E&OE
8 December 2008
Interview - Sky News Agenda
Subjects: Economic crisis; asylum seekers; Mumbai; climate change
COMPERE:Joining me now in Canberra is the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith. Minister, good morning.
STEPHEN SMITH: Good morning.
COMPERE: Just how much is riding on the hope that people do actually spend this money and not keep it, you know, hidden away for a rainy day?
SMITH: Well, we do encourage people to spend it and to spend it wisely. It's aimed, of course, at people who have been under financial pressure: pensioners, carers, families with kids, and so in the run-up to Christmas we are saying it is in the economy's interest for you to spend the money, we want to try and make sure there's domestic consumption to keep the economy positive, positive economic growth while we go through the difficulties of the global financial crisis. It's good for families who've been under pressure, it's good for pensioners who've been under pressure but it's good for the economy as well so we are saying to people, spend before Christmas and spend sensibly and wisely on things which will help your family and it'll be good for the Australian economy as well.
COMPERE: Well, how long do you think it will take for us to know whether or not there has been a significant boost to the economy and when might the Government start looking at whether or not a second package is necessary?
SMITH: We've made it clear that we will take whatever action we think is required to keep our economy strong and to offset the worst excesses of the global financial crisis. We've done a range of things already: the bank guarantee on deposits, this $10.4 billion package, local government infrastructure spending, looking at bringing forward our infrastructure arrangements, and we're also keeping our eye on all of the parameters that we have available to us.
The Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Finance, have all made it clear that whatever we need to do we will take that action to keep our economy strong, to make sure that we continue to have positive economic growth and to make sure, most importantly, that we continue to have jobs in the economy.
COMPERE: On a completely different matter, over the weekend yet another boatload of asylum-seekers were apprehended off the coast of WA. It's the sixth boat to arrive in the last two months. Have you spoken about the influx of illegal immigrants to your Indonesian counterpart and are you looking at any new initiatives to try and tackle the problem at the source?
SMITH: Well, I think your question is really right on the important point which is tackling the problem at source. We have been working very closely with the Indonesians but also with other countries, in south-east Asia, to try and address the problem at source.
There are two things here, I think. There's the so-called push factors, which is what's occurring in countries around us which cause difficulty and see people pushed away and wanting to come to safe countries like Australia. Secondly, there's of course our border protection and the Minister for Home Affairs, Bob Debus, has made it clear over the weekend that we've got a substantial surveillance activity and over the weekend we were again successful in picking up a boat before it entered Australian waters.
So we're working very hard with our Indonesian and other counterparts. That's very important to try and address the causes at source but we're also being very vigilant about our border protection, our surveillance and, of course, as part of the Prime Minister's national security statement we've made the point that Customs will now be expanded to include broader Customs and border protection, so we think that'll help as well.
COMPERE: But at the source what extra measures, practical measures can actually be taken? Have you considered…
SMITH: One of the things that we are finding is that there are seasonal reasons why we're seeing a number of boats come but we're also, we think, detecting greater sophistication by the people smugglers We're working very hard to combat that at every level, both the cooperation on the ground with other nations' agencies, whether that's intelligence, whether it's police, whether it's defence, so we're working very hard at that but also expanding our view, not just Indonesia but other countries in south-east Asia where we think we can get to the difficult countries at source.
We're looking now, in terms of where the push factors are coming from, not just some of the countries that have been there for some period of time, so far as Australia is concerned, like Iraq and Afghanistan but more recently Sri Lanka, where there are now very grave difficulties so far as conditions are concerned there.
It's a matter of using every armoury available to us. We are confident that the combination of measures we put in place will continue to protect Australia's border from incursions. But it's important to make a starting point, your starting point, which is really this is about the push factors, dealing with the problem at source. That requires ongoing cooperation with our neighbours.
COMPERE: Are you worried that the abolishment of the temporary protection visas and the dismantling of the Pacific Solution has sent a message that the Government's going to be soft on this?
SMITH: No, absolutely not. If you look at these most recent arrivals, when the Government made the change to the Temporary Protection Visa arrangements, a period of eight to nine months went by without any boats occurring or coming.
The boats are coming because of seasonal and push factors. We're absolutely confident, and I think the Opposition Immigration spokesperson has essentially agreed with this, we're absolutely confident that the continuation of Christmas Island, the continuation of the excisions means that we've got a good basis.
We opposed the so-called Pacific Solution. We never believed that was appropriate. But we believe the existence of Christmas Island…
COMPERE: It wasn't appropriate, but you do you think it might have been successful in terms of keeping these people away?
SMITH: No. If you look at the history when the Government introduced - the Howard Government, the previous Government - introduced the Temporary Protection Visas, we saw for a nearly two year period after that a considerable number of arrivals.
The TPVs in our view is not the issue in terms of the attractiveness of coming to Australia.
The TPVs we abolished because they caused considerable hardship for people who came here as refugees and were accepted as refugees.
It's really what, the so-called push factors that are the difficulty here, which is why we've got to recognise the difficult factors in countries like Afghanistan and Sri Lanka; but also working very closely with our neighbours, in particular Indonesia.
When we had, in the last half a dozen years a stemming of the number of boats arriving, that was almost exclusively a result of much better cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, not just Government to Government, but also the agencies on the ground. And that's what we're continuing to work very assiduously at.
