E&OE

5 February 2008

Interview with ABC Radio Pacific Beat Program

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

DUNCAN KERR: I think they [relations] will be marked by change, but the change will be more significant in some parts of the Pacific other than the countries that we are visiting thus far. In both Tonga and Samoa, there have been recently robust relationships between Australia and those Pacific Island countries. It’s not to say that we can’t build and strengthen and improve those relationships. There are issues that have been raised with us while we have been here, that obviously are at the forefront of the minds of governments and ministers. But, there’s no doubt we’ve had very troubled relationships with say, the Solomon Islands, and the opportunity for a new government in both countries to start a clean page is pretty obvious.

So, I think there will be change, but there’ll also be continuity and I think the big change will be tonality. We’re committed to partnership; we recognise that sovereign states have an entitlement to their own views. We will not always agree, but I reckon we will agree much more than we disagree. In the areas where we agree, we can work in partnership and in a constructive way to identify priorities, to make sure that any assistance that Australia provides is coordinated and most effective and doesn’t overlap with other donors. Where we disagree, we can try to make sure our disagreements are marked with respect, rather than by shouting at each other.

JOURNALIST: You’re the new Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Did you know much about the Pacific before getting this job? What are your first impressions now, having gone up there to Samoa, Tonga and about to go to Kiribati?

DUNCAN KERR: Well, I know a considerable amount about some Pacific Island countries. I lived and worked in Papua New Guinea for three years. I was Dean at the law school at UPNG and I have personal friendships and acquaintances with a lot of people still in Papua New Guinea. For example, I have a first hand knowledge, very amicable relationship with Prime Minister Somare in the past. So, you know, there’s a good starting point there.

I’ve visited a number of countries. I’ve been to Samoa as a member of a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association delegation some time ago. It’s my first time in Tonga. But anybody I think with this job is not going to know everything and it’s important to be a bit modest about what you know, to make sure that you are open to the ideas of Pacific Island countries, after all they are the governments of independent states and they are entitled to that respect.

And Bob McMullan, who I’m travelling with, the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance will be working very closely with me. His brief of course, is much wider than just the Pacific, but we’ve lifted the Pacific up Australia’s priority list. It’s very much front and centre of our concern. Our regional relationships are very important to us, and in our dealings, Bob McMullan and I’ll work together as far as is possible across all these Pacific Island issues. We’ll be working with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and with the Prime Minister, who of course, has already made very large steps in showing his commitments to region, meeting Prime Minister Somare in Bali with the climate change negotiations and putting behind us some of the tensions that have been in that previous relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea, and then more recently, meeting Prime Minister Sikua of the Solomon Islands when he visited Australia.

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