PM: Can I start by saying a big congratulations to Queensland, to Anna Bligh, to Gold Coast Mayor Ron Clarke on securing the Commonwealth Games for 2018. This is a fantastic achievement - all Australians will be looking forward to hosting the Commonwealth Games but this is going to be a particular delight for the people of the Gold Coast and the people of Queensland. Each time we've hosted the Commonwealth Games we've done a fantastic job.
Australia is great at hosting major international sporting events. We bring to it a sense of sportspersonship and fairness our sense of fun and engagement. This is also a great opportunity economically for the Gold Coast, bringing as it will, people from around the world to participate in and to enjoy the Commonwealth Games. So, congratulations Queensland. Absolutely great news.
I'm here in Honolulu for the APEC meeting. I've this morning had the opportunity to share in a Veterans Day event with representatives from the United States veterans community. Here in Honolulu it is the 11th of the 11th and it was appropriate on the 60th anniversary year of our alliance of ANZUS for me to take some time to reflect with our friends from the United States on what shared sacrifices meant to us so I did very much, felt very honoured, to have the privilege of attending and addressing that Veterans Day event. I was also delighted to see that there were some Australians in the audience who had travelled here to participate in that event and it was a moment to reflect on the costs of war and on the dedication and service of those who are in our defence forces.
Here in Honolulu, over the next few days, I will be attending dialogues with business leaders. I will be in the leaders discussions of the Trans Pacific Partnership and, of course, attending the APEC Meeting itself. My objectives here at this meeting of APEC and the events surrounding it are five in number.
First, I will continue as I did at the G20 to push very strongly for a new and innovative approach on global trade. We need to break the gridlock that we have hit with the DOHA Round. I have spoken about this consistently. Spoken about it at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, pushed it at the G20, our Trade Minister has been consistently pushing it in trade discussions around the world. If we are to make progress on global trade then we need to find a new way forward which breaks up the DOHA Round, ends the gridlock and gets some important things done and I will be taking that message to APEC.
Secondly, I'm looking forward to sharing perspectives on the global economy. APEC represents the members of APEC, account for 56 percent of global GDP and 46 percent of the world's exports. So we will have leaders of economies who are in a position to reflect on the global economy and particularly to reflect on what the Euro zone crisis means for the global economy so I'm looking forward to sharing perspectives following the G20 and into APEC.
Third, I'll be attending a leaders meeting of the Trans Pacific Partnership and I'm hoping that here we will be able to embrace a framework for the TPP free trade agreement. Now what this hopefully heralds is the start of something that will develop into a free trade zone over time and if it did so develop, it would create a regional market that is around 40 per cent bigger than the size of the European Union, effectively one and a half times the size of the European Union. So that is an important long term goal. I'm hoping here that we can take a step forward and endorse the framework and then negotiations under that framework can proceed as quickly as possible. I also wanted to take this opportunity to welcome the fact that Japan has indicated that it wants to involve itself in discussions about joining the TPP.
Then fourthly, I welcome President Obama's focus at this APEC on green growth following our adoption of a carbon price and a clean energy future. I'm looking forward to those discussions on green growth.
And fifth and finally, I'll be looking forward to working through, with my fellow leaders, on developing a seamless regional economy. Back home in Australia we've been paying a lot of time and trouble to developing a seamless national economy within our own federation. We've got work to continue within our region so that beyond straight trade liberalization questions there are also issues addressed which enable businesses to trade more freely to not encounter behind the board of barriers and constraints that prevent them trading freely.
So, this is a strong agenda here at APEC and in the associated TPP discussions and business discussions. Australia has been a driving force in APEC, here in Honolulu I'm looking forward to participating in the APEC meeting. What happens in our region, the growing region of the world, is pivotal to Australia's national interest and this is an important forum for discussion of economic liberalization questions and of greater freedom of trade between our nations.
I'm happy to take questions, yes, Matthew.
JOURNALIST: Can you give us an idea of the kind of scale of benefit to Australian exporters for the TPP go ahead and what contribution to you think that increased trade could make to helping create jobs and kick-start in the wake of the last ten years' events.
PM: Well increased trade is always a shot in the arm for growth. That's why we've been so focussed on trying to get over the gridlock in the DOHA Round and get the global economy the shot in the arm it needs as we're trying to get the global economy on a sustainable pattern of growth. It's too early in the TPP discussions to scope it and say it's necessarily going to mean x or y or z numbers of jobs in Australia, but just working from first principles, we are a great trading nation. The more we trade the more we prosper. We live in the growing region of the world so anything that facilitates us getting our goods and services to market more easily in our growth region is good for Aussie jobs.
JOURNALISTS: (Inaudible).
PM: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why do we need to have US marines stationed in Darwin?
PM: Look I've seen media reports about these matters today. Can I say first, I'm very much looking forward to President Obama's visit to Australia. We will have a wide set of discussions when President Obama comes to Australia. They will of course encompass things like the circumstances in the global economy. They'll go across the full range of interconnections between our countries and of course, we will be reflecting on the fact that it's the 60th year of ANZUS, 60 years of being allies and what being allies means for the future. On any specifics of what I may announce with President Obama when he's in Australia, we'll leave that to when we're in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how significant is it that Japan says that it wants to be a part of the TPP talks. (Inaudible)?
