E&OE

1 February 2008

Interview on ABC Radio Australia

Subject: Pacific relations, upcoming travel to Samoa, Tonga and Kiribati

INTRODUCTION: Two senior members of the Australian government are heading for talks with the leaders of Tonga, Samoa and Kiribati. The Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Islands Affairs, Duncan Kerr, and Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance, Bob McMullan, arrive in the region this morning. They say they hope the meetings will be the start of bilateral relationships that reflect a new Australian approach to the Pacific.

DUNCAN KERR We'll be certainly trying to reinforce the message that the Prime Minister has set out from day one, that we want to strengthen the partnership arrangements between Australia and our Pacific Island neighbours. Of course, that was initiated and given flesh by Kevin Rudd's own meeting with Prime Minister Somare and, of course, with Prime Minister Sikua of the Solomon Islands. But it's quite obvious that the relationship will need a lot of face-to-face contact and this will be the first face-to-face contact in the region that Bob McMullan and I have been able to undertake with the three countries we are visiting.

JOANNA MCCARTHY: And what kind of concrete outcomes do you hope you'll come away with?

KERR: Well firstly, to make it very plain that we are committed to a fresh approach to the region. We want to strengthen Australia's engagement, to build constructive relations. We have good relations with Samoa and Tonga and Kiribati, but there are a number of very specific things that we will be undertaking. For example, in Samoa, we'll be opening the six-point-three million dollar Samoa police headquarters that AusAID has been involved in and strengthening the capacity of Samoan police force. In Tonga, we'll be working to stress the strong relationship that we hope to continue, rebuilding business recovery in Tonga through a business recovery fund after the riots that happened there, making plain that we support the process of political reform underway in Tonga. And, of course, in Kiribati, Australia is strongly supportive of the Kiribati Government's reform agenda, and we'll be providing ongoing assistance in the surveillance of its large exclusive economic zone through defence cooperation programs and Pacific patrol boat program. So there's a whole range of initiatives that we'll be discussing. It won't be the end of the relationship, but it is a first opportunity to make certain that within a short time of the establishment of the new Rudd Labor Government, we move from the statements of principle, that we are committed to these new partnerships, to getting out to the region and making our presence known on the ground.

MCCARTHY: Well you mentioned a fresh approach to the relationship and the Lowe Institute's Jenny Hayward-Jones has said for too long Australia has treated Pacific states as aid clients rather than sovereign states. So how will your approach be different?

KERR: Well I think, I mean, the key thing is to recognise that Australia will have its own distinct national interest that it'll have to pursue from time to time, and to respect the fact that Pacific Island neighbours will not always agree entirely with every direction that we wish to take. But within that mutual respect there are so many areas where we can move in common, and we need to build those partnership arrangements and Kevin Rudd has made it very plain that we are seeking a partnership relationship that is one built on mutual respect and understanding of the sovereignty of the Pacific Island countries that we are dealing with, putting that very much at the forefront of our discussions, while at the same time making certain that we can be pretty robust in our disagreements.

MCCARTHY: No doubt some of the leaders will be lobbying you for the Pacific guest workers scheme, which the Rudd government has so far ruled out. Do you see the benefits of such a scheme in terms of the economic development of the region?

KERR: Well it's been one of those issues that Pacific Island countries have raised and there is a scheme that is now being trailed in New Zealand of, I think, five-thousand participants from the Pacific. There's a very robust assessment process to make certain that the people who are entering the scheme fully understand their responsibilities, and at the other end in New Zealand, that employers who draw down on the Pacific Island labour that is made available through the scheme also respect the wage rights and labour rights of those that participate. And it involves, for example, them having to collect people from the airport and to make certain that their accommodation is provided and the like. What we've said is that we'll be looking at any initiative in this area after examining the success of the New Zealand scheme, and there already is some work that is being undertaken by public and private bodies looking at that. And that's where we're placed at the moment.

Media inquiries: Mr Kerr's office - 02 6277 4991