HOST: Prime Minister, good morning to you.
PM: Good morning.
HOST: Welcome to South Australia.
PM: Good to be back, I'm on my way to Murray Bridge at the moment.
HOST: And what are you going to do in Murray Bridge? We have very little information about that.
PM: At Murray Bridge, I'm speaking with a representative group of rural doctors. The Health Minister and myself around Australia at the moment consulting with health and hospital communities on long term reform of the system, and out for the next 25 years. So we're not just doing the major hospitals, so in the past I've kept up with a seminar of medicos at the Flinders Medical centre in Adelaide. Today it's actually going to talk to rural doctors who are dealing with a different set of challenges. That's what we're doing at Murray Bridge.
HOST: And will you be in South Australia for long?
PM: I'll be here today and tomorrow so I'm looking forward to catching up with a range of people while I'm here, and always good to be back in South Australia.
HOST: Prime Minister you've had to take what some people regard as an extraordinary measure of having a conversation with the Indonesian President to have a boat carrying 260 asylum seekers stopped by the Indonesian navy. How often will you be able to pull that card out of your hat?
PM: Well the thing I'd say is that as Prime Minister of the country I'm required to act in the national interest. What does that mean when it comes to illegal immigration? It means that because this is a global and regional problem- you've got violence in Afghanistan, violence in the Middle East. You've got recent civil war in Sri Lanka.
All countries around our region are facing these challenges. Therefore you've got to act collaboratively. I speak to the President of Indonesia on a regular basis, and recently I spoke to him about not just the problems of the earthquake in Sumatra and what we're doing to assist there, but about our continued collaboration on people smuggling in regard to the challenge for Indonesia. I regard it as a challenge for Indonesia and Australia, and we therefore are working very closely together on how to continue to lift our cooperative efforts to deal with the scourge of people smugglers, as they represent the vilest form of people on the planet.
HOST: Are you prepared to make that kind of phone call again?
PM: Well, as I said I speak to President Yudhoyono on a regular basis, but as I've said cooperation on people smuggling and all the other bilateral interests we've got with the Indonesians, we have a very close collaborative relationship.
HOST: Is that a yes?
PM: Well I'm just saying, as I said before, I spoke on the weekend about people smuggling. I've done that before, in previous weeks and months, and over the two years that I've been Prime Minister, and I'll continue to do so in the future. It's the right thing to do in the national interest, because we have huge push factors out there affecting so many countries in the region. We maintain an unapologetic tough line on border security, and a humane approach in dealing with people but at the same time that requires also very practical levels on coordination with the regional partners.
HOST: Prime Minister would you consider reintroducing temporary protection visas? Would you consider opening the Baxter detention centre again if need be?
PM: Well, on the first question you raised which is about TPVs. When the Howard government introduced these in 1999 what we saw in the two years subsequent to that was arrivals, unauthorised arrivals in Australia, go through the roof. Any argument which the Liberals now advocate that this somehow represented a magic solution for dealing with the problem of unauthorised arrivals in Australia is fundamentally undermined by the facts. The second thing that I'd say is, when we moved to abolish TPVs, temporary protection visas, in the Parliament, the Liberals did not vote against it.
They had every opportunity to do so. This is opportunistic politics, and as I said the measure itself does not stand up to scrutiny in terms of acting as a deterrent in terms of unauthorised arrivals. On the other point you raise, which is about where people should be appropriately processed we are using, obviously, Christmas Island, that has been constructed by the Howard Government after they introduced their measures back in 2001- obviously anticipating that there were going to be further arrivals down the track. It's a significant facility that's what we're primarily relying on dealing with our current challenges.
HOST: So would you consider reopening Baxter?
PM: We have no such plans whatsoever, and I was just speaking to the Immigration Minister about this at the community cabinet meeting in Hobart yesterday and we are dealing, as appropriate, through our reception facilities on Christmas Island and that's where our Navy is very active in interdicting vessels, bringing them to Christmas Island. Our Indonesian partners are very active as well, interdicting vessels. We've also succeeded in 81 separate disruptions in partnership with our Indonesian friends. We've also brought prosecutions relating to 48 individuals involved in the people smuggling business. This is the right way to go.
HOST: You were elected on an expectation of more humane treatment of asylum seekers. Where is the humanity in having Indonesia turn back a boat load of people?
PM: I said before that our approach to people smuggling, and our approach asylum seekers is tough, but humane. We maintain a hardline approach when it comes to people smuggling without apology.
HOST: So you think turning back a boat is humane?
PM: At the same time in dealing with those who need to be processed we will do so in a manner consistent with the provisions of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the procedures relevant to that. Furthermore, we've abolished the Pacific solution. We've abolished Temporary Protection visas and we have taken children from behind the razor wire. These are important measures that we said we would take prior to the last election and we've honoured each one of them.
HOST: Is it easier to do those things though when you haven't got a lot of people turning up on your shores? And there was a decline in the last few years leading up to the Federal election and there has been a decline in numbers. Now as the numbers start to grow again, will it be difficult for you to maintain that policy?
PM: We believe we've got the balance right. Tough measures on border security, investing significant additional resources as well coming out of the previous budget, but also a humane approach to processing. Can I say also, when you raised the question of numbers, let's just be very frank about this, we've had boats arriving in Australia each year for the last 20 years. In the period of the Howard government we had nearly 250 boats arrive with nearly 15,000 people.
In the two years I've been Prime Minister we've had about 38 boats arrive with about 1,800 people. Now, this has been a challenge for a long, long time. The key thing is to have a tough, hard-nosed approached to border security, dealing with the vile species who are represented by smugglers on the one hand, and a humane approach to our international obligations on the other. We believe we've got that balance right.
HOST: Prime Minster, safe travels in South Australia for the next day or so.
PM: I appreciate that very much.
HOST: And we appreciate you calling us.