PM: This is a good sign. Clearly we've said overtime that we would welcome Japan joining the TPP discussions. We'd want all of that to be done in the framework of striving for a comprehensive and ambitious agreement and that would still be our perspective. We want this to be a comprehensive ambitious trade agreement. I think it's good that Japan has indicated its willingness to be involved in discussions. Japan is a substantial economy. A very, very large trading partner for Australia over a long period of time and, whilst of course the Japanese economy has had some troubles and the Japanese nation is still recovering from the devastating tsunami and earthquake and the nuclear incident that followed it, Japan for a long period of time will be very important to Australia's prosperity.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister (inaudible) to the Japan Australia (inaudible) its willingness to engage in more open trade by the Japanese?
PM: When I was in Japan we did touch on those free trade discussions, the direct discussions between Australian and Japan. The advice then from the then Japanese Prime Minister and from the government of Japan more generally, was that there focus had to be on reconstruction and recovery from the earthquake and tsunami and I was, as you may recall, the first foreign leader invited by the Japanese government to go to Japan following those devastating events and I got to see the size and scale of the damage first hand and it was truly breathtaking. So we understood that all government resources at that stage needed to be marshalled in the interests of the Japanese people. I think what this now signals is that the Japanese government is still focussed on reconstruction and recovery but able to now work on a broader set of fronts so that's a good thing. On anything that that might mean specifically for the Australia Japan free trade agreement, we'd have to have some dialogue with Japan about that. Their posture has always been a willingness to talk but they just did have this capacity constraint as they faced this huge disaster for their country.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, President Obama's talking about the Pacific century, you've spoken about the Asian century, we have strong bilateral relationships with China and the US although America sees China as a security challenge, we see it as a trading opportunity. How do you balance those two relationships, China and the US?
PM: Well I don't accept the characterization of your question. The US is deeply engaged with China, deeply engaged with China and as China rises, the US, like Australia, wants to see China a part of the global based, rules based system; wants to see China deeply engaged in regional architecture and global architecture. So, our perspectives on China's rise, I believe, are very comparable between Australia and the United States. When I launched the Asian Century White Paper, I was very clear that the US is deeply engaged in our region, that that will continue and that it is possible for us to have an ally in Washington and friend in Beijing and that is what we're continuing to strive for. The Asian Century White Paper is specifically focussed on that part of our broad region which is engaged in the most dynamic growth and change because I want us as a nation to fully understand all of the opportunities that come from that dynamic growth and change. As well as address any risks from that dynamic growth and change. That's why the White Paper is a comprehensive one.
Yes.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, does China have anything to worry about in terms of closer defence ties between Australia and the US and, (inaudible) the Greens with China but what's your reaction to the Greens criticism of the idea of a closer relationship with (inaudible)?
PM: We've been an ally of the United States for 60 years. We've been friends for a lot longer but we've had our ANZUS arrangement between our two countries, the obligations that that gives us to look after each other in this world. We've been subject to those obligations freely and willingly for 60 years. So it's not going to surprise anybody in China that Australia is an ally of the United States, they've had 60 years of experience seeing what that means for Australia and what it means for the United States. In terms of whether or not there will be any enhanced security cooperation and all of those questions the subject of media reporting today, as I said a little bit earlier, anything I've got to announce with President Obama on that matter will be done when President Obama is in Australia. On some of the statements made by the Greens, let me make it absolutely clear, national security policy is the province of government. The government will make the necessary decisions to keep our nation safe and secure. That's what I will do, working with my team in government.
JOURNALIST: What is your concern about Japan joining the TPP? Is it maybe that discussion may get (inaudible) than expected or maybe the agricultural issue or the beef issue? What is your concern?
PM: Look I'm welcoming Japan's statement that it will now involve itself in discussions about joining the TPP. I think that's a very good thing. Discussions will continue as Japan goes through that process. So there's no question of slowing down the discussions between the nations who have already indicated that they want to be in a Trans Pacific Partnership. Our aim for the Trans Pacific Partnership is that it is as ambitious as possible and I am restating that aim but I am in no way concerned about discussions slowing down. Discussions are going to proceed as Japan works through the process of its own discussions as to whether or not to join.
JOURNALIST: They need to be a serious willing, they need to give something don't they? I mean agricultural they've been (inaudible) for years.
PM: Well what we know is that the Prime Minister of Japan has indicated that he wants to be in a discussion about joining the TPP. I welcome that for the TPP. That won't slow any discussions happening between the nations who have already said they want to be in it - those discussions will continue and our aims are ambitious ones for what is in the Trans Pacific Partnership.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will there be any money for Queensland as a result of winning this bid?
PM: Well this is for the Commonwealth Games in 2018 so there's going to be plenty of time to talk about arrangements between governments to facilitate the Games. Thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: (Inaudible) about the boy in Bali. We know he's now going to spend at least another two weeks in jail there. Do you have any plans to raise this when you go to Indonesia next week?
PM: I'm not going to pre-empt any discussions that I'll have with President Yudhoyono but let me say this; Australia raises consistently consular cases with our friends in Indonesia and I do say specifically in reference to the Bali boy that the Indonesian authorities have been very helpful in terms of the circumstances in which he's been held and accommodated and we do thank them very much for that,for being helpful in that set of circumstances. This is a difficult, matter, it's a sensitive matter. I do want to convey my thanks to Indonesia for what it's done so far in relation to the treatment of the Bali boy but I'm certainly not going to pre-empt discussions with the President of Indonesia or be drawn on these questions about the Bali boy in any detail, they're too sensitive for that.
Thanks very much.