KELLY:
Prime Minister welcome to Radio National breakfast.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Fran.
KELLY:
Well like all other Australians you would have been deeply saddened by the news of this crash?
PRIME MINISTER:
It's a heart breaking thing to loose nine young Australians who are serving their country by doing good things for a nation that has suffered so much. They were engaged on a mercy mission on humanitarian work, they were doing the things that we believe in, that is helping people out who need help, they were behaving like wonderful compassionate Australians - they are, they were and to loose them is just so heartbreaking and to their families, of course, our special thoughts are with them. It's just a dreadful tragedy and our whole nation is feeling it. We are all feeling it because it's such a terrible tragedy.
KELLY:
I know investigations are now going on into the cause of this accident but can you tell us anymore about the thoughts of what caused it; eyewitnesses have reported hearing the engines literally stop above them as the helicopter hovered 20 metres above the ground?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I can't Fran. I'm not going to speculate. There will be a full military board of enquiry. It will be very open. There'll be no impediment put in the way of finding out the cause of this tragedy but until that enquiry takes place, I'm simply not going to speculate. That's quite irresponsible. I have no idea what caused the helicopter to crash and until the board of enquiry has been established and the investigation takes place, I'm simply not going to speculate. I want to promise on behalf of the Government, I want to promise the families that there will be a full enquiry, there'll be a proper enquiry, it will be conducted by the military, they have their own stream of enquires, they have their own justice system but there will no impediment put in the way of finding out what happened. But at this stage it's just idol speculation, it's unhelpful, it adds to the pain and the distress of the family members for people to be speculating about what might have been the cause. Nothing can bring back their loved ones, tragically, and what we owe to them and to their families is a full and honest and open enquiry to find out why it happened.
KELLY:
Well the Head of the Australian Defence Association Neil James, has said that the Sea King helicopters are about 30 years old and they should have been replaced 10 years ago - what's your response to that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well there are a lot of Sea King helicopters in service all round the world of an equivalent age. There are a lot of air frames that are in use by the air forces of many nations, not just Australia, which are 20, 30 years (perhaps in some cases even more) old that it's not been the experience of other countries that that is necessarily a cause of a fatality or of an accident. Once again I can't say more than that. These Sea Kings are regularly overhauled, they are passed every year, other nations use them, they're regarded as very airworthy and this particular one had all the certificates and clearances that are appropriate.
KELLY:
I think you were travelling in this particular helicopter just a couple of months ago weren't you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Somebody told me that last night.
KELLY:
To be safe, pending this investigation, should we ground the other Sea Kings now?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to make comment on that. If there were any advice to that effect, then I would listen to it but I'm not an expert, I'm not a military person, I have to rely on the advice of experts and I'm not an expert in the airworthiness of helicopters or indeed any other aircraft. But I think what we should do - I know it's hard because there's been a terrible tragedy and the natural desire is to try and immediately find a reason - is to calmly set about establishing in a correct fashion, in an open fashion, very transparent way, what was the cause of this accident? There can be many causes of accidents of this kind and until we know the facts it really is very unhelpful to speculate.
KELLY:
I think to also get this in perspective, it's the worst loss of military personnel in operations since the Vietnam War, is that right?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it is. I haven't specifically got advice. I mean it's a tragedy whether it's bigger or smaller or something else. It's nine young Australian lives just taken away and it's certainly the largest loss of life since the Blackhawk disaster in 1996, which claimed 18 lives.
KELLY:
Prime Minister turning around to the death of Pope John Paul II, it seems the outpouring of grief around the world transcends Catholicism with Christians and non-Christians mourning his passing, why do you think that is, why such universal?
PRIME MINISTER:
He was a great man, he was a great Christian. As a non-Catholic Christian could I say I admired him immensely. I thought he was a wonderful person and he spoke for Christendom in its totality on most issues. There were some issues obviously where there are ranges of views within Christendom but by and large the central tenets of the Christen faith are articulated by all combinations of Christianity. And I think the other thing about the man was that he was personally tough and courageous as well as being compassionate. He was also a man who made his mark in the politics of the world. He played a major role in the destruction of Soviet Communism and that's been the most defining political event of my lifetime without doubt - and he played a role in that, a tremendous role, and he'll always be remembered for that - for what he did for his native Poland, which began to push away the rotting struts which had held Soviet Communism together for so long.
KELLY:
He was quite a political activist in fact, he did.....
PRIME MINISTER:
But he interpreted political issues in terms of his faith. The reason he opposed communism was because it suppressed the spirituality of man and because it restricted people's freedom.
KELLY:
And indeed he opposed the Iraq war because he thought the world should turn its energies to peace not war.
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes I'm aware that not everything that he said supported some of the views that I had, or Australia had, but the totality of his life was a magnificent witness to his religion and also a wonderful demonstration of the importance of the individual, the spiritual content of an individual and the inherent right of every man and women to be free.
KELLY:
And do you think he should be that model of a political activist should be a role model for other religious leaders, that we should encourage our religious leaders to be more engaged?
PRIME MINISTER:
Everybody does things differently. He was called because of his nationality and because of the timing which he was born. He was called to a particular opportunity and responsibility in relation to Soviet Communism. That doesn't apply to others. I think it's the responsibility of religious leaders to live out their lives and to display leadership as they think fit. Understanding of course that in an open society not everything they say and do will win approval.
KELLY:
And Prime Minister, will you go to Rome for the funeral?
PRIME MINISTER:
It depends when it's held. I'd very much like to go - not only out of respect to this great man but also particularly out of respect to Australia's Catholic community. However, I do have a visit on Thursday from the Malaysian Prime Minister, which is very important and it all depends on when the funeral is.
KELLY:
Well just on that that visit you just mentioned, on the eve of that visit, the Malaysian Prime Minister has criticised Australia for I think, the quote was 'giving lip service to wanting to be more engaged in Asia' but when it comes to the crunch, reflecting US foreign policy. Are we in for another tortured relationship with Malaysia like we had with Prime Minister Mahathir?
PRIME MINIISTER:
No I don't think so. I think the relationship will be better at a political level. It was always very good underneath, the people to people links and the business links were always very strong.
KELLY:
Well this doesn't sound too good, it was quite a punchy interview just on the eve of the visit.
PRIME MINISTER:
I think you have to expect that you don't agree with each other about everything.
KELLY:
Will you give the Malaysian Prime Minister the reassurances that he's looking for in terms of the doctrine of pre-emption, will you stop talking about that, will you step back from...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well Fran I will, in any discussions I have with world leaders, I'll put forward Australia's viewpoints and I'll advocate Australia's interests as I expect each leader I meet to advocate his or her nation's interests but we have an enormous amount in common - Malaysia and Australia. And the important thing with these relationships is to focus on the things that we have in common. There's no nation in the world that we agree with on everything, no nation in the world and what you have to try and do sensibly and Abdullah Badawi is a very sensible, gracious man, I'm sure that we'll find many areas of agreement.
KELLY:
And Prime Minister just briefly, this morning you'll meet with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, does the Sea King crash put an extra dimension to that visit?
PRIME MINISTER:
Yes he was very moved and upset by what happened. He rang me yesterday morning from Jakarta to express his sympathy before he left and he will no doubt talk about it again today. I think it's a reminder that sadly where our two countries have been united in tragedy and grief. We had Bali, we had the tsunami, we had the earthquake and now we have this. We have a lot to do together. Australia and Indonesia will be forever together in this part of the world. And whilst we're very different countries, very different cultures and we shouldn't pretend otherwise, we should focus again on what we have in common, and I'm very, very pleased to welcome this man to Australia. He is the leader of the third largest democracy in the world, he's a person of immense grace and character, he represents the country's future and not it's past, and I want to work with him very closely.
KELLY:
Prime Minister thanks for joining us on Radio National breakfast.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]