E&OE
2 November 2008
Interview - 9 Television Network 'Sunday'
Subjects: US Elections, Global Financial Crisis, Afghanistan, Congo, Bali Bombers and travel warnings
LAURIE OAKES: Morning, Michael. Minister, welcome to the program.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks, Laurie.
LAURIE OAKES: Americans will elect a new president on Tuesday. I assume you're being diplomatic and not telling us who you'd like to win?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, we have to do two things, Laurie: We have to respect the American democratic process, so we leave it to them. Secondly, even after the election on Tuesday, of course, the current Administration goes until 20 January. We have to continue to work with that Administration, as we have been doing, positively and constructively, so we'll deal with whoever the American people throw up. I don't say anything which reflects on either of the candidates or the campaigns or indeed reflects on the current Administration by any comparisons. We've been working very well with the United States and we expect that to continue.
LAURIE OAKES: Well can you tell us, who ever wins, what in the Australian Government's view should be the priorities of the new Administration?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, so far as Australia is concerned, the first priority will be to ensure that the Alliance, the Alliance between the United States and Australia continues in good shape and good order. We, of course, expect that to occur. That Alliance has served both Australia and the United States well and it transcends Labor and Liberal Governments here and Republican and Democrat Administrations in the United States. So it'll be a matter in the first instance of putting names to positions and names to faces and then getting on with the alliance. I think the second most important thing then, from Australia's perspective, is to continue to encourage the United States to be actively engaged in our region n the Asia-Pacific. That, I think, in the first instance is very important.
LAURIE OAKES: Well, when Senator Obama set out his foreign policy in an 8-page article in the Foreign Affairs magazine, Australia didn't rate a single mention. Does that concern you?
STEPHEN SMITH: No, because the focus of the election campaign has primarily been economic, and what we've discovered in the past ...
LAURIE OAKES: Yes, but if I can interrupt you there, Senator McCain's article contained something like half a dozen references to Australia, some of them very flattering.
STEPHEN SMITH: Senator McCain has got some personal history here with his family, the arrival of the Great White Fleet historically, so that's not surprising. But it doesn't concern me, either the reference or the number of references to Australia. We know that both candidates are very well aware of the strong alliance between Australia and the United States.
The point I was making is that the focus of the campaign has been economic rather than foreign policy, firstly, but secondly in the course of the period from November to January, that's when we start to see the Administration unfold. There'll be preliminary or informal contacts, so the number of references to Australia doesn’t concern me.
What we need to do is to make sure that once the administration is in place, we make those contacts and we put Australia's national interests view upper most, and as I've indicated, it will be the Alliance, engagement by the United States in the Asia-Pacific. And then when you look at what both candidates have said, it's quite clear, for example, that there'll be a greater emphasis, so far as the United States is concerned, on Afghanistan and Pakistan, and that is something that we will obviously welcome.
LAURIE OAKES: What about the global financial crisis? Would you expect the new President to roll up his sleeves and get involved in that from the election?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, that'll be a matter for the President elect, but more importantly a matter for President Bush and the current Administration. The convention or tradition has been that the President elect doesn't get involved, but we saw when the financial crisis hit us, that President Bush involved both candidates, incorporated both candidates in his consultations.
So it may well be that if we have the ongoing dealing of the financial crisis that President Bush incorporates, in his consultations, the President elect. That'll be a matter for the President. I again make the point, Australia, of course, it will have a couple of months more where we continuing working positively with the United States Administration. There hasn't been a convention or tradition of involving the President-elect, but where you have a crisis like the financial crisis then we may see that some consultation does occur.
LAURIE OAKES: Given the decisions made in the next few months, particularly the at the G20 Summit in a fortnight, given those decisions will bind the new President, wouldn't it be ridiculous if the incoming administration was not involved?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, as I said, Laurie, it'll be a matter for the Americans but we saw when the crisis hit both the United States and more generally, that President Bush did involve both candidates in his consultation. So it wouldn't be a surprise if that were to continue with the president-elect and his transition team.
LAURIE OAKES: Will Kevin Rudd be hoping to talk to the new President when he's in Washington for the G20 meeting?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, that's obviously a possibility. Certainly what would normally occur is that our Prime Minister would telephone to congratulate the winning candidate. Given that the G20 meeting is in Washington on the 15th, then there'll be some possibility or potential for further contact when the Prime Minister is in the United States. But the tradition really is that other than the initial congratulatory phone calls, one really waits until the new Administration has bedded itself down. In addition, of course, to not taking up formally in office until the 20 January next year, we then have the process where the important appointments by the President have to be endorsed by the Congress, my counterpart, the secretary of State, the Secretary of Defence, the trade representative - all these things have to be approved by Congress. So sometimes it can take a bit of time to bed down the Administration in its early stages.
LAURIE OAKES: But the Australian Government is clearly trying to influence the way the world deals with the global financial crisis. Now, the new President will be crucial in that, so surely it's very important that we get his ear early?
STEPHEN SMITH: That's absolutely right, and this may well be one of those occasions where there's a bit more contact and a bit more activity than the conventions to date have seen. When you are in the midst of some great global difficulties, where we're trying to encourage a global solution to a global problem and where we strongly argue that the G20 was the appropriate vehicle, we may find that there's much earlier and more frequent contact than has historically occurred. And as I say, it wouldn't surprise me if that does happen.
