E&OE
23 January 2009
Press Conference - Perth
Subjects: South Korean Foreign Minister's visit, conversation with Hillary Clinton, US alliance, Guantanamo Bay closure, Chinese economic downturn, relationship with South Korea, North Korea.
SMITH: Well, thanks very much for turning up. I've been very pleased this morning to welcome to Australia, Foreign Minister Yu, the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea, of South Korea.
And we've just laid a wreath at the War Memorial. This reflects the start of the modern day relationship between Australia and South Korea, and Australia's contribution in the Korean War is very gratefully appreciated by Korea itself. And the wreath-laying reflects the importance of the Australian contribution in the Korean War in the 1950s.
Since that time, of course, we've established a very successful and strong modern-day relationship. It started, of course, with an economic relationship, particularly minerals resources from Western Australia; originally iron ore, but more recently iron ore, coal from other parts of Australia, crude oil, and we're now looking at the potential for greater exports of liquefied natural gas.
So it's a very important energy relationship.
Our economic relationship, our trade investment and economic relationship, of course, is much more than minerals and petroleum resources. It now crosses the array of goods and services.
It's also very important people-to-people contacts. We are the single third-largest destination for South Korean students and we have a very large number of Koreans, young Koreans who come here for work holiday purposes.
We've had a very productive exchange this morning, particularly talking about enhancing the very strong security, strategic and defence cooperation between Australia and South Korea.
We are, of course, both allies of the United States and that's a very important factor that we have in common.
In that context, can I indicate that this morning I was very pleased to speak by telephone to the new Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. I warmly congratulated her on her appointment and indicated my very strong personal desire to work closely with her into the future.
We spoke about the very warm and strong and abiding relationship between Australia and the United States, the enduring alliance that we have which remains an indispensable aspect of Australia's strategic, security and defence arrangements.
And we spoke in terms of which I've publicly stated: that both in Australia and in the United States administrations come and go, but the alliance goes on, it's enduring. But we both indicated our very strong attachment to the alliance and looking forward to furthering the strong relationships that we have under that alliance.
The major ministerial forum that we see for the alliance is the so-called AUSMIN meeting, which is a meeting between the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defence, and the Australian Foreign Minister and the Australian Defence Minister. And we indicated that we look forward to having a meeting of AUSMIN in Washington as soon as practicable.
We spoke also about the importance of United States engagement in the Asia-Pacific; and I made the point to the Secretary of State that the United States engagement in our region, in the Asia-Pacific region was very important for security and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific, not just for Australia, but for the region generally.
We spoke about the difficult task that we face in Afghanistan, and I warmly welcomed the appointment of Special Envoy Holbrooke as an envoy to Afghanistan and to Pakistan. Mr Holbrooke is very, very deeply respected, not just in the United States and in Australia, but throughout the world.
I made the point to the Secretary that we regard it as very significant that the appointment is to Afghanistan and Pakistan, because Australia has been making the point for some time that the difficulties that we face in Afghanistan are also difficulties that we face in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and also in Pakistan itself. And these are issues which can't be left to Afghanistan and to Pakistan, but there's an obligation on the part of the regional and the international community.
We also spoke about the importance of renewed effort so far as non-proliferation was concerned, about the forthcoming meeting in the United States of the International Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Disarmament Commission which Australia has established, and the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Review Conference in 2010.
I indicated to the Secretary of State that in the course of this year I was looking very much forward to travelling to the United States to meet personally with her to enhance the working relationship. So a very warm, but also a productive initial contact with the Secretary of State on what was effectively her first working day.
So, it's another good sign, as I've put it in the past, that when it comes to the alliance between Australian and the United States, governments, whether they're Labor or Liberal here, administrations, whether they're Republic or Democrat in the United States, come and go, but the alliance which has served us well for 60 years continues to serve very much Australia's national interest, but also serves the United States' interest, and the regional community's interest as well.
I'm happy to respond to your questions on those or other matters.
QUESTION: Mr Smith, did you get an actual invitation from Hillary Clinton to visit face-to-face?
SMITH: Yes, the Secretary of State said that she looked forward to me going to the United States to meet with her. We didn't seek or try to put a timetable on that. As you'd expect, effectively on day one of her new role as Secretary of State there are a thousand requests that she receives. But certainly, we've agreed that it's important to both Australia and to United States that those sort of meetings occur, whether it's me and the Secretary of State, or ministerial counterparts.
But we also underlined and agreed on our joint view of the importance of the AUSMIN ministerial forum, which is effectively the ministerial forum which if you like, in a detailed way once a year is the driving force, the ministerial driving force behind the alliance arrangements themselves.
