E&OE
20 April 2009
Interview - AM program with Emma Griffiths
Subjects: Smith calls for patience with boat investigation
TONY EASTLEY: There's been
no official response to the information obtained by the ABC - that fuel
was spread on the deck of the boat and that the ignition of the explosion
was probably an accident.
The ABC also understands that before the incident the Federal Government
received advice from the Australian Federal Police - that Labor's policies
would lead to more boat arrivals.
The Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has been speaking with AM's Emma
Griffiths.
STEPHEN SMITH: Australian politicians, in the past, have got themselves
into very difficult waters by trying to pretend they know the cause
of things, when it hasn't been the subject of comprehensive and exhaustive
examination by the authorities responsible for making those inquiries.
Regrettably in this case, because there have been deaths, there will
effectively be a coronial inquiry.
It's a terrible thing that's occurred. People should simply, in my view,
patiently wait until the relevant authorities have done their exhaustive
investigations, and then we'll all have a much better idea as to what
has occurred.
That's a much better basis for proceeding than anonymous conversations
to journalists, or indeed, irresponsible, irresponsible comments by
members of Parliament like the Premier of Western Australia.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: Are you aware of any advice from the Australian Federal
Police, or any other agency, that the Labor Government's policies on
border protection and refugees could lead to a surge in arrivals?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I've said before publicly, I don't comment on intelligence
matters of this nature.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: Minister, the Prime Minister has promised a transparent
investigation. Information at the moment though seems to have dried
up from the Government. When will the Government share with the Australian
people what it knows about this?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I've made it crystal clear that the explosion on
the boat is the subject of formal inquiry by the relevant authorities
charged with this, which include coroners and police.
And we should simply let those processes be conducted prior to jumping
to conclusions or speculating as to the cause or motivation or the events.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: So information won't be coming from the Government,
it will be coming just from those particular authorities and through
a coronial investigation?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, the Government has made it clear that there was
an explosion on the boat - that is the subject of investigations. And
there are now processes in law which require, that is exhaustively examined
by police and coronial authorities. That is the best way of ascertaining
what has occurred in this matter.
EMMA GRIFFITHS: So people will have to rely on what the police say and
what the coroner says, and that could be weeks away before we get any
sort of result or solid information from them.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well that is a much better process than relying upon
speculation or anonymous views as to what people may or may not think.
I don't know what the cause is - nor do other people. We should simply
wait until the appropriate investigations have been effected and conducted...
EMMA GRIFFITHS: Are you also just trying to shut this down as a political
issue that could perhaps cause the Government some trouble?
STEPHEN SMITH: The key thing here is we know that we have a serious
issue to confront. Because of security and economic ravaging of particular
countries in our region - Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Afghanistan-Pakistan
border area - we know there are very grave risks of substantial people
movements. That's not a secret. That is something that the Minister
for Immigration and I and Minister Debus have made clear on any number
of occasions.
That is why we continue to have very strong border protection and border
control infrastructure in place, and why we're working very hard with
our neighbours to make sure we've got good regional coordination to
endeavour to stop the flows from occurring.
TONY EASTLEY: The Foreign Minister Stephen Smith speaking with Emma
Griffiths.
[Ends]
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