PM: I'm delighted to welcome today the Secretary-General of the United Nations. We've had good discussions today. I did start by conveying to the Secretary-General the condolences of the Australian people following the attack on the United Nations Mission in Nigeria with the loss of life. We've both reflected that this is a very concerning development where the United Nations was directly targeted and so our condolences as an Australian nation go to the Secretary-General following that attack.
Australia is a strong supporter of the United Nations. We were there as a founding member, we are there today with the decades of collaboration and work together in between. We are strong supporters of the United Nations and its work because we understand that the work of the United Nations brings our world together to address some difficult problems. Australia will continue to pursue its bit for election to the United Nations Security Council because we believe in the work of the United Nations and its importance. We believe in the work of the United Nations Security Council and its importance and we believe Australia's voice should be heard there. Of course, the UN Security Council has mandates that govern our deployment and work in Afghanistan and in East Timor. Sanctions that we have engaged in against Iran and North Korea have been under a United Nations Security Council resolution and we have provided strong support to the work of the Security Council in relation to its actions to protect civilians in Libya. We talked across many of these issues today, the Secretary-General and I. We've particularly talked about the recent meeting of the Libya support group that the Secretary-General has just attended and literally flown from to be here in Australia. We talked about the escalating crisis in the Horn of Africa, a humanitarian crisis that I conveyed to the Secretary-General so many Australians are individually concerned about and have made direct donations to. Today I am able to announce that we will provide an additional $10 million to the United Nations Children's Fund for its work in addressing this crisis. This brings the assistance from Australia for this crisis to almost $100 million and separate to that work by the Government, Australians themselves individually have dug deep.
I was also pleased to offer to the Secretary-General today the services of up to 25 Australian Defence Force personnel and 10 Federal Police to the UN Mission in South Sudan and we have talked about South Sudan in our discussion today. And also, to support the UN's crucial peacekeeping and peacebuilding role I am announcing today that we will make available a further $4.5 million to support the UN Department of Political Affairs' work. It's this work that goes to conflict prevention and conflict response.
The Secretary-General has changed his program, he needed to do that in order to accommodate attending both the meeting on Libya and then being here in Australia but we're pleased to welcome him and we are delighted that he will proceed from here to the Pacific. He will be going to Kiribatipersonally, he will be going to the Solomon Islands and then he will attend the Pacific Islands Forum in New Zealand. He is the first Secretary-General of the United Nations to do so and we very much value the fact that he is taking the time and the trouble and travelling the distance to be physically present in the Pacific. This is a of course a region vital to Australia, it's the region in which we live. I'm looking forward to attending the Pacific Islands Forum and I thank the Secretary-General for attending that forum and being the first to do so. So, Your Excellency, you are very welcome here. We're very honoured to have you and I invite you to make some remarks now.
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Thank you madame Prime Minister for your very warm welcome. This is a great pleasure for me to visit Australia at the beginning of Spring. It's a wonderful place and this is not my first visit to Canberra or Sydney. In my previous capacity as a foreign minister and other capacities I have visited many times and it's a great pleasure for me to visit as the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the for the first time and I thank you very much for your flexibility for me to be able to participate in the Paris meeting on Libya and to make up for the loss, I'm going to visit twice in just one weeks time Australia. So I hope this will be a consolation for that. In fact, I like it so much I'll try to come back as soon as possible.
Australia is a strong voice in international affairs working together with the United Nations in addressing many challenges which we face. In my meeting I highly commended the work of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, for her leadership to work together with the UN in addressing all peace and security issues, development and human rights and always make a very important contribution. Australia is one of the strongest supporters of the United Nations and one of the best examples of how and what UN member states should and can do for the common interest of the international community.
You may be known as ‘Down Under', but when it comes to contribution and commitment you are well above and beyond. Australia is a founding member of the United Nations and Australians were instrumental in helping to formulate the United Nations Charter and I have many good historical records of how distinguished Australian diplomats have made contributions to the drafting of the Charter, human rights and women's empowerment and also the first president of the United Nations Security Council was served by a distinguished Australian. You continue this proud tradition with a record of leadership across a full range of our work from peacekeeping to global development to nuclear disarmament and I thank you very much for your announcement of providing distinguished soldiers and police officers to South Sudan.
