Subjects: bilaterals; Moscow; Indonesia; terrorism; free trade agreement; APEC; Bali.
E&OE...........
PRIME MINISTER:
Well ladies and gentlemen today I';ve had three bilaterals. I had a meeting with the Prime Minister of New Zealand and we had a short news conference after that. And I';ve also had bilaterals with the President of Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Russia and that bilateral also involved the Russian Foreign Minster. The meeting with President Megawati was a very one, although we';ve spoken twice on the phone since the Bali atrocity this is the first time we';ve meet face to face. It was an opportunity for me to thank her for the cooperation that the Indonesian police and the Indonesian government are affording to Australian police in the investigation as to who was responsible for the outrage on the 12th of October. It was also an opportunity for me to offer to her an amount of $10 million to assist in boosting the anti-terrorist infrastructure of Indonesia. We had particularly in mind airport checking and surveillance, customs and related matters.
I made it very clear in my meeting with President Megawati that Australia believes that the attack in Bali was not only directed towards westerners and sadly for our country it claimed the lives of more Australians than any other westerners. But the attack was also designed to destabilise the government and indeed the whole republic of Indonesia. And that the plan of the terrorists in Indonesia is to effectively create chaos in that country in the hope that a more extreme government will emerge out of the chaos and that in the end although nations can cooperate together to fight terrorism, the sum total of international cooperation and effort and response to terror is what individual governments are willing and able to do within their own borders. I put very strongly to President Megawati the need for the strongest possible measures to be taken against terrorism within Indonesia. I offered Australia';s help in whatever ways were appropriate and possible and I have no doubt that a similar message will be conveyed to President Megawati by others at this meeting.
I also indicated to her, as I have publicly in Australia that there has been a very warm and sympathetic response from people, especially those affected by the Bali atrocity, to the Balinese people and I intend, after appropriate consultation and the passage of an appropriate amount of time to announce a contribution towards the health or other infrastructure of Bali, in discussion with the Indonesian government of course, as subject of a permanent memorial for the people of Bali who died and also for the people of Bali who provided such wonderful assistance to the many scores of Australians who were injured in that terrible event.
My discussion with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minster of Russia was an opportunity to convey as I already have to President Putin by letter my concern and sense of anxiety about the very difficult situation that his government faces in regard to the hostages in Moscow. This is an act of terrorism, it is seen by the Government of Russia, and I certainly would not disagree, to be of a pattern, although not of the same type, of peace rather, but not of the same type, as acts of terrorism in other parts of the world and it is a very difficult situation, it does involve one Australian citizen and one permanent resident of our country and that adds to the sense of anxiety that the people of Australia and indeed the people of many countries around the world feel. It is unmistakably an act of terrorism, it cannot be excused or defended in any way, you are dealing here again not with military or police personnel, you';re dealing with innocent citizens who are involved in going about their daily lives, just as innocent young Australians were going about their daily lives in Bali. And certainly the Russian government takes the view, and it';s hard on the face of it to dispute that there does seem to be a pattern to many of these happens and it stresses the importance on nations working together to combat terrorism and other threats to the security of nations in the most united way possible.
Any questions?
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, did the Russians give you an update on the latest from Moscow?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well in the general sense they did, clearly it';s a very delicate situation, the hostages are still held, clearly the rebels, the terrorists are very heavily armed, there are about 50 of them. Discussion are going on, I don';t think I can take it any further than that.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, did President Megawati ask you to change the travel advisory so that Australians, and perhaps other countries, might be encouraged to get back to Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
She asked me how long I thought it might remain. I said it would remain for so long as we held concerns about the safety of Australians. I said that I knew that the incident, the outrage in Bali and the inevitable effect on tourists and tourism that it would have and the travel advise we gave would have, I knew that would damaging to her economy, I made the point that that was the intention of the terrorists. And that was an unavoidable consequence. I also pointed to her that I, and my government, have concerns about areas in Asia such as Phuket in Thailand and Mr Downer last night drew particular attention to that and I would have to counsel Australians travelling to Phuket to reconsider their position or if they';re already there to be extremely careful. I';m not asserting thereby that we';ve had any, had an indication, a specific indication that there will be an attack there, I';m not saying that, but I am saying that we have received advice that there is a greater possibility of activity of this kind in a country like Thailand and my mind automatically springs to places in Thailand which are frequented by many westerners and Phuket is plainly one of them. And in a situation like this we have no alternative as a government than to rely to people our concerns immediately, I know that had an adverse impact on the tourist industry but our first responsibility is the safety of Australians. Now we don';t have a ban on travel to Indonesia but we have said that non-essential travel should be avoided, that people should avoid congregations of people in bars, restaurants, etc, especially frequented by westerners. Those who are there on short visits should reassess whether they could come home early and generally Australians are advised to asses what to they to do in the light on the vastly deteriorated safety situation. Now there is, because of the activities of organisations in South East Asia, there is a concern in the Philippines plainly, some concern in Thailand to which I have alluded and when further useful information or assessments are available the Government will communicate them. Now I know and I recognise and I regret that this will have an impact on local economies but the safety of Australians is my paramount concern.
JOURNALIST:
Did she say why is it that she felt that some western countries have moved too hastily in operating travel warnings?
PRIME MINISTER:
No she did not say that, she inquired about how long it would last and she said that it did have an impact, I explained the situation and I acknowledged that it would have an impact and I said that was precisely what the terrorists wanted.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, when you talked about, the Russian Prime Minister said there was a pattern to the Moscow crisis.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the Philippines, Indonesia.
JOURNALIST:
But you';re not saying they';re actually directly linked.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I';m reporting what he said. And I';m reporting what he said and I said that I found it hard to disagree with his assessment.
