PRIME MINISTER:
This is a very important meeting. We have so many issues we have to address across the Indian Ocean. As you know, while there is enormous amount of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, East Asia, South-East Asia areas, there has been less done across the Indian Ocean. So this is a very good opportunity for all of the nations around the Indian Ocean rim to get together.
Now, we have some important decisions coming out of this meeting. One of them is the Jakarta Concord which, of course, President Widodo has led the way on and that is underlining our common commitment to maritime security, to the rule of law, to promoting the economic equality and opportunities for women across the region.
Equally, there is a very important leaders' declaration on countering violent extremism and terrorism.
This is a growing problem in the region and to combat it we need to have close collaboration between all of the nations in the region, as with do with Indonesia and Malaysia and all of the nations - Thailand, India and so forthright across the Indian Ocean. We need to do more because it is an international threat.
So, these are very good outcomes. We also have here in Indonesia this week, Indonesia-Australia Business Week. That’s happening in a number of cities and I am looking forward to meeting with some of the Australian delegates. We have growing trade ties with Indonesia, but they should be bigger. We are not trading enough with Indonesia and both sides recognise that. That’s why the President and I have agreed that we will finalise the Indonesia and Australia Economic Partnership - our free trade agreement, if you like - by the end of the year. As you saw, the weekend before last, we made some very good progress on that - with Indonesia lowering the tariff on sugar, for Australian sugar, so that it is now the same as other ASEAN countries, the same as Thailand, for example.
Equally, what we’ve also done is arranged to improve the access of Australian live cattle exports. So it will increase the weight, the age and the term of the permits, so that will enable more access to the Indonesian market for our beef industry.
These are all very important measures.
In addition, as you know, I’ll be remembering, 10 years ago the tragic Garuda Air accident in Yogyakarta in which five Australians, including DFAT officials, a journalist, AFP officers, were killed. We will lay a wreath at the embassy there.
Of course, tomorrow is the third anniversary of the MH370 disaster, so I hope, I look forward, to being able to reflect on that with Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia while he is here - where so many of our country men and women perished.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Turnbull, can I ask you will you speak to the President here about Donald Trump's revision of his travel ban, the reinstatement of that? What do you think a nation like Indonesia would think of such a ban, given it is a majority Muslim country?
PRIME MINISTER:
This is the largest majority Muslim country and President Widodo, as he often says, and as I often quote him as saying: ‘Indonesia is proof that Islam, democracy and moderation are compatible.’ He is the leader of a vast democracy. A quarter of a billion Muslims live in Indonesia. It is a nation where democracy, Islam - as the religion of the majority of its people - and moderation and tolerance and mutual respect operate hand in hand. It is a great example to the world.
It is very important to remember, too, that this has big implications in Australia. We are the most successful multicultural society in the world. That success with people from every religion, every country, every cultural background, that success is built on a foundation of mutual respect. It’s critical that we maintain that, because that is why we have been so successful as a multicultural society.
JOURNALIST:
Pauline Hanson said, has suggested that it is impossible to tell good Muslims from bad Muslims [inaudible]? What do you say? Do you agree with that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I reject those sentiments entirely. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Muslims in Australia are utterly appalled by extremism, by violent extremism, by terrorism.
We have to remember that the vast majority of the victims of ISIL or Daesh are Muslims. The practice of Islam - Islam is practiced by about a quarter of the world's population and in this country we see, a country with whom we are building closer ties, we see that democracy, Islam and moderation, tolerance, are compatible. The vast majority of Australian Muslims are patriotic, hard-working, seeking to get ahead, committed to peacefully living in Australia and abiding by our laws.
I might say, that in the war against terror, and it a is war that we are waging in the Middle East and around the world, in that war against its Islamist terrorism, extremism, our best allies, our most important allies, are Muslim leaders like Joko Widodo, the millions and billions of Muslims who are thoroughly committed to peace that take, as President Widodo would say or Prime Minister Najib of Malaysia would say, a path of moderation and tolerance.
JOURNALIST:
Your Finance Minister has helped strike a preference deal with One Nation in Western Australia. Given what Pauline Hanson has said about this, is that appropriate?
PRIME MINISTER:
In Australia, where you have compulsory preferential system you have to allocate preferences to every candidate on the ballot paper and preference arrangements are struck in the interests of the relevant parties. So everything that the Liberal Party's division in WA is doing is designed to encourage people to vote for the Liberal Party.