Australia's support for our operations in Timor-Leste has been indispensable. Australia is critical to peacekeeping efforts from Afghanistan to Cyprus where you set the UN record for the longest UN deployment by any country. This is the 100th continuous deployment of peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, it is the highest record so far in the history of the United Nations. On foreign aid, Australia is increasing cooperation at a time when too many countries are pulling back and I thank you very much for your very generous contribution to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa by donating an additional $10 million. This will put you one of the very few - within number five, I think you are number four strongest supporter of this Horn of Africa crisis.
Australia's impulse for global cooperation that positive (inaudible) in people is what we need as we face the big challenges of our time. From here I will visit, as has been announced by the Prime Minister, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati before heading to the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting in New Zealand.
Building a more sustainable future will be at the centre of my visit. Australia know better than many others how critical it is to live in balance with nature. The floods in Queensland and other natural disasters here show how extreme weather and climate change are real and growing threats. Your neighbours are even more vulnerable. Whole islands could be lost if sea levels continue to rise. Later this year, countries will meet in Durban, South Africa. We need ambitious targets to keep the rise in average global temperatures below two degrees centigrade. We need to move forward on adaptation. That means countries must live to their abilities and responsibilities. Time is of the essence. It has been nearly two decades since the world met in Rio de Janeiro for the first summit. Next year the leaders of the world meet in Rio de Janeiro for (inaudible) meeting and I have invited Prime Minister Gillard to participate herself. I hope you will take my invitation positively. With so much at stake this is not the time for gamesmanship. This is the time to work together to get real results.
Finally, since I am coming from the Paris meeting on Libya, let me say a few words about the situation there. I continue to urge all countries to come together to help the Libyan people. The United Nations' response rests on three fundamental principals. First, national ownership. The future of Libya should be decided by Libyan people and I have met with the Chairman of NCT, Mr Jalil and head of (inaudible) together and we discussed what their needs and priorities would be and we will reflect on and respect these priorities. Second: Rapid response and delivery. We are working to make sure the United Nations can respond swiftly to requests by the Libyan authorities. This includes restoring public security and order and promoting rule of law, promoting inclusive political dialogue and national reconciliation and protecting human rights, particularly for vulnerable groups and assessing electoral processes and also facilitating the constitution making. Our third principal is effective coordination. We are working closing with the country's leadership to ensure that confusion and duplication of effort are kept to a minimum. We have to avoid all duplications. On these challenges and many others we depend of the support of Australia. At this critical moment in history when so much is at stake for people in developed and developing countries I am here to say to Australia, we need your ideas, your experience and your continued commitment. I count on Australia to be a vital partner is meeting the expectations of the world's people for freedom, opportunity and a life of dignity everyone deserves and I thank you very much.
PM: We'll take questions. Yes, Misha?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how secure is your leadership and if you believe it is secure, why are we now seeing members of your own party backgrounding against you in the form of floating alternative leadership tickets in newspapers?
PM: Misha, I will be leading the Labor Party ‘till the next election. Every day between now and then I will be fighting for Labor values, for the things I believe in, for jobs, for education, for opportunity. That's what you'll see me doing.
JOURNALIST: Mr Ban, you mentioned Australia's record on human rights, Australia was planning to send asylum seekers to Malaysia, a country that's not a signatory to your convention on refugees. What does that say about Australia's human rights record and are we fit to be on the Security Council given that?
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Australia is one of the model countries in many areas which the United Nations is promoting. Peace and security, as I said, development and human rights. Of course, there are some concerns on how to deal with immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees and of course, you know, I highly commend the recent endorsement of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I hope that the Australian Government, under the leadership of the Prime Minister, will translate all of these principals and endorsements on the rights of indigenous peoples into policies, into real actions and again, for all of this human rights related issues, I believe that Australia can lead by example. If you have any specific questions, the United Nations is always ready to walk together through the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and I'm also discussing this matter with all the member states of the United Nations.