COMPERE: Okay. Well today in Canberra Cabinet will put the finishing touches on the Emissions Trading Scheme.
In terms of cutting Australia's emissions would you be comfortable with a target range of between five and 15 per cent?
SMITH: Well I'm certainly not going to talk about what we may or may not be considering in Cabinet either today or in future; nor am I proposing to go into detail of what we might be looking at.
Suffice to say, we believe that addressing climate change is absolutely essential; ratification of the Kyoto Protocol was the first act of the Government. We continue to work very hard at our international discussions.
We continue to work very hard at our emissions trading system. And we believe this has to be not just an individual nation's solution, it has to be a global solution, which is why we're working very hard within the post-Bali forums, in the run up to Poznan, in the run up to Copenhagen, to encourage all of the international community to address climate change in a fundamental way.
COMPERE: Well just back to targets though - I don't expect you to let the cat out of the bag, but a Chinese Government climate advisor has now said that China wants Australia to adopt a target of at least 25 per cent.
How can we expect countries like China, like India, to act as well if we can't lead by example with deep emissions cuts?
SMITH: Well we believe we have been leading by example. Recall…
COMPERE: But without a firm target that does that.
SMITH: Well, in due course, at an appropriate time, those things will be announced by the Prime Minister and the Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.
It is of course absolutely essential that all of the international community - both the developed, developed economies and the developing economies - are involved and are making their contributions.
So in terms of China and India of course it's essential that they are involved making their contribution, just as it's important that Australia is making its contribution. Addressing dangerous climate change, working very hard to abate emissions, is something that's very central to the Government's priorities, and I'm sure when we announce the final detail of our position - whether it's emissions trading system or targets - they will show that we continue to be a country that is at the forefront of arguing for a comprehensive international community response to dangerous climate change.
COMPERE: But we do keep hearing just how important it is for these countries to work together on this to come up with the solution; but, in recent months, recent years, we've seen the Doha round of free trade talks collapse time and time again.
How can we be confident that, in Copenhagen next year, the world can agree on a post-Kyoto deal?
SMITH: Well, there are two things. Firstly, climate change is one example, in some respects the best example, but global financial crisis is another; illegal people movements, or people smuggling is another; trans-national crime; international terrorism; these are all modern day illustrations of the futility of a nation trying to act alone or go it alone.
All of these significant international problems and challenges require acting regionally and acting globally and internationally.
So, that's very much central to our, to our foreign policy approach.
But, so far as Doha is concerned for example, we continue to work very strongly on that, and make the case as part of the post global financial crisis policy approach that we do need to try and get a good outcome out of Doha.
So we, by no means have we given up on that. On the contrary, Simon Crean continues to work very assiduously on that front.
COMPERE: Just on another issue, I understand you've spoken with Pakistan's Foreign Minister over the weekend; of course we're a couple of weeks on now from the Mumbai terror attacks - are we any clearer on who's to blame? Is India's suspicions of Pakistan justified?
SMITH: Well I spoke to Indian External Affairs Minister Mukherjee in the immediate aftermath of the attack, to express condolences. Over the weekend I spoke to Foreign Minister Qureshi from Pakistan, and that was really to make the point that Australia sees it as very important that India and Pakistan cooperate in this matter.
I welcomed the Pakistani comments that they would cooperate with the Indians.
I made the point that, not just India, but the international community was looking to see results and outcomes.
I think the analysis is continuing to point to a terrorist organisation originally linked to the Kashmir difficulty and the group known as the LeT as being responsible but my attitude to these things is always to proceed with caution and wait until we've got the exhaustive assessments.
But, my purpose of the phone call to Pakistan Minister Qureshi, as it was to the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah, who I also rang late on Friday, was to say, it's very important that tensions between India and Pakistan don't overtake this issue.
Both India and Pakistan have been the victims of extremist or terrorist attacks this year.
The issue is not India versus Pakistan. The issue is terrorists against the international community, including India and Pakistan.
COMPERE: Well just finally, we are running out of time, but the family of an Australian man who's been imprisoned in Thailand for nearly six months now has hit out at the government for not doing enough.
Harry Nicolaides is accused of insulting the country's royal family in a book that he's written.
What is the Government doing to try to secure his freedom?
SMITH: Well, it's a difficult consular case. He's been charged with an offence of insulting the King or the Monarchy in Thailand. It's a serious offence under Thai law.
He's been refused bail on four separate occasions; which we of course regret, but, it's not possible for the Australian Government to seek to interfere in the judicial or legal processes of another country.
If the Australian Government sought to interfere in the bail application in a matter before Australian courts, we would be correctly criticised.
So it's not possible for us to interfere in those judicial processes.
Meanwhile, our officials, from our Ambassador down, in Thailand have been making representations on his behalf. At last count it was over 30 representations to Thai officials; and he has been visited or seen, or representations made to the jail where he's being held, on over 50 occasions.
So we are treating this very seriously. I understand the family's frustration, but it's not simply possible for Australia to interfere in the judicial processes of another country.
We're giving Harry Nicolaides every assistance that we can with regular visits to him in jail and making representations. But it is another illustration of when you go to another country, if you fall foul of their judicial legal processes there are limits to what Australia can do on your behalf.
We're doing everything to try and make a very difficult situation as good as it can be for Harry Nicolaides and his family.
COMPERE: Stephen Smith, thank you for your time.
SMITH: Thank you.
[Ends]
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