QUESTION: Was the issue of Guantanamo Bay discussed in the conversation?
SMITH: No, that wasn't raised in the conversation. It was a general conversation, probably about 10 minutes, but no, that wasn't raised. I have seen of course the President indicate his intention to close Guantanamo Bay. We welcome that, we understand the difficulties associated with that, but that's not a matter that has yet been the subject of conversation between Australia and the United States.
QUESTION: Does that mean Australia won't be possibly taking some inmates if they...
SMITH: Well, the Acting Prime Minister over the break indicated the approaches that have been made to Australia by the previous administration, by the Bush administration and how Australia had responded to that. She made it clear at the time, as do I, that if further approaches are made we'll do that on a case by case basis, but there's been no approach to Australia on this matter by the new Obama administration and it wasn't raised in the conversation I had with the Secretary of State this morning.
QUESTION: Did you talk about the economic downturn in China?
SMITH: Not specifically. We spoke about the challenge of the global financial crisis, in general terms the forthcoming G20 meeting in London, and I also indicated Australia's very strong view of the importance of not retreating to protectionism, of the importance of getting a good outcome out of the WTO, the World Trade Organisation round, and of the need of the international community to respond in an ongoing way to the crisis. But no specific mention of the downturn in China which of course we appreciate in terms of its significant impact not just on Australia but throughout our region and the world.
QUESTION: How worried are you about the downturn in China, the latest figures that have come out?
SMITH: Well the Treasurer and the Prime Minister both yesterday, and I think today, have made detailed remarks about that. We of course have made it clear that China is an important part of Australia's economic arrangements, any downturn in China will have adverse consequences for Australia, will have adverse consequences for minerals and petroleum resources industry, which are very important not just in my own state of Western Australia but also Queensland in particular. But these points we've made in the past. I think the Prime Minister and the Treasurer have been underlining all of the end of last year and all of this year we face very difficult circumstances, but the Government will leave no stone unturned to address those economic issues in a way which seeks to see activity, economic activity and positive economic activity continuing in the Australian economy.
QUESTION: If China's growth is halved, what will we see over the coming year in Australia? Will we see more mine closures like BHP?
SMITH: Whatever the decline in growth of the Chinese economy we know the consequences will be adverse. What precisely the decline in growth is and what precisely the adverse consequences are, time will tell. But of course there will be negative effects for our economy generally and for the minerals and petroleum resources as we've seen in recent days.
QUESTION: Has the Federal Government set up some kind of formula to work out how the reduction in growth in China is going to impact on Australia and other [Indistinct] policy settings in place?
SMITH: Well those detailed questions need to be addressed to the economic ministers, the Treasurer in particular. The Government has made the point generally that so far as responding to the global financial crisis is concerned, whether that's a downturn of economic activity in China or generally, we'll leave no stone unturned to address that, and we've made the point with a range of initiatives in the course of last year and the Treasurer and the Prime Minister indicated that more initiatives will come.
QUESTION: Are you looking to other countries for help to fill the gap that has been left because of the Chinese downturn?
SMITH: Well one of the reasons for Australia's historic economic success has been we have always been an attractive place for overseas capital investment and we've always been a successful trading nation. So whether our trading partners are China or the Republic of Korea, the ASEAN nations or the United States, our long term future prosperity is dependent upon remaining an attractive place for capital investment and being a great trading nation.
QUESTION: If resources hit the skids what have we got to keep the economy bubbling, and are those the areas that you're going to focus on?
SMITH: Well in Western Australia and to a lesser extent in Queensland minerals and petroleum resources are a very important part of the economy, but it's not the only part of the economy. In any international economic downturn there will be adverse consequences, we understand those and we will leave, as I've said, no stone unturned to do our best to ensure ongoing economic activity domestically, but also to continue our trading performance.
QUESTION: Australia and South Korea enjoy a healthy trade relationship, despite this how would you relate the relationship over the last few years?
SMITH: We have a very good relationship, partnership and friendship with the Republic of Korea, with South Korea. I think it's been the case that in the last couple of years, particularly in the last 12 months we've both appreciated there's more that we can do. Our economic investment and trading statistics continue to improve. We're enhancing through detailed work our strategic and security and defence cooperation arrangements. And the people to people contacts continue to enhance, particularly the number of South Korean students coming to Australia, now some 30,000, we warmly welcome that and encourage it. We're a very popular destination in terms of young Koreans coming to Australia for work holiday visa purposes, and we warmly welcome that exchange. And of course we've also seen South Korea growing as a market for our agricultural products, particularly beef.