I might just say on that point, I have made myself very clear, I trust, on the matter of religious mutual respect for people of different religions and Islam in particular. I just want to make another point about that as well. It is a very important one. We’re here signing a declaration about countering violent extremism and tackling terrorism. One of the arguments that those who seek to do us harm make - this is the terrorists - they say that that there is no place for Muslims in Australia. That is how they seek to radicalise and mislead young Muslim Australians. We are tackling that right at the heart of it with strong deradicalisation programs working with Muslim communities.
So what we must do, what I must do as a leader, and what all leaders should do in Australia, is emphasise our inclusivity. The fact that we are a multicultural society, where all cultures, all faiths are respected and that is mutual. So, trying to demonise all Muslims is only confirming the lying, dangerous message of the terrorists. It’s very important.
JOURNALIST:
Why would your party then put a party that does that very thing, why would your party preference a party that does that very thing ahead of your own Coalition party?
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I say to you that those preference arrangements – I said are an inevitable consequence of having compulsory preferential voting and they are always taken in the interest of the Liberal Party.
I should also add that I have made it very clear earlier in the last few days that vaccination is vitally important and I say again that parents who choose not to vaccinate their children are putting their own children's health at risk and the health of everybody else's children at risk, too.
JOURNALIST:
Just back on the Muslim issue, Prime Minister. The Iraq Ambassador has warned today that there would be ‘sleeping colonies’ of potential terrorists in Sydney and Melbourne. What do you make of those comments?
PRIME MINISTER:
We take our counter-terrorism activities extremely seriously, as you know. We have amended our laws on a number of occasions to give our law enforcement agencies stronger tools to deal with terrorism under my own Prime Ministership.
For example, we have changed the laws, in agreement with the States, so that people who serve terms of imprisonment for terrorism offences can be at the end of their sentence kept in jail if a court concludes they are still a threat to society. This post-sentence detention is a very big change.
We also have given our Australian Defence Forces the ability to target terrorists in the field, who are not engaged in, actually engaged in combat, i.e. holding a gun or a bomb, but are involved in logistics or planning or financing. So we have given them - within the international laws of war - we have given them the ability to target more terrorists more comprehensively in the field. So right across the board, we are giving our agencies the tools to do that.
In the last four years we have seen 62 arrests, we have seen 12 plots disrupted. There have been 4 terrorist incidents, attacks, if you like, that have been dealt with. But we are absolutely vigilant in this matter and it is a war on many fronts. It is a military war, if you like in the Middle East. It is a national, a policing and intelligence and security war at home and around the world, but it is also a psychological war and that is why it is very important, very important to support leaders, whether it is in the community at home, or whether it is leaders internationally like Joko Widodo, who emphasise that Islam, democracy and moderation are compatible.
JOURNALIST:
On joint patrols in the South China Sea, can you please clarify has Indonesia or any Minister in the Indonesian Government ever raised the prospect with the Australian Government of joint patrols in the South China Sea?
PRIME MINISTER:
Our commitment is to increase our cooperation with each other in terms of maritime security. So we talk about more collaboration, more coordination, but I can’t take it - it has not been taken any further than that.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Turnbull, when I spoke to Mr Widodo before he came to Australia, I asked him directly whether he thought there was a possibility of joint patrols with Australia in the future. He said he thought that was very important as long as there was no tension and he intended to raise that issue with you. Did he raise the issue?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I am not going to go into the discussions with the President -
JOURNALIST:
I don't need you to go into detail, just did he raise it with you?
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you. The discussions that we have had, and I am being very careful about this - firstly, we are not going to undertake any actions which would increase tensions in the South China Sea. Everyone has a vested interest in reducing that. And we are certainly determined and have agreed to work more closely together, but that is the limit of what I can say and that is the limit of any discussions. It is a question of further coordination, cooperation in terms of maritime security, as referred to, not least in the IORA Concord today. Maritime security and the support of the blue economy, as President Widodo often describes it, is very important. I'll just have to take one more and then I have to go.
JOURNALIST:
Will President Trump's revised Executive Order have any implications for our refugee resettlement deal with the US?
PRIME MINISTER:
No. The answer is no. The President has agreed to honour, continue with the arrangement entered into with his predecessor.
JOURNALIST:
There are reports today that the Liberal Party has established a US-style homeland security department [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
I am not going to comment on that sort of administrative - speculation about administrative arrangements. On that note, I must leave you all. Thank you.
[ENDS]