PRIME MINISTER:
My consistent message to the Australian people over the last few weeks has been that there is no higher priority of Government than the safety of the community. You have seen a consistent effort by the Australian Government in Canberra to ensure that the Australian people are as safe as they possibly can be in a difficult and dangerous world. Whether it be our work in Eastern Ukraine, the response to the downing of MH17, whether it be the increased funding and the new legislation to counter the terrorist threat back home in Australia or indeed this trip to the United Kingdom today. It is all about trying to ensure that our Australian community can be as safe as it possibly can be.
We all know that there is a darkening situation in the Middle East, in particular, in Northern Iraq. We all know that there is a continuing humanitarian catastrophe in and around Mount Sinjar. We all know that the murderous hordes of ISIL – now the Islamic State – are on the march in Northern Iraq. What happens in Syria and Iraq doesn’t happen in isolation. What happens in these countries does have ramifications in Australia, in Britain and throughout the world. That’s why I am so pleased to have had the benefit in the course of the day of discussions with the Joint Intelligence Committee at Thames House, of talks with the British Foreign Secretary, and the British Defence Secretary, and also in the course of the day a discussion with Prime Minister Cameron on the phone. I am pleased to say that Australia and Britain are very much of like mind on this issue. We want to do everything we can to counter terrorism at home and abroad. That means doing what we usefully can to help people who are threatened by terrorist activity, whether it be in Northern Iraq or whether it indeed be on the streets of London or the streets of Sydney.
So, it has been a very useful day and I am confident that Australia and Britain will continue to work in the closest possible defence and security partnership for the benefit of both our countries and the wider world.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you mentioned the murderous hordes, given the fact that some of those murderous hordes are clearly Australian what is the Australian Government going to about that or Australian agencies going to do about that when these people return?
PRIME MINISTER:
One of the images that has seared itself into the consciousness, not just of Australians but of people everywhere, is the photograph that was published on the internet and subsequently in newspapers around the world of a seven-year-old Australian – born and bred – in Syria, waving around a severed head as if it were a show bag at the Easter Show. Now, this is absolutely hideous. It is absolutely gruesome and it indicates the mentality of the people who are fighting with Islamic State and the other terrorist groups in the Middle East. It is absolutely essential that we do whatever we reasonably can to ensure that the Australian community is safe from people who have been radicalised, militarised, brutalised by the experience of engaging in terrorist activity in the Middle East.
As you know, Charles, we have announced a $630 million funding boost to our security agencies; the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the Australian Federal Police, Customs and Border Protection with biometric precautions available at our airports. So, we have announced the funding increase, there is legislation before the Parliament to increase agency powers, there is legislation that will shortly be coming before the Parliament to ensure that it is easier to charge, to successfully prosecute and jail people for participating in terrorist activities abroad. Of course, the universal advice from our security agencies at home and abroad is that we do need to have access to retained metadata if terrorist activity is effectively to be combatted that will be the third tranche of legislation that will be coming into the Australian Parliament.
QUESTION:
Did the Foreign Secretary request some kind of pledge from you in terms of assistance? You have said whatever reasonable assistance we can offer. What type of help did Philip Hammond ask Australia for today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, as you know, Australian aircraft will shortly be joining the humanitarian air-lift and air-drop to the Mount Sinjar region and we are consulting with our partners including the United States, including the United Kingdom about what further assistance Australia can give. The disposition of the Australian Government is to provide what assistance we reasonably can to protect people who are at risk not just from the elements; from starvation, from dehydration, from exposure on Mount Sinjar but also people who are at risk from ISIL forces. What we have seen over the last few months is murderous intent by ISIL – now the Islamic State – towards everyone who does not submit and plainly as President Obama has pointed out, this is potential genocide – it is potential genocide. Australia should do what it can, we should do what we can, to protect people from potential genocide.
QUESTION:
Could that include military action on behalf of Australian Forces?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, we certainly don’t rule that out, we are talking to our partners and our partners, in this instance, are certainly much wider than simply the United States and United Kingdom but we are talking to our security partners about what we can usefully do to help. What I want to stress is that this is a humanitarian cause. It is a humanitarian cause. Protecting people from murder at the hands of ISIL terrorist is a humanitarian cause. Trying to ensure that people are not exposed to terrorists who have been crucifying, decapitating, summarily executing people – who have been dealing in a hideous way with women and children as well as with men. This is a humanitarian cause and Australian has a long and proud tradition of assisting people in need.
QUESTION:
Did you discuss with Prime Minister Cameron the possibility of sending in combat forces and have you also discussed that with President Obama on the telephone?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I don’t want to put words into other people’s mouths and I never like to talk in precise terms about who said what to whom because these are confidential conversations between friends and allies. So, I am not going to go into detail about precisely what was discussed. Obviously, the United Kingdom and Australia and the United States are acutely conscious of the potential for genocide on Mount Sinjar and elsewhere in Northern Iraq and we will do what we reasonably can to protect people in the face of potential genocide.
QUESTION:
And President Obama? Did you speak with him?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, again, I am not going to go into precisely who I have spoken to but as you are aware we have just concluded the AUSMIN discussions in Sydney where Secretary Kerry, Secretary Hagel were involved in the closest possible discussions with Ministers Bishop and Johnston about how Australia could usefully contribute to the operations of our partners to protect people in Northern Iraq from potential genocide.
QUESTION:
Can I ask you about the Ukraine Prime Minister – how suspicious should we be of the humanitarian aid convoy currently on its way towards the Ukrainian border and what should the world’s reaction be if this turns out to be a pretext or cover for an invasion?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think we should be sceptical of Russia’s intentions because plainly Russia has been stirring up a world of trouble in Eastern Ukraine for many, many months now. All of us are in favour of humanitarian assistance but no one wants to see what is effectively an invasion under the cover of a humanitarian convoy. If it really is a humanitarian convoy the Russians plainly need to talk to the Ukrainians, because it is the Ukrainian territory which this convoy is supposedly bound for, and work out an acceptable arrangement with the Ukrainian Government.
QUESTION:
Following on from that question, did you discuss President Putin’s involvement in the G20 here today?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, this is a subject which a lot of people are questioning on. I can understand why people do raise this question. My general view is that if people behave badly there should be consequences. If people behave better there should be an appropriate acknowledgement of that. It’s still three months to go before the G20 and my hope is that the response to what Russia has been doing in Eastern Ukraine recently may have persuaded President Putin that the costs of his policy are too high, that the risk of complete isolation is too great. So let’s wait and see where things go in the next few months before making hard and fast decisions.
QUESTION:
Just expanding on your mention of what Australia might contribute in Iraq. You did say that you were talking to security partners about what Australia might usefully do to help. Would you be able to talk about some of the options that could be on the table? Some perhaps offers you may have made in ways that Australia could further help beyond what it’s committed to already?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I’m not sure that I really should because these are ongoing discussions. I’m conscious of the fact that other countries have the capacity to act in a whole range of ways, but I’m also conscious of the fact that Australia is not without capacity and we want to use to capacity we have for good. I just want to stress again and again that what is happening in Northern Iraq is a humanitarian catastrophe. As President Obama has said, it is a potential genocide and no one wants to stand aside in the face of a potential genocide. There is a world of difference between getting involved to prevent genocide and the kind of involvement that we’ve seen in recent years by western countries in the Middle East – just a world of difference and no one should conflate the two.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, just to follow up, you said that Australian aircraft will be involved in those humanitarian airdrops very soon. Can you be specific about when those aircraft will begin to assist with those operations?
PRIME MINISTER:
The precise timing depends upon a range of complex planning issues which are in the process being worked out. But Australia is determined to do what we reasonably can to help people in absolutely diabolical trouble. Again I stress – this is a humanitarian catastrophe which is developing in Northern Iraq. As President Obama has said, it is a potential genocide and no one should stand aside if they have the capacity to help in circumstances like this.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, there’s only so much that can be done from the air. At what stage does the west and what stage does Australia commit troops to the ground to protect people from genocide?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well the point I make is that we will do what we reasonably can within our capacities to assist in averting a humanitarian catastrophe – a potential genocide. Now, we’re in discussions with our partners and allies about what that could be, but I just want to draw a very fundamental distinction between doing what we can to prevent a potential genocide and the kind of involvements that we’ve seen by western countries in the Middle East in recent years. I just think there’s a fundamental difference and I don’t think anyone should conflate what is essentially humanitarian mission with the kind of geopolitical objectives which western countries had in times past. This is a fundamentally humanitarian mission designed to protect innocent men, women, and children from the murderous hoards that currently confront them.
[ends]