But certainly we want to hit the ground running, so far as our formal relationship or contact with the new Administration is concerned, and in terms of visiting the United States formally to pursue that, that'll occur in the first quarter or the early months of next year, rather than occurring at the end of this year. But the fact that the Prime Minister will be there in the middle of November does present that opportunity and I'm sure he'll try and take advantage of it.
LAURIE OAKES: Now, Rupert Murdoch has expressed concern about Senator Obama's protectionist policies, concern that if those policies are directed against China it could make the global financial crisis worse. Do you share that concern?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, Mr Murdoch's entitled to his view and I'm not going to reflect on his view or on any attribution to any of the candidates but suffice to say Australia has a very strong view that this is not the time to retreat to protectionism.
We worked very hard in the Doha Round to try to get a good outcome there. Simon Crean has been working very hard since then to try to breathe some life back into the talks. And when I was in Europe, in France, this week, meeting with Foreign Minister Kouchner and also European Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner, one of the points I made was that we do want Europe's support to try to breathe life back into the Doha Round. So we haven't given up on that, and we will urge that view not just upon the current Administration, but upon the President-elect and his team as well.
LAURIE OAKES: You said that Afghanistan had to be a priority of the new President. Can this be won militarily or would you hope that the new president of the US would get involved in discussions about some kind of political settlement in Afghanistan?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, Australia's view for some time which we've expressed originally at the Bucharest Conference which was about the military contribution and thenthe Afghan Donors Conference in Paris early this year, which I attended, has been that the commitment or the solution in Afghanistan has to be both finding peace and security through military enforcement, but also trying to build the Afghan Government's capacity to run its affairs by a civil contribution, a development assistance or civil capacity contribution. And that's been the approach that we've taken with 1100 troops in Uruzgan Province, but also a substantial civilian contribution or a civilian capacity building contribution.
It's also become clear in recent times, and we support this approach, that to get a solution here there does have to be some political settlement between the Afghanistan Government. Who it talks to, of course is a matter for it and obviously we don't want there to be any talks with al-Qaeda or with terrorists who pose a threat to us in an international sense. But a military contribution to get peace and security, a civil capacity building contribution and then a political settlement are all part of the emerging international view that that's the correct approach so far as Afghanistan is concerned. I'm confident that not only the current Administration, particularly now that General Pretraeus is in control so far as the command forces are concerned, but also the next US Administration will share that general approach. That's certainly the European approach and it's an approach which Australia very strongly supports.
LAURIE OAKES: Violence has erupted in the Congo. How bad is it? What sort of reports are you getting? And is Australia going to do anything, play any role-in-this?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, it's very bad. We are very worried. Of course, there's been difficulty there for a long time. There's an existing United Nations mission, a peacekeeping force of some 15,000. Australia's been making a financial contribution to the UN, about $10 to 15 million per year for that peace-keeping contribution.
It was raised which I was in Paris with Foreign Minister Kouchner, because he was particularly concerned. He's now speaking with British Foreign Secretary Milliband speaking to the Presidents, both of Congo and Rwanda.
So we are very concerned and I can indicate that so far as humanitarian assistance, because the humanitarian situation looks terrible, I can announce today that Australia will make an initial and minimum contribution of $1 million for humanitarian assistance and when we get a better idea from the UN and NGO assessments we'll consider whether a further contribution needs to be made.
We're not looking at any troop or peacekeeping contribution, thats already been taken care of by the UN and potentially by the Europeans, but we are very concerned about the humanitarian implications so we'll make that initial contribution today and then see whether a further contribution is both warranted and appropriate.
LAURIE OAKES: Can I ask you about the imminent execution of the Bali bombers? There've been threats made about revenge attacks. How concerned is the Australian Government about that? And are you taking any action?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, firstly, we treat the comments of the Bali bombers with nothing but contempt. Having said that, we are making sure that we advise Australians firstly to reconsider their need to travel to Indonesia.
Of course, what Australians do and where they travel is a matter for them to ultimately make the decision about. We also indicate to them that if they do travel to Bali and Indonesia, to keep away from sites which have obviously been terrorist sites in the past. We're taking all the usual precautions and you would have seen presumably that the Indonesian authorities are also taking additional precautions so far as security is concerned both in the case of sites in Bali and Indonesia, but also diplomatic sites as well. So we're taking all the precautions that we can, but we do urge Australians to reconsider their need travel to Bali and Indonesia at this time.
LAURIE OAKES: Well, on the subject or travel warnings, there are reports in today's newspapers of an Australian travel company that is planning to take a group of wealthy retirees for a luxury holiday in northern Iraq. Does the Australian Government frown on that?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, absolutely, Laurie. Again, of course, what Australians do is ultimately a matter for them, but there's a very difficult security and threat situation in Iraq. Our travel advisory for Iraq is quite clear. So we think the sensible thing to do on this occasion would be for that tour not to go ahead but ultimately Australians will make their own minds up, but we do urge them to bear our advice - take it into account when they make that decision, but in this instance here, Laurie, the sensible thing to occur in my view is for that tour not to go ahead.
LAURIE OAKES: Minister, we thank you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks very much, Laurie.
END
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