PM: Thanks very much Premier and it's great to be back in Adelaide and back in South Australia. Today is good news for the South Australian economy and for South Australian jobs. It's also good news for the future of the Australian Defence Force.
This investment of some 700 or 800 million dollars will bring, on the back of what we've done through the Nation Building and Jobs Plan, the figure to something like $2.5 billion that the Australian Government is investing the South Australian economy and jobs in the immediate years ahead: $2.5 billion.
Now, you can either in the face of a global economic recession stand back and do nothing, or you can get in there and have a go. And what we're doing through our investment in schools, our investment in social housing, and our investment also in critical national infrastructure including our Defence infrastructure is having a go.
I was talking to some of the folk out here on this great super base project today, and about just the number of projects caught up in this activity here at RAAF Base Edinburgh. 150 separate projects. Already hundreds of workers on site. And prospectively when the project construction is at its peak, more than a thousand workers on site. And that's before we move to the next stage of all of this, which is what happens when we see the relocation of 7RAR from Robertson barracks in Darwin, here to Adelaide.
This is good for the local economy. Good for jobs and I am proud to be here with the South Australian Premier, investing in this additional activity, in this economy at a time of a global economic recession.
The other piece of good news is the Australian Defence Force itself. I said before in my remarks to our men and women in uniform here today how proud I was of them.
For them to do their job means having the proper defence systems and equipment and basing to make it possible. And that means making sure that this super base is transformed from the vision into the reality. And what we're going to have here is a first class piece of national kit and equipment, building on the great skills and facilities which exist here already.
When recently I've been in the Middle East and seen what our Orions can do, let me tell you these are an essential part of Australia's Defence future. And therefore, what you do here to make that capacity possible for us to forward deploy, is of critical importance for the future of Australia's Defence.
And as I said earlier, we'll be building on this further, Australia's Defence preparedness and when we take our final decisions to release the Defence White Paper in the period ahead.
One other set of remarks I'd make before taking your questions is this, and concerns of course the recent events off Ashmore Reef. Firstly, I'd like to report to you on my conversations in the last 24 hours with the President of Indonesia and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
I spoke yesterday with Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia and with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about the common challenge that we face in dealing with this great challenge from people smuggling and illegal activities across our region.
What both heads of government emphasised to me in their discussion with me was the fact that they, together with Australia, are facing new global factors - new global security factors, new global economic factors - out there causing an increase in the overall number of people moving illegally across our region from the Middle East, from South Asia and from other countries within South-East Asia.
We also as heads of government reaffirmed our commitment to work closely together on enhancing all levels of cooperation currently between the Australian, Indonesian and Malaysian Governments to ensure that we are doing everything physically possible to deal with this challenge, represented by people smuggling across our wider region.
The reality is, we are facing huge additional numbers across the Archipelago, coming off global factors. The UNHCR underpins that. Other commentators underpin that. Our regional partners in Indonesia and Malaysia underpin that as well. And a critical challenge is how we continue to calibrate our response to this emerging threat.
The second thing I'd like to update you on is the current status of patients arising from the incident that I referred to before. In relation to the status of the passengers on board the vessel and their treatment, I've been provided with the following information as of this morning. Of the passengers on board the vessel, 11 are currently in Royal Darwin Hospital. Of those 11, nine are in the burns unit. Seven are currently in Royal Brisbane Hospital. Of the seven, four are in the ICU and three are in the burns unit.
23 are currently in Royal Perth Hospital and of the 23, seven are in ICU, two are in isolation, and 14 in the burns unit. The remaining three passengers who are not in hospital are currently in immigration accommodation at Berrimah in Darwin.
These are of course in addition to the three persons who died in the incident. An additional two persons remain missing and who are presumed dead.
Finally, if I could update you also on the status of investigations into this incident. I'm advised that the Northern Territory Police investigation currently underway is called Operation Mentor. Operation Mentor involves the following.
One, 45 Northern Territory Police officers. Two, the investigation being conducted on behalf of the Northern Territory Coroner and involves an investigation of the following matters - the manner and cause of the explosion; therefore the manner and cause of the fatalities of the three persons on board; and also whether those deaths occurred as a result of a deliberate act or misadventure.
I'm advised that the Australian Federal Police currently has 18 personnel deployed to Darwin and Perth to assist the NT Police investigation. The Australian Federal Police operation is called Operation Devario.
I'm further advised that the Northern Territory Police are also responsible for determining the identity of the deceased and in turn, identifying and notifying their next of kin. The Northern Territory Police advice that they are also in the process of collating witness statements and forensic evidence at the NT Police Crime Command Operation Centre, and forensic laboratories at the Peter Macauly Centre in Berrimah.
The Northern Territory Coroner, Greg Cavanagh, has today released a statement which confirms a coronial investigation is being conducted on his behalf by the Northern Territory Police and associated agencies. The Coroner has also released the results of the autopsies on the three deceased persons. He has confirmed that the provisional cause of death is drowning. This find is provisional and is subject to toxicology and other forensic pathology tests.
The coronial investigation is still underway. However, the Coroner has confirmed that once he's received a completed investigation brief he has determined that the deaths will be subject to a public inquest. The NT Coroner has confirmed that all findings of this request - this inquest will be made public. I repeat, the NT Coroner has confirmed that all findings of this inquest will be made public.
Finally the head of the Northern Territory Police Crime Command, Peter Bravos said in a statement today and I quote him “this is a police matter and recognition of such by Government and Government agencies is appreciated. Speculation has the potential to compromise an investigation”.
And I would say this in conclusion, this Government will not undertake any action that would in any way compromise the possibility of a police investigation or a possible subsequent prosecution of people smugglers being in any way compromised. Remember people smugglers are the scum of the earth. People smugglers are so much part of the cause of this problem and I say again - this Government will not be party to any action which would compromise a police investigation or which would compromise a possible prosecution of people smugglers because people smugglers represent such a core part of the problem that we are dealing with.
Over to you for your questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister what are your thoughts about, it's been reported that Government sources have confirmed that the deck was doused on the deck of the boat as a deliberate act of sabotage? How long can you insist that you don't know what the cause of the explosion (inaudible)?
PM: Well I draw your attention to what the Northern Territory Police Crime Commander said in a statement today and I'll just read it again very carefully. “This is a police matter and recognition of such by Government and Government agencies is appreciated. Speculation has the potential to compromise an investigation.” Unquote.
That's what the Northern Territory Police Commander has said. Therefore this Government is of a view that we should not undertake any action which compromises (a) the police investigation or (b) a possible prosecution of people smugglers, given that people smugglers are not just the scum of the earth but lie very much at the core of the problem that we've had to confront in our northern waters.
JOURNALIST: In light of what's happened today are you rethinking your border strategy?
PM: The challenge for the future is to (a) be very clear about what new emerging pressures are coming upon us in terms of the global factors that I referred to before. The Indonesian President, the Malaysian Prime Minister, myself, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are all of the view, as are leading members of the Liberal Party, that there are new global factors at work.
The key challenge therefore secondly is to make sure that our response in terms of the assets we deploy, the defence assets we deploy, naval assets, air assets, maritime surveillance as well as customs assets as well are calibrated against the emerging threat. We've done that in the past, we'll continue to do so in the future. This is a real challenge but we will continue to marshal our assets and resources against the challenge as it unfolds.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull has said that reintroducing temporary protection visas should be at the top of the Government's agenda. Is that being considered by the Government?
PM: I noticed today that the Liberals' immigration spokesman, that they had no such policy on the question of people smuggling. They have no policy as yet to declare on people smuggling, I would be very interested to see what the detail of that policy might be.
JOURNALIST: So would you look at reintroducing those TPVs?
PM: The question of calibrating the country's response to the assets that we need in the air-sea gap to our north, that's where the critical business lies. Knowing what is coming down the track towards you because of global factors which neither this Government or other governments control, these are global factors at work. Political instability in the Middle East, political implosions within Sri Lanka, difficulties also in Burma, difficulties being compounded by the global economic crisis. Some of these factors I discussed in great detail with the Indonesian President yesterday.
That's what's coming down the track towards us. These are the challenges we face and therefore the second response must be how do we work to better, work better together as governments across the region to deal with this challenge.
Second challenge is, how do we best deploy in an intelligent way all the assets which exist to interdict vessels which emerge on the high seas and to deal with them appropriately?
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: Sorry say that again.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: I don't have such plans at this stage but I have been receiving daily updates on the medical condition of those who have been affected by this tragic incident and we will continue to receive those updates as we have been receiving regular updates on the progress of the police investigation. That is appropriate.
JOURNALIST: So do you think that the Howard Government's immigration policies would not have stopped any of the people who are coming down to Australian waters now?
PM: One thing I'll just draw to your attention is that my understanding is that some of those who have most recently sought to leave for Australia and in fact began their exit to Australia when (a) Mr Howard was Prime Minister and (b) his policies were very much in place. This is a practical question for us. How do we deal with this real global problem that exists? How do we deal with its manifestation here in our region and how do we do so by most intelligently using our cooperation with regional governments and our cooperation, and our best deployment of our defence and maritime assets.
What our navy is doing in the air-sea gap at the present is first class work. What our air force is doing in the air-sea gap at present is first class work. What our surveillance staff are doing in the air-sea gap at present is first class work, supported by our men and women in Customs and they are doing a first class job in a very difficult and challenging environment.
And remember - they are dealing with global factors, global factors which are making the work out there on the high seas very hard for our men and women in uniform. But I repeat, this Government will not do anything to compromise a police investigation or compromise any possible prosecution of people smugglers because people smugglers lie at the core of the challenge that we are dealing with, with this new threat emerging across our northern waters.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
PM: The matter is subject to a police investigation and therefore we will know the conclusion of that police investigation once it is concluded, not prior to that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what would your reaction be if one of your road safety ministers came to you and said he had more than 30 speeding fines?
PM: I think my reaction to that would be to take up a football and hospital pass it to the Premier of South Australia which is what I am about to do. Thanks for your time folks.
[ends]