Speech Notes for a reception hosted by His Excellency President Anote Tong, President of the Republic of Kiribati
Your Excellency President Anote Tong and Madame Meme Tong
The Honourable Speaker
Your Honour the Chief Justice
Honourable Ministers and spouses
Members of Parliament and spouses
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Secretaries and government officials and spouses
Ladies and Gentlemen
Kam na Bane ni Mauri
Thank you Mr President for your kind hospitality this evening. I particularly enjoyed the display of singing and dancing by the very talented troupe you have presented in our honour and I thank them for their performance.
Mr President, I am delighted to visit Kiribati on my first tour of the Pacific as Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, together with my colleague, the Hon Bob McMullan, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance.
As I mentioned during our meeting earlier today our visit is an indication that the new Australian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is committed to a fresh policy approach to the region based on constructive and mutually respectful relations with our Pacific neighbours.
Australia is a longstanding partner of Kiribati having established diplomatic relations shortly after your country became independent in July 1979 and having maintained a resident High Commission since 1984.
We work together in many areas at the international, regional and bilateral level. We share membership of the Pacific Islands Forum, the United Nations and the Commonwealth and our ministers and officials meet frequently at international and regional meetings on a multiplicity of topics that engage our mutual interest.
We are appreciative of Kiribati’s strong support of, and participation in, the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). It is important to note that the underpinning of RAMSI is the Biketawa Declaration signed by Pacific Island Forum Leaders at their annual meeting held in Kiribati in 2000. One of RAMSI’s key strengths is its regional character and the contributions of all Pacific Island Forum member states are crucial to its success.
Today we met your Police Commissioner and learned more about Kiribati’s active engagement with Australia’s Pacific Regional Policing Initiative. I congratulate the Commissioner for his innovative leadership in strengthening the Kiribati Police Service and launching an effective community policing program. Let me note particularly the positive steps taken to promote the participation of women in your police service.
Mr President we share your concerns about threats to our region from transnational crime and welcome Forum Leaders’ direction to national and regional organisations to strengthen the collection and exchange of law enforcement information. The Pacific Transnational Crime Network and the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre are Australian initiatives that support Pacific law enforcement agencies in this important area.
Complementary support comes from the Anti-Money Laundering Assistance Team in our Attorney-General’s department and I’m pleased to note that in Kiribati AMLAT is supporting the establishment of your Financial Intelligence Unit.
We know that your country faces many challenges. Your geography makes the delivery of government services to your population both difficult and expensive. Your narrow resource base limits opportunities for economic growth. Revenues are vulnerable to exchange rate volatility affecting both the growth of the reserve fund and income from fishing licences, and rising oil prices can have a devastating effect.
Illegal fishing and overfishing in your large EEZ also pose a serious threat, especially given that fish are your country’s major resource, contributing 64.3% of GDP. Last year Forum Leaders recognised the importance of fish stocks to the region in the Vava’u Declaration on Pacific Fisheries Resources.
Australia is a strong supporter of practical action to stop the potential collapse of fish stocks in the Pacific through ongoing support of the Vava’u Declaration and negotiations under FFA aegis of new “Niue Plus” regional and international legal arrangements covering fisheries enforcement.
My congratulations to your government on the establishment of the Phoenix Islands Marine Protected Area and in 2006 and I note that just last week your Minister for the Environment announced expansion of its boundaries making it the largest marine protected area in the world. This is an important contribution to the conservation of biodiversity with ancillary benefits for the protection of fish stocks.
And we are pleased that your Australian-gifted patrol boat is currently undergoing the Life Extension Program that will see it providing fisheries surveillance in your waters for at least another 15 years.
Mr President I mentioned the many challenges facing your government. I should also note that you have outlined an ambitious program of reform and I encourage you and your ministers and officials in this important work. As a major donor to Kiribati, Australia will continue to support your reform agenda.
I am aware that tax reform is a major priority for your government and it is also, of course, important for the upcoming regional trade policy agenda, including the PACER Plus trade negotiations. Australia is mindful of the challenges facing Forum Island Countries in managing the transition to alternative revenue-raising methods and of the scope for donors to assist with this process. Donors can also help with building capacity to support trade policy development and negotiation.
We are also aware that together with its Pacific Island neighbours Kiribati has a keen interest in labour mobility and I note here Mr President that your primary focus is on the development of skilled labour mobility opportunities. This will be an important area for discussion in the PACER Plus framework.
We also acknowledge that climate change and sea level rise are a major concern for your country, consisting - as it largely does - of low-lying atolls. My government’s commitment to global efforts to address climate change is evidenced by Prime Minister Rudd’s early action to sign the Kyoto Protocol and to appoint a Minister for Climate Change and Water.
Mr President Australia is committed to strengthening the partnership between Australia and Kiribati and to identifying new opportunities to further advance the interests of your country both domestically and internationally. We look forward to working with you and your government to address the challenges ahead with a view to making strides in the many areas of mutual interest. The new Rudd government looks forward to building relations with our Pacific neighbours through increased engagement and the forging of stronger links.
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