of whatever, even if they don';t worship a god, that is not the issue.
JONES:
Given that this is an exclusively western club that was attacked, it was an attack as you said earlier on the West, it is an indirect attack on Australia. What do your briefings, and I know you';ve suspended all government business to address this issue in the Cabinet today, but can you tell us what your briefings are telling you about the likelihood of a direct attack on Australia because there were reports that the United States had warned us about the likelihood of that at the weekend?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well my briefings confirm what I have been saying for a year and that is that we can';t assume that there won';t be some kind of terrorist attack on the Australian mainland. We have to realise that. It was said last year I think probably and understandably given our peaceful history, and many of us thought oh well that';s true in theory but in practice of course it won';t happen to us. Now that is not something that we can confidently assume and we weren';t able to confidently assume it a year ago and we can';t now. Now I';m not saying that it';s about to happen, I';m not saying that we';ve had anything more specific than what has already been identified by the Attorney General and we will go on being as frank and open as communicative with the public as we can consistent with protecting intelligence sources. But I have to say to all of your listeners, to our fellow Australians, that we are living in different world. It';s nasty, it';s unwelcome, it';s more dangerous. For many of our Australians today it';s grief stricken because they';ve lost family members. But we have to confront it. It won';t go away by pretending it';s not there and it won';t go away by imagining that we can detach ourselves from the rest of the globe. You can';t detach yourself from the rest of the globe.
JONES:
Well thank you for your time Prime Minister and on behalf of those people listening to you and many other Australians good luck in your endeavours and the heightened responsibility that your leadership brings to you personally.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks Alan.
[Ends]