QUESTION: Preparatory talks on free trade agreement have been concluded, what about negotiations now?
SMITH: Well negotiations for a free trade agreement were one of the issues that we discussed. I made the point to foreign minister Yu that Australia very strongly believes it's in Australia's economic interest and in South Korea's economic interest to start free trade agreement negotiations and to ultimately conclude free trade agreement negotiations and that continues to be a matter of deliberation so far as South Korea is concerned. But we've got a positive conversation about potential benefits of a free trade agreement and Australia is hopeful that in the course of this year we will be able to commence free trade negotiations with South Korea.
QUESTION: Has there been too much concentration on the trade aspect and not enough work in other areas?
SMITH: No, I don't think that's right at all. I think what's been under-appreciated about our relationship with South Korea is that it covers all the trappings of a vibrant friendship, partnership and relationship: trade, investment, economic, people to people but also strategic security and defence cooperation. So it covers all the trappings. I think it is true to say that so far as our economic relationship is concerned that that has enhanced in recent years, and that's a good thing, moving beyond for example iron ore to potential for liquefied natural gas, but also, as I've indicated, to agricultural products and also services.
QUESTION: Did President Yu raise any concerns about China's influence over iron ore companies in Australia?
SMITH: No, that wasn't raised. Of course we had a general conversation about the importance of a good relationship between South Korea and China and a good relationship between China and Australia, and also a good relationship between China and the United States.
QUESTION: Kevin Rudd has talked about the regional architecture in line with his Asia Pacific community proposal. Is this still worth pursuing?
SMITH: Absolutely. But the regional architecture that foreign minister Yu and I spoke about was the potential North East Asia security mechanism architecture which hopefully may emerge from six party talks. The six party talks of course have been on North Korean nuclear issues. We know that they have stalled, we hope that the arrival of the new Obama administration can jumpstart those talks or kick-start those talks, but if we get a successful outcome on the six party talks so far as North Korean nuclear issue is concerned then hopefully we can look to the six party talks as being some longer term security mechanism, and Australia very much would like to be a part of that.
QUESTION: And on the issue of North Korea, there's no representation by North Korea in Australia - it's presently handled by its mission in Jakarta. Is it true that one of the reasons North Korea pulled out was cost? And was Australia funding it previously; and would Australia consider such action?
SMITH: Well, North Korea closed its mission in Canberra a couple of years ago; that was a matter of disappointment to the Australian Government. But the stated reason by North Korea was financial difficulty. That's a matter for North Korea; we were of course disappointed. But the funding of overseas missions is a matter for the nation-state concerned, it's not a matter for Australia.
QUESTION: So, finally, Australia provides humanitarian aid to the North. Would it consider developmental aid as well?
SMITH: Well, we do provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea, and Foreign Minister Yu and I discussed that. And South Korea very strongly supports the application of humanitarian assistance to North Korea by countries like Australia. We also indicated in principle that we would be prepared in the future to contribute to North Korean heavy oil if we see progress on the six-party talks.
But our contribution to North Korea is essentially humanitarian, particularly food. We're not proposing to go down the road of greater developmental assistance; unless and until we see progress not just on nuclear issues, but also on issues like respect for human rights and democracy.
QUESTION: Can I just ask, just on Australia Day, the Aboriginal Land Council has said the Government did promise to change the day of what they call Invasion Day.
[Long pause, microphone positioning, laughter]
It's the longest question in history.
SMITH: Yep.
QUESTION: Thank you.
SMITH: Okay.
QUESTION: Are there any plans for the Government to do this?
SMITH: Absolutely not. Australia Day is one of our national days. I think the Australian community over the last decade or so has come to much more warmly and fondly appreciate Australia Day, just as we see greater celebrations on Australia Day, we also see these days greater commemorations on ANZAC Day. So, absolutely no proposals to change our national day.
QUESTION: They were under the impression though that this was something the Government had promised after saying sorry.
SMITH: I think you'll find that that was a mistaken impression on their part. There's absolutely no way in which we will give consideration to doing anything other than celebrating Australia Day in the modern-day manner which befits its purpose; which is a celebration of the modern Australia.
QUESTION: One last question from me, regarding BHP. Did the company notify the Federal Government about its intentions to close Ravensthorpe?
SMITH: Well, you'd need to ask Resources Minister Ferguson about that. I'm not aware whether or not that's the case, so you'd need to speak to Martin about that.
QUESTION: Apparently the mine manager sold his house in September at the height of the boom.
SMITH: Well, I have no knowledge of any of those matters. You'd need to address them either to the relevant state authorities or to Mr Ferguson.
QUESTION: Okay and finