E&OE
19 July 2008
Press Conference
Subjects: Visit of US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, Fiji, Peter Lloyd
STEPHEN SMITH: Well I'm very pleased to announce that Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will visit Perth on Thursday and Friday of next week - the 24th and 25th of July. This follows on from my invitation to her when we first met in Washington in January this year - to visit Perth - and I've very pleased that she's coming to out State, to our capital, and also to my electorate.
She's describing the visit as a hometown visit, and I'm very pleased about that. Very proud and pleased to be able to show her the delights of Perth, and also to point out to her the very substantial contribution that Perth and Western Australia has made to Australia's economic and social progress.
Her visit also reflects of course the importance of the alliance between Australia and the United States. The alliance has been an enduring aspect of the relationship between Australia and the United States for over 60 years. It remains the indispensable bedrock of our security, strategic, and defence arrangements.
And I'll also of course be making the point to her that the United States Australia alliance was forged by Prime Minister John Curtin, who was then the Member for Fremantle, and of course Prime Minister in the course of World War II.
So there are very many significant trappings of the relationship between Australia and the United States that we find in Perth.
Could I make some remarks about Peter Lloyd; the ABC journalist. I can confirm that yesterday at a private court hearing in the prison ward of Changi General Hospital, Mr Lloyd, was charged. He was formally charged with trafficking in a controlled drug, and formally charged with possession of a controlled drug.
Consular officials attended that private court hearing, and our officials continue to render consular advice to, and assistance, to Mr Lloyd, and to his family, and they are also in contact of course with Mr Lloyd's employer the ABC.
He's been formally charged with a breach of Section 5 (1)( a) of the Singapore Penal Code, which is trafficking in a controlled drug of approximately one gram. The penalty is imprisonment for a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years; and caning, a minimum of five strokes and a maximum of 15 strokes.
He's also been charged under section 8(a) of the Singapore Penal Code of possession of a controlled drug, which has an unspecified minimum, but a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, and or a fine of up to $20,000.
He's been offered bail, which will be a matter between him and the Singapore authorities. And his next scheduled court appearance is 25 July.
The hearing was of course a private court hearing in the hospital, because Mr Lloyd continues to suffer from an eye infection.
My advice from Singapore officials is that he continues to receive appropriate medical and other consular assistance.
And, as I indicated yesterday, I'll of course be travelling and visiting Singapore next week, and I will discuss first-hand with Australian officials Mr Lloyd's circumstances so as to ensure that all appropriate advice and assistance that can be rendered to him in these circumstances is occurring, and that also includes his family, and liaison with the ABC.
But to date we are absolutely satisfied that appropriate consular access has been given, and we are in a position to render him the necessary consular assistance.
Can I just make some remarks about Fiji.
I see overnight reports of Commodore Bainimarama indicating that he's not proposing to meet his faithful and unconditional commitment that he gave to Pacific Island leaders in Tonga in October 2007 that he would hold an election in Fiji before the end of March of next year.
As I said in Fiji during the week, by my observation and on the observation of the Ministerial Contact Group visiting Fiji, there's nothing that we saw or heard which would prevent the holding of an election before the end of March of next year, provided there was the necessary political will.
Commodore Bainimarama from time to time is reported as saying things in the media, but there is still eight to nine months to go, and there's no reason, subject to the political will of the interim Fijian Government, why such an election cannot be held.
In the course of the Ministerial Contact Group's discussion with the interim government, questions of electoral and constitutional reform were raised. But as we made clear in Fiji, there's no reasons, no reason why these issues should deflect or distract or delay the holding of an election. So we continue to urge the interim Fiji Government to meet the commitment that they gave.
The Ministerial Contact Group's report of course will be made to the Pacific Island Leaders Forum in Niue in August of this year.
Finally, before I start into your questions, I notice that Mr Vaile has announced his intention to retire from the parliament. He's made a substantial contribution to his side of politics and to Australian public life, so I certainly wish him well for the future.
But there is one point that I think needs to be made. Mr Nelson really does have to stop the by-election farce that we're seeing. We've seen Mr McGauran retire. We've seen Mr Downer retire. We've seen Mr Vaile announce his retirement, and there's the suggestions that Mr Costello, Mr Ruddock, Mr Andrews are all contemplating their own retirement.
It's time for Mr Nelson to ensure that the drip by drip by-election series stops, and that anyone who's proposing to resign or retire from the parliament does so now so that these by-elections can be held on the same day.
The constant series of by-elections of course is a drain on taxpayers money, and a waste of taxpayers money. Mr Nelson really does need to hold his members to account.
Of course, someone who's made a contribution, like Mr Vaile, like Mr Downer, entirely appropriate for them to contemplate a retirement from the parliament. In Mr Downer's case of course, Mr Rudd and I are very supportive, both behind the scenes and publicly, of his appointment as a UN Special Envoy to Cyprus.
But this series of by-elections just has to stop, and Mr Nelson really does need to hold his members to account.
I'm happy to respond to your questions on these and other issues.
QUESTION: Just talking about Peter Lloyd; can you tell me [indistinct] details on his bail, and whether he will be able to meet it [indistinct].
SMITH: Well, I certainly don't know whether he's in a position to, to meet those bail requirements. And I'm not pretending to be familiar with all of the precise details of the bail arrangements.
My understanding is that the bail is 60,000 Singapore dollars, but with the requirement of a surety by a Singapore national. There may well be other requirements such as the surrendering of a passport and reporting to the relevant authorities.
