E&OE
6 November 2008
Interview - ABC 720 Perth
Subject: US Presidential election, China, Bali bombers
GEOFF HUTCHISON: One word that was constantly spoken about yesterday was the word change. And it will mean different things to many different people. Stephen Smith is Australia's Foreign Minister. Good morning to you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Good morning Geoff. How are you?
HUTCHISON: What does change mean to you in the context of this result from yesterday?
SMITH: Well I think this is deeply historically significant, the election of a first African-American President, the first black American President.
The election of any Government, whether it's Australia, the United States, anywhere in the world, does bring with it a sense of opportunity for a fresh start or a fresh approach or a changed attitude to difficult problems. And I think that's been magnified by the historical significance of it. And I think your anecdotal story about the kids in the class room yesterday, I think that's across the nation and across the world.
HUTCHISON: Do you think it's a day where people leave cynicism behind for a moment, and believe in notions of hope?
SMITH: Well I do. And I certainly think that yesterday, you saw a terrific acceptance speech by President-elect Obama, but also a terrific concession speech by Senator McCain. And they were both very uplifting, and they're both well worth watching from cover to cover.
I thought Senator McCain, for example, covered himself with great glory and courage and dignity. But with Obama it is uplifting and hope with an attitude that we might be able to address internationally some of the intractable problems which have bedevilled us for a period of time.
HUTCHISON: So how might the Australian Government define the possibilities that comes with this change?
SMITH: Well there are two things firstly, which we will press upon the new Administration. And it will be an open door. So we're not worried in any way. One is the ongoing importance of the Alliance. It's served both countries well, and it transcends Governments and Administrations - Labor or Liberal here, Democrat or Republican there.
And once you have the bedding down period where I get to know my new counterpart, and the Defence Minister gets to know his new counterpart, and the Prime Minister meets the President, once you have that bedding down, it'll be business as usual.
Secondly, I think it's very important that we impress upon the new Administration, and again, this will, it will be an open door, the absolute importance of United States engagement in the Asia Pacific in our region.
This is the century of the Asia Pacific, the rise of China, the rise of India, and the rise of the ASEAN economies, and the ongoing act of engagement with the United States is very important to the region, and very important internationally.
Yesterday, for example, we had Mr Zhou, a very senior member of the Chinese Communist Party on the Standing Committee of the Politburo. And over lunch I spoke to him about the importance of a positive engagement between the US and China. Of course, he agrees with that.
So active engagement in our region is…
HUTCHISON: And you're keen on that role. I certainly know the Prime Minister is keen for Australia to play some kind of middle man role?
SMITH: Well not so much. Great powers don't need a middle-sized power to open the door. But…
HUTCHISON: Yes. If you live down the street…
SMITH: We live in the region. And generally, if you like, the foreign policy elite of the United States, for a long period of time have essentially regarded Australia as having a very good contribution to make in south-east Asia, and more recently in China.
So yes. The point we make is we, of course, have a very strong Alliance with the United States. We have a good partnership, a very good partnership with Japan. We have a good economic relationship and strategic dialogue with China. And so it's important that Australia has good relations with those significant powers. But it's in some respects even more important that those significant powers have good relations, one to the other.
So China having a good relation with the United States and with Japan and visa versa, these are very important things, and we press this issue upon all of those great powers.
HUTCHISON: You met this Chinese delegation with Colin Barnett who'll be in the studio after nine o'clock this morning. What did they tell you about their own economic situation. Did you leave those talks thinking, you know, there is some insulation, genuine insulation here?
SMITH: Well Colin and I had separate meetings with him. And then we both hosted lunch. And in my formal bilateral with Mr Zhou, we spoke about the global financial crisis, and China and Australia both agreed that the G20 is the international institution to deal with that. And the Prime Minister and I suspect the Treasurer will be off to Washington on 15 November for that.
So we agreed that that's the best approach.
They're quite open about the fact. They think that Chinese economic growth will fall a bit. They've currently been in the 10s, as we have been in Western Australia.
So they think they'll go to 9. So they'll drop a point or two. So they'll still have significant positive economic growth. That's of course an unambiguously good thing for Australia and particularly for Western Australia, because the Chinese economic relationship started with the Western Australia minerals and petroleum resources industry.
So they think they'll continue to have positive economic growth and as Wayne Swan, the Treasurer, made clear here, we think we’ll continue to have positive economic growth. Albeit lower than we previously expected.
But the whole world now is being buffeted by the adverse consequences of the financial change, and the adverse consequences are much worse than we were expecting three or four weeks ago.
