JOURNALIST:
What's your first impression?
PRIME MINISTER:
My first impression, can I say - and I welcome to this news conference my friends and colleagues from Indonesia, the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirajuda, and Minister Shihab, the Co-Ordinating Minister for the People's Welfare, who has specific ministerial responsibility for the Indonesian response to this terrible disaster. My first impressions are that nothing I have seen on television has captured the extent of the devastation. That is my first impression. The other thing I want to say is to express my great admiration for the co-operation which has occurred between the military personnel of our two countries. The Australian Defence Force and TNI have worked together harmoniously with one goal, and that is to bring assistance and comfort and help to a people who have been tragically struck down by this terrible disaster.
As the Prime Minister of Australia, like all of my fellow Australians, I am filled with pride in the work that is being carried out here; to see Lieutenant Colonel Georgeina Whelan and her colleagues working on a mercy mission. They come as members of the Australian Defence Force, but they come bringing the goodwill and the compassion of the Australian people, and expressing with their skills and dedication our desire to help the people of Indonesia in this hour of need. And I thank Brigadier Chalmers for the leadership that he has given to all of the ADF deployments, and of course Vice Admiral Shalders, the Vice Chief of the Defence Force, who's accompanied me today, to whom I convey my general thanks to all of the military personnel. But it goes beyond that ... the people organised with Emergency Australia and all of the non-government bodies.
What is wonderful about this is the way in which people have worked together. The whole response to the tsunami has been a reminder of the common humanity that we all share, and that when you have tragedy you forget differences, you forget differences of race, of religion, of ethnicity, of nationality, of the uniform you wear. The only, in a sense, aim you have is to deliver comfort and assistance. And I am very proud of what my fellow Australians have done.
I pay real tribute to the work of the TNI. Much of the incredibly stressful work - the recovery, and the burial of remains has been carried out. There are still hundreds of bodies being found each day. The immediate cleaning up work, and all of that has been carried out by the TNI, and I pay tribute to the officers and men of the TNI, and for the tremendous work that they've done. Out of this dreadful tragedy the people and the governments of Australia and Indonesia have worked together harmoniously, purposefully and in a compassionate way that brings relief, and we look to the future, the past has been tragic. I met a mother with a two-year-old baby, this is a sign of the future and the hope that was there, and the smile on her face and the sense of pride was that of any mother with a healthy newborn baby, and that in a sense is a metaphor for the future that we have to look forward to.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, from what you've seen here today, is there any way you see in which the Australian mission should be augmented or added to in any way?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, that's the sort of thing that I would talk to, having had this discussion, in a different atmosphere. But I will take the advice of the experts, I am very well pleased with what is being done, and the very important thing is the co-operation. This is, I mean we are here as the guests of the Indonesian people and the Indonesian Government, and the co-operation between our people is tremendously important and I have to say again that the sight of that wonderful medical team from the Australian Defence Force of Lieutenant Colonel Whelan, and George, I know she wants (inaudible) to be called, and all of her mates in that surgical team. To see the work they are doing and to know that they were here so quickly and that they are working and they said to me that it was a privilege to be doing it and many of them sacrificed not only things like annual leave but in one case a bloke told he'd given up a set of fellowship exams that he was about to do and deferred them in order to come here. Now that is one example of the sort of things that people have done. And I do want to make it, obviously, that I naturally speak with pride about what Australia done, but this is a co-operative effort and I acknowledge the contribution that our friends from New Zealand have made. And this is very much an ANZAC exercise; many of the things here and the contribution of people from other nations as well. I met an officer from Germany a few minutes ago, and this is not something that we are just claiming as only, as far as foreigners are concerned, only an Australian exercise. It's an exercise of humanity for many countries and many people.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister, can I ask Australia's clearly spoken most loudly with its commitment of $1 billion at this stage, but you had a very warm embrace for Minister Hassan Wirajuda when you arrived, what words have you conveyed to the Indonesian Ministers on your arrival?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I've already conveyed, of course, in my discussion with President Yudhoyono, and of course Hassan and Minister Shihab and I had spoken earlier, but I mean the message I've conveyed on every occasion is that in simple language we are desperately sorry for what has happened and we want to help and we want to work with you to heal the sick and to comfort as best we can those who've lost so much and to help about rebuilding this part of Indonesia and that is why Australia has committed its largest ever amount of foreign aid and that will, I hope, make a contribution to rebuilding the lives and the futures of the people of this devastated region. I have never seen such devastation in my life and I guess that has been your experience and the experience of the all the media that have been here and you really have to fly over and you have to come here to actually see it. It's graphic on television but until you actually see it you don't grasp the extent of it and I mean I can't imagine the sense of despair and horror and fear that would have gripped the people when the tsunami struck and we can only just do what we can in an uncomplicated compassionate way to help people.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister has that devastation changed your mind, your opposition, about the debt moratorium?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sorry?
JOURNALIST:
Does that devastation change your mind to Australia's opposition to the idea of a debt moratorium for Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh look, no. Our position in relation to assistance is that we believe that direct grants and the loans of the type that we have provided is the best form of assistance and that's a view that we've had for a long time. Anything else?
JOURNALIST:
Did the recent (inaudible) come up in your discussions Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
No, no, no, no, I am here to talk matters of aid and co-operation, the question of the internal political issues in Indonesia is a matter for the Indonesian Government and the Indonesian people.
MINISTER SHIHAB:
I would like to express admiration and recognition of the Indonesian people to the Australian people, to his Excellency the Prime Minister, to the Government of Australia for the great generosity, the sincerity to help Indonesia, to help the people of Aceh. This is a historic moment for us here to build a better relation with Australia and forget the past, let us start with a new intimacy with Indonesia.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Shihab, you said earlier today that you expect Australian troops to begin going home soon, at your press conference this morning...
MINISTER SHIHAB:
No, no I am saying that Australia will replace gradually the military personnel with civilian personnel because we need more civilians in the future during the stage of rehabilitation and reconstruction but the military is welcome whenever it is needed.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think that's a very fair statement of the position of the position and a very fair statement of my understanding and it's also common sense that we are here while we are needed and when we are no longer needed we go because we are guests in a another country and let's not get complicated interpretations on that, I understand exactly what the Minister is saying and he understands exactly our position.
Thank you.
MINISTER SHIHAB:
Thank you.
[ends]