JOURNALIST:
But was he saying that…
PRIME MINISTER:
He was saying what I said he said.
JOURNALIST:
That the Chechens are sort of taking advantage of the general…
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, no, what I said was what he said.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, in your lunch time speech today you said that “No amount of international exhortation can substitute for the determination of individual governments who know they have a terrorist problem within their borders to do something about it.”
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
Were you referring specifically to Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I was, look, I said every, that';s exactly what I said and I meant every thing I said.
JOURNALIST:
About...
PRIME MINISTER:
I say generally, I';m not, I didn';t single any country out and I don';t single any country out but it clearly applies to those governments and those countries where those circumstances exist, and I mean it. I think there';s a limit, you can have international agreements but in the end every country has got to do within its own borders what is necessary to confront and deal with the terrorist challenge.
JOURNALIST:
How did President Megawati respond to that message?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well she wasn';t at my lunch.
JOURNALIST:
No, but during your discussions with her?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think President Megawati does understand there is a challenge within her own country, she does understand that. And can I say she has in the three discussions I';ve had with her, she has indicated to me that they are very concerned and she has been left in no doubt about the level of my concern.
JOURNALIST:
Are you satisfied with your actions today?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think the way in which the Government of Indonesia has cooperated and responded since the 12th of October has been good.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, what';s your reaction to the UN officially listing JI and what was the nature of your discussions with her about…
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I thanked her for the fact that Indonesia had supported the listed.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, one interpretation of her enquiry to you about the duration of travel warnings, from the Indonesian side, has been that it was in fact a request for Australia to minimise the duration of the travel warning and to encourage other nations not to boycott tourism to Indonesia. Is that a misinterpretation outside the meeting?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I can only tell you what she said, she asked how long and she indicated that a reduction in tourism to her country following warnings would be damaging, and I acknowledged that. But I made it very clear that the paramount concern for me would be the safety of Australians and nothing could take priority to that. It was not a ban, we don';t ban people from travelling, we advise people of the dangers of travelling in certain parts of the world.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, can I ask you about your talks with the New Zealand Prime Minister this morning on the issue of sequences. Did the question of the possible negotiations with the free trade agreement with the United States come up and did the New Zealand Prime Minster ask you to ensure that New Zealand wouldn';t be left out of in the cold in the even that Australia went forward with such a negotiation? And what was your response?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yeah she did and has been in the case in other discussions we';ve had I indicated that we would keep New Zealand fully informed of progress, we clearly had to negotiate separately but we wouldn';t do anything that was damaging or neglective towards New Zealand. And that';s been the response I';ve given in the past and I thought it was a very fair question of her to ask. She didn';t actually use the expression, if I remember correctly, of sequencing. That';s probably a “Walkerism.”
JOURNALIST:
No, no she did with me.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there you are, you obviously have a different dialogue with her then.
JOURNALIST:
Just on the free trade agreement, how close are Australia and Singapore to finalising the negotiations?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we still have a number of things to talk about. I want to be happy that we get a proper deal on services. It';s still, we';re making progress but services is the thing for us when it comes to Singapore and we have to be making some progress on that. But we';re making progress and Mark Vaile has done a good job but there are still a couple of things to be battened down.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, you talked about assisting Bali, I think, did that include doing stuff beyond a memorial for the victims of this? For example helping with infrastructure?
PRIME MINISTER:
That';s exactly what I';m talking about.
JOURNALIST:
Just a memorial?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, no, I';m not talking about a memorial in the, I mean there will certainly be in the commonly understood sense of the term there will almost certainly be something but we haven't made up our minds about that. But separately from and in addition to that I have in mind some significant Australian financial contribution to improving the social infrastructure, probably in the medical area for Bali. But this is something I want to get advice on, I want to talk to Indonesia about it and we want it to be something that';s really useful and does make a difference.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, the APEC meeting in 2007 will be in Australia.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
Has it yet been decided where that will be held?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I haven';t decided where it';s going to be, but you know I look forward to seeing them all.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, with the counter-terrorism assistance for Indonesia, would that be permanent?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we';ve given $10 million, we won';t get it back.
JOURNALIST:
Is the idea that that would be sort of…
PRIME MINISTER:
At this stage Louise it';s a one off, I mean it';s not something we said we';re going to give every year. But we might, I don';t want to sort of suggest anything other than what it is. We';re going to provide $10 million to help with their counter-terrorism infrastructure, we particularly have in mind things like customs, checking of baggage at airports and that sort of practical help that we do quite well and we think we can help them with. Now that';s it for the moment, it doesn';t mean to say there won';t be something in the future but equally I';m not saying there will be. One more question.
JOURNALIST:
… prevent Bali bombings or strikes even sort of closer to home. Is that the idea?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we believe that Indonesia needs assistance in this area and as a friend and as a neighbour, as well as a country that';s suffered very much from what';s happened. Now one more, Alison.
JOURNALIST:
Thank you Mr Howard, was there any discussion with Mrs Megawati about the progress being made in the investigation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Only in a very general way, I mean I have taken the view that that is best left to the police experts and I';ve seen many an investigation complicated by political pronouncements.
JOURNALIST:
So you weren';t further enlightened by…
PRIME MINISTER:
No, I didn';t expect to be. That';s not meant as a criticism of her, it';s just what, I';m talking regularly to the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police about this and I';m pleased that some progress is now being made in relation to the repatriation of remains to Australia but there will still be on the advice I have because many of the bodies were so badly burnt, there will still be some very significant identification difficulties with a number and that means that for some families process is still going to be quite protracted but there have been quite a number of identified and in the process of being, or already have been, repatriated to Australia and that is obviously of some relief to those people.
Thank you.
[ends]