PRIME MINISTER:
It’s good to be here in Naypyidaw in Burma for the East Asia Summit. This is the principal security summit for our region and it’s very important to remember that we only enjoy the extraordinary prosperity that we’ve had over the last 40 years because of a secure and stable geopolitical environment. There are a range of factors in that stability and security but obviously the US presence is a very important part of that and that’s why it’s good that America is here as part of their continued engagement with the Indo-Pacific region.
Yesterday I was honoured to be part of the Australia ASEAN Summit to mark 40 years of Australia’s dialogue partnership with ASEAN. The world has come so far in that 40 years. Australia’s trade with ASEAN is 80 times greater today than it was 40 years ago. This is a sign of the extraordinary progress that the countries of South-East Asia have made. Again, it’s only possible to make that progress because we have a secure and stable geopolitical environment.
Australia has been a partner to the countries of our region in every way. We’ve been an economic partner, obviously. We’ve been a security partner and we’ve been almost a spiritual partner given the increasing links, the increasing understanding, between the countries of our region and ourselves. It was interesting that in the summit that I attended, almost every ASEAN nation mentioned the New Colombo Plan, which is already sending hundreds of Australians to the universities of our region and in the years to come we’ll be sending thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Australians into our region.
As most Australians remember, certainly as many people in this region remember, the Colombo Plan was an important part of the development of South-East Asia, our region, in the post war era. Under the Colombo Plan the best and brightest of our region came to Australia to study. Under the New Colombo Plan, our best and brightest will go to the region to study. It is us, if you like, returning the compliment to our region. I’m very proud of this initiative, it is very much a signature initiative of this Government and it was something that was very much talked about yesterday at the Australia ASEAN Summit.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, do you acknowledge now that Australia’s pledge to cut emissions by five per cent is far inferior to the deal that’s been done between the United States and China? And will you be rectifying that?
PRIME MINISTER:
I welcome the agreement which has apparently been come to between the United States and China. I welcome any agreement between the United States and China because they are obviously the two most significant countries in the world and they’re obviously the two biggest emitters. Australia’s emissions are about one per cent of the globe’s. The United States’ emissions are about 15 per cent of global emissions; China’s emissions are about 24 per cent of global emissions and they’re going up and up all the time. I understand why that’s the case because China is modernising all the time and part of the modernisation process is increased energy use, and increased energy use invariably means higher emissions given the fact that fossil fuels are still overwhelmingly the world’s energy source.
So, I welcome the agreement. As for Australia, I’m focusing not on what might happen in 16 years’ time, I’m focusing on what we’re doing now and we’re not talking, we’re acting. We are actually cutting our emissions and as a result of the Direct Action policy, which passed through our Parliament in the last couple of weeks. I am absolutely confident that we will deliver on our target of a five per cent cut by 2020. This is what we want – we want real action and that’s exactly what the world will get from Australia. We are a country, which, when we say something, we mean it, when we make a commitment we keep it and we will keep our commitment to deliver a five per cent cut in emissions – a domestic five per cent cut in emissions.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, do you think the warships to the north of Australia have anything to do with the G20 or your shirtfronting comments?
PRIME MINISTER:
Plainly, it takes weeks if not months to deploy warships thousands of miles from your bases. So, this Russian deployment into Pacific waters is something that has been a long, long time in preparation. It’s not unusual for Russia to deploy naval elements when there are significant international events taking place. Certainly it is unusual for Russian naval elements to be in Australian waters – unusual, not entirely unprecedented but unusual. We’ve been monitoring this naval deployment for some time now. We first began monitoring it when it was some hundreds of miles north of New Guinea and we’ll continue to monitor it. That’s what we do when warships are approaching Australia, we keep them well monitored.
QUESTION:
But you don’t think it has anything to do with G20 specifically or your comments specifically?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, it’s not unusual for Russian naval elements to deploy in conjunction with major international conferences. My understanding is that there were Russian naval elements in Singapore at the time of an APEC conference there. I seem to recall that there were Russian naval elements in the Western Pacific at the time of a major conference in San Francisco. It’s not unusual for Russians to deploy in the vicinity of major conferences and let’s not forget that Russia has been much more militarily assertive in recent times. We’re seeing – regrettably – a great deal of Russian assertiveness right now in Ukraine. So, it’s not really surprising and we are doing what you’d expect us to do. We are carefully monitoring the movements of these ships when they are in Australia’s approaches.
QUESTION:
You say it’s not unusual, but do you think it’s acceptable?
PRIME MINISTER:
Warships have freedom of the seas. One of the points that I’m sure many countries will be making at the summit this morning is the right to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the East China Sea and obviously that includes freedom of navigation for military vessels. Now, if Australia, the United States and others expect, indeed demand, the rite of passage for naval vessels in the waters of Asia, obviously, we have to accept the rite of passage for naval vessels in the Pacific.
QUESTION:
On climate change, Bill Shorten says you have egg on your face because of the US-China deal and their pledge to cut emissions by up to 28 per cent compared to Australia’s five per cent. And in addition do you think climate change should now be on the agenda at G20?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, interestingly, we’ve just had the APEC conference in Beijing and climate change was hardly mentioned – was hardly mentioned. It was mentioned in passing by one leader in Beijing and look, there are lots of venues to deal with climate change. As I’ve always said, climate change is a very significant issue and there’s a conference coming up in Lima which will be a climate change conference. There’s a conference coming up in Paris next year which will be a climate change conference. The UN is a forum which is regularly dealing with climate change – that’s as it should be. But this is a major economic conference; it is the world’s premier economic conference. And I certainly expect that the focus will be on economic reform, economic growth, how we drive growth and jobs. That is my constant preoccupation. How do we get our economy growing more strongly so we can deliver more jobs to the people of Australia? That’s what I want and if other countries want to raise other subjects they’re entirely welcome to do so but my focus and I believe the principal focus of the conference will be on growth and jobs.
QUESTION:
And Bill Shorten’s comments that you have egg on your face?
PRIME MINISTER:
I had bacon and eggs for breakfast. So, look that’s the kind of thing that you expect from Oppositions.
QUESTION:
[inaudible]
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m sorry?
QUESTION:
The target is enough? Australia’s target?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you know we are focused on meeting our existing targets and it is all very well to talk about what might happen in the far distant future but we are going to meet our five per cent reduction target within six years. So, we are talking about the here and now. We are talking about what Australia is doing in Australia right now. We are talking, let me stress, about what Australia will do in Australia right now. We are talking about the here and now. We are talking about the practical; we are talking about the real. We are not talking about what might hypothetically happen 15, 20, 25, 30 years down the track. We are talking about what we will do and are doing right now and that is what I think the Australian people expect of us.
QUESTION:
Clive Palmer has just put out a statement calling Jacqui Lambie a drama queen who is focussed on her own quest for power. What do you think that means for the future of the Palmer United Party.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I will just leave the members and supporters of that organisation to work out its future.
QUESTION:
Will you discuss the warships with Mr Putin?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I was very focused on a crime. The downing of MH17 – that is a crime. Obviously the full circumstances are being investigated by the Dutch led criminal investigation now underway, but plainly, at the very least, a missile was fired with reckless indifference to the outcome – with reckless indifference to human life. Under our laws that is manslaughter at the very least. So, that was a crime but warships in international waters – that is just part of freedom of navigation. So, my focus was absolutely on trying to ensure that justice was done – justice is done – for the families of our lost. I think as a result of the discussions that I had with President Putin in Beijing, Russia absolutely understands, and I hope respects, Australia’s position.
[ends]