But he has been offered bail. That would be a matter between him and the relevant Singapore judicial authorities. And his next scheduled court hearing, as I say, is for the 25th of July, and importantly, in the normal course of events, Australian consular officials are expecting to be able to attend that hearing.
QUESTION: Just in regards to a different matter - the US and Iraq have been doing(*) discussions to do with the possible time line for withdrawal of troops. Has Australia been involved in those at all? And, are you aware of what's being discussed?
SMITH: Well we're certainly aware of the conversation.
Firstly, the cause or the start of the conversation if you like is because the United Nations mandate in Iraq expires at the end of this year. So for some time the Iraqi Government and the United States Government have been in conversation about so-called Status of Forces Agreement which would see United States forces continue in, in Iraq for a period of time and under what, under what conditions.
So that Status of Forces Agreement or discussion is ongoing.
The United States has made it clear that it wants to continue to provide security arrangements in Iraq, but it's also made it clear that, that it's in conversation with the Iraqi Government about that, the length of the period(*), and the point of time at which the security matters can be taken over by the Iraqi administration.
So that's a direct conversation between the governments of Iraq and the United States administration. The conversation has been underway for some time, but given the United Nations mandate expires at the end of the year, Australia and other nations are expecting that an agreement between Iraq and the United States will be effected in the next few months.
QUESTION: And how much would that affect Australia's troop involvement in Iraq?
SMITH: Well we, as you know, we've withdrawn our overwatch battle group. That withdrawal is now complete. We do have other logistical arrangements in Iraq. We have of course expressed to the United States and to the Iraqi Government that we have an interest, a subsidiary(*) interest, for example, we still have defence personnel who provide security and protection to our consular officials in Baghdad.
So there are some implications for Australia, not in the combat, combat sense, because we have completed the withdrawal of the overwatch battle group, but there are some implications, both with the Iraq Government and the United States Government are aware of that, and we, which is why we're following their discussion with interest, because there are some implications for Australia.
We're not concerned about that, because both Iraq and the United States are aware of the issue for us, and there are of course comparable and similar issues for other nation states who continue to have personnel in Iraq.
QUESTION: Now, in relation to Fiji, has it come as a shock at all to the Australian Government that Commodore Bainimarama might be delaying an election?
SMITH: Well, it is a disappointment that as soon as the Ministerial Contact Group left Fiji, that he saw fit to make these remarks. So, there is that disappointment.
We made it clear in Fiji that we weren't proposing to go into the full detail of our conversations with Commodore Bainimarama or indeed other political players in Fiji, because our responsibility was to provide a report to the leaders in Niue in August.
So we are disappointed that he's seen [indistinct] to make these remarks, but I again make exactly the same point that I made in Fiji during the week - on our observation there's nothing standing in the way of the conduct of the holding of an election by the end of March next year, provided there is the political will.
And government ministers, interim ministers, Commodore Bainimarama from time to time, say things. In the end, the test will be their political will.
Commodore Bainimarama, as I understand, is proposing to attend the Pacific Island Leaders Forum in Niue. He will need to explain himself there. He will need to indicate to the Pacific Island Forum in Niue in August whether he's proposing to meet the unconditional and faithful commitment he gave those leaders in Tonga in October in 2007.
So there is plenty of time for these matters to be resolved. I don't regard his reported comments overnight as being in any way conclusive so far as the holding of an election is concerned.
QUESTION: And [indistinct] - just back to federal politics - the ALP is not going to [indistinct] contest the seat of Mayo. If there is a further series of people stepping down, is the ALP confident that they could pick up more seats?
SMITH: Oh well, part of the rationale by the Party General Secretary, Mr Gartrell, for recommending that we not conduct the Mayo by-election is it's not a seat that we've ever held.
So, judgements will be made by the party about contesting or not contesting by-elections as the case may be; if, for example we contested the by-election caused by the retirement of Mr McGauran; we're not proposing to contest the by-election caused by the retirement of Mr Downer. And Mr Gartrell and the Party will make a judgement about the by-election in Mr Vaile's seat.
I'm making two points. I think that people like Mr Downer and Mr Vaile, even though in the past we've had political disagreements with them, they've made substantial contributions to their side of politics and to the parliament, and to, and to the Australian Government.
And so I think they're perfectly entitled to make a judgement about whether their time has come.
But we've got make sure that we don't have an ongoing stream(*) and series of by-elections where taxpayers funds are wasted.
Mr Nelson needs to call his members to account. And if we are going to have more by-elections, let's make sure that we don't waste taxpayers money, and have them all on the same day.
QUESTION: There's a report in the paper this morning that Costello's numbers picking up potentially. Do you think that Peter Costello might be, might [indistinct] with the people who have stepped down?
SMITH: Well, Mr Costello should, should let the Australian public and parliament, and Mr Nelson, know what he's proposing to do. Is he proposing to hang around? Or is he proposing to cause a by-election? [Indistinct] proposing to cause a by-election he should make that clear now so that at least the by-election in his seat would coincide with the by-election in Mr Vaile's seat.
It's just not in the public interest, it's not in the taxpayers interest, for an ongoing series of by-elections. Mr Nelson needs to hold his members to account. If we are going to have by-elections, which individually may well be justified from a personal point of view, they should at least be held on the same day to save taxpayers the expense.
[Ends]
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