JOURNALIST: Your Excellency, how was your meeting with Mr Rudd and following on from that question, do you think that Australia does deserve a temporary seat on the UN Security Council?
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: Well I am aware of very ardent aspirations and wishes of the Australian Government to contribute further to common interests and ideas of the United Nations by serving on the Security Council of the United Nations. In fact, this is something which needs to be determined by the member states and not by the Secretary-General but as far as I'm concerned, as the Secretary-General, I'm very grateful for what the Australian Government has been leading by example in addressing in the forefront of peace and security and development and human rights and I hope that the Australian Government and diplomats will work hard to convince member states to get those contributes recognised by the member states. This is my wish. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Are you concerned that Turkey has expelled the Israeli Ambassador and also, how likely is it that Libya would descend into chaos at this juncture?
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: I sincerely hope that Israel and Turkey will improve their relationship. During last the last year, particularly since the instance of the flotilla on May 31st last year happened, I have been really trying to help them to improve their relationship. All the countries are very important countries in the region and their improved relationship, normal relationship will be very important in addressing all the situations in the Middle East, including the Middle East peace process, not to mention their bilateral relationship. As you know, I have established the flotilla panel of experts led by the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Palmer. The report is out - I'm not is a position to say any specific comments on the substance of the findings and recommendations of panel reports. My only wish is that they should try to improve their relationship and do whatever they can to implement the recommendations and findings of this panel's report.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how long will the asylum seekers on Christmas Island (inaudible) have to wait before you let them know what's going to happen to them. Will you accept Tony Abbott's invitation to work with him on an option in Nauru and what should Australians read into the fact that you and the Secretary-General met separately with Mr Rudd today?
PM: Well taking the questions in reverse order, absolutely nothing. As you would be aware, it is very, very common indeed when we have honoured visitors, for them to meet with the Prime Minister and Ministers separately. If the Secretary-General had been on his original program, which he diverted from because of the need to attend the meeting on Libya, if he had been on his original program then yesterday he would have met with a number of Cabinet Ministers. We would have, in effect, had a Cabinet meeting with him and he would have talked to a large number of people. That program wasn't possible because of the movement from Friday to Saturday stemming from the Libya meeting. So arrangements we've made have been purpose specific, given the move of day but completely in line with how we do events normally when we have international visitors.
On your other questions, first and foremost what we've got to do is get to grips with the real meaning of the High Court case. That's what we're doing through seeking advice from the Solicitor-General and I am concerned that Mr Abbott is wishing away the facts here. We need to get legal advice so we know what courses of action are available and open to the Government that are sound legally. You can't just make that stuff up and unfortunately, Mr Abbott I think is making that stuff up before we've got the benefit of that legal advice. So I would counsel Mr Abbott to say, let's get the legal advice, we'll put it out publically and then any comments he makes after that will need to accord with the legal advice. This is not a situation like ones seen in the past where you can pretend scientists say something other than they really do say, or economists say something other than they really do say. This is a situation where we need to get to grips with the legal meaning of the High Court case and then people can make responsible comments following that.
JOURNALIST: Has your Government received that advice yet and given the concerns already raised about Nauru, can you rule that out today as an option?
PM: We are still awaiting the final legal advice. As I've just confirmed, when that advice is received it will be released publically and we will respond after the advice on all policy questions.
Thank you.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: I have not yet received the letter, that specific letter but I'm sure that I'll receive it and I'll read and try to find out what I should do but even before reading the letter I can say that this mining and reprocessing of this mineral like uranium, this very important, very serious issue should be done according to all scientific processes ad recommended by the IAEA. That is why I'd like to emphasise the importance of the high level meeting on nuclear safety and nuclear security which I am going to convene on September 22nd in the United Nations. I visited Fukushima, Japan and I had discussed this matter with the former Prime Minister Naoto and many other leaders of the Japanese Government and scientific communities. My visit to Japan and my recent visit to Kazakhstan last year as well as Ukraine where I could see all the impacts of how important this nuclear management and disasters. It has strengthened my conviction that the international community, particularly the United Nations, led by the IAEA, should do all we can to strengthen the safety codes of nuclear materials and nuclear energies and that is why I'm going to discuss this matter.