HUTCHISON: At 20 minutes to nine, my guest is the Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. Mr Smith, I'll just get you to stay with us for a moment. This morning we're talking about the power of words, of hope, and notions of change, and as world leaders line up to express their congratulations and seek to befriend the President-elect, others I guess have a deeper reason for pleasure and affirmation.
***Break in interview for discussion with Hilary Shelton from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People***
Stephen Smith, you can hear the expectation.
Just briefly to matters of foreign policy, do you think Afghanistan becomes a key international area now, that, that we might get an announcement from the United States perhaps about an unwillingness to stay there, in the kind of role that they have at the moment?
SMITH: Well, no, on the contrary. I think when President-elect Obama takes over on 20 January he will do what he said he will do in the course of the election campaign, which is an enhanced commitment to Afghanistan.
I think, there are three aspects to that enhanced commitment that we strongly agree with. It's not just, and can't just be a military contribution or a peace and security contribution. There's also got to be a significant contribution to try and build the capacity of the Afghan Government and the Afghan people to manage their own affairs.
So there's got to be a civilian capacity building contribution to build the capacity of their police force, their legal and justice system, their education and health systems. So, to give them the capacity of managing their own affairs.
And thirdly, the Karzai Government, or the Afghanistan Government, has to sit down with other political players in Afghanistan and come to a political compact, a political settlement.
This is not a problem or an issue that can be resolved by use of force alone. And I think that's certainly Australia's view. It's the emerging international community view, and that's certainly the view expressed by Senator Obama in the course of the election campaign.
HUTCHISON: And finally to the great watch and wait issue here - the families of those who lost their lives in Bali in 2002 are watching and waiting for news of the execution of those murderers.
And I spoke to one of them yesterday who told me, every day these people appear on television, every time they make announcements through the media, every time they're seen smiling and laughing, they add to what this father called the unrelenting torture of the memory.
Is it fair that these families have to endure this?
SMITH: Well, and that's precisely the reason Geoff why I don't get involved in a running commentary.
You know and we know what the Indonesian authorities have told us, which is some time in early November the executions will take place.
I think it is terrible for the families that day in day out there's some alleged new aspect of it unfolding.
We simply wait until the executions take place and then I'll obviously respond on behalf of the Government.
HUTCHISON: You can't say to the Indonesian Government, do what you do, do it privately, but please do it quickly?
SMITH: Well, it's a matter for the Indonesian authorities. We've made that clear from day one. We continue to urge Australians to pay careful attention to our travel advisory. We are worried about the prospects or the potential of reprisals. And you would have seen that Indonesian authorities have taken additional precautions in Indonesia, and that includes around our missions in Jakarta and in Bali, and we've taken what we regard as all the necessary precautions as well.
So people should contemplate their travel to Indonesia and Bali, and where we expect that, you know, in the not too distant future this matter will be dealt with by the Indonesian authorities.
But every time I see a reference to it, it's just further agony for the families, and I think that's terrible.
HUTCHISON: The same father can't reconcile the fact that there's never been what, a judicial inquiry into the events that led up to the bombing - an independent assessment of how it came to happen, and the government policy that he thinks inflamed the situation.
Is this a debate that still needs to be had? Certainly in the United Kingdom, after their bombings in London, there was a judicial inquiry. I think the best we've got has been a Senate Inquiry.
SMITH: Well, there's been from memory, a Senate Inquiry here, but, in terms of both these bombings they occurred on Indonesian soil, so, again, it's a matter for the Indonesian authorities.
I think the truth is that, since the first bombing occurred in October 2002, the Indonesians have been very, very effective at countering extremism and terrorism. They've worked very closely with us at every agency level, and don't hold me to the precise detail, but, but since the first bombing they have arrested over 420 terrorist suspects; they have successfully brought to trial and, and sentenced over 200 of those.
HUTCHISON: I think his interest in the inquiries is much about the Australian Government's relationship with Indonesia, in the years that led up to those events.
SMITH: Well, if I start from the present, our relationship with Indonesia has never been better. And, whilst it's true to say that the relationship between Australia and Indonesia had its moments and was rocky from time to time under the previous Government; we inherited from the previous Government a relationship with Indonesia in first-class order.
It's gone to an even better level since then. We work very well with the President. I work very well with Foreign Minister Wirajuda. More importantly, in some respects, our agencies on the ground, in a whole range of areas - counter-terrorism, police, disruption of people smuggling - work very closely together, and, Indonesia of course is our closest neighbour; a country of 250 million people. That relationship is very, is very important. And, we're very, very happy with the current relationship that we have.
HUTCHISON: Thank you for coming in this morning.
SMITH: Thanks Geoff. Thank you.
HUTCHISON: Stephen Smith is Australia's Foreign Minister.
[Ends]
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