EASTLEY:
John Howard joins us now on AM. Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
EASTLEY:
Have you spoken to your British counterpart?
PRIME MINISTER:
No I hope to speak to him later in the day. I left him alone in the early hours after the attack because he plainly had things on the spot to do. But I can say through your programme as I've already said that the total support of the Australian Government and the Australian people is with Mr Blair and the British people. This attack will not cow the British. It will not cow free people anywhere in the world. It will in fact steel the determination of people who recognise the threat that terrorism poses to democratic societies to go on with the fight against terrorism. And the nature of the attack is a reminder of the brutally indiscriminate character of terrorism. This was an attack to claim the lives of ordinary people going about their daily affairs. It has horribly injured hundreds of others. We can only pray that the sequence of attacks that was so apparent, one after the other and periods of 20 minutes a piece, won't be repeated in the days ahead.
EASTLEY:
I take it from that you will still make your trip to London?
PRIME MINISTER:
I certainly will. And I will be going to Washington first to see President Bush and I will certainly be continuing with my trip to London. And I want to make it very plain that this kind of attack will not alter the attitude of the Government of Australia towards terrorism and towards the commitments we have with our American and British and other friends, to Iraq, to Afghanistan. People must understand that a country like Australia will not be bullied or intimidated and the people who believe we can are wrong.
EASTLEY:
Do you think this attack in Britain was linked to the UK's involvement in Iraq or indeed in Afghanistan?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I don't know Tony. We can speculate about that. Clearly the timing of it with the G8 is obvious. My early intelligence advice suggests a parallel with the Madrid attacks, the sequencing; it's hard to believe there's not some Al Qaeda links. But I don't have hard, direct intelligence of that. There has been a claim of responsibility by a group posted on a website. That is sometimes bravado. It often though turns out to be the case. Given that there were a series of bombs and given the sequencing of them and given the proximity in time to the G8 meeting, it's an almost inescapable conclusion that it was a planned terrorist attack.
EASTLEY:
Should Australians be more nervous now?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have no direct evidence suggesting we should but no country is immune to this kind of attacks.
EASTLEY:
So are our security forces in Australia on higher alert?
PRIME MINISTER:
The advice from our experts who met last night was not to alter the medium level of alert that's been in place since the 12th of September 2001. I will be in Canberra shortly and I'll meet the relevant agency heads to discuss that very issue. If any change is needed it will be made, but I will take the advice of the intelligence agencies and it's important whilst repeating our resolve, our strength of resolve and our determination, it's also important that people go about their daily lives. One of the ways in which terrorists win is if they allow ordinary free people to stop doing the things they normally do. We have to do them with continued care and vigilance, but we must not allow our way of life to be interrupted.
EASTLEY:
Mr Howard, what do we know about the extent of Australian casualties in London?
PRIME MINISTER:
I have spoken to the High Commissioner in London, the Australian High Commissioner on a couple of occasions recently, a few moments ago. He told me that it's 7 of which one is listed unfortunately as critical. There are six others. We haven't got any further details. You can imagine the strain on the hospital system. We're not able to get all of the details but the consular people in the High Commission have done a wonderful job overnight and are continuing to do so and I'm confident that as soon as Richard and his staff can get all of those details they will be made available.
EASTLEY:
Mr Howard thanks for joining us this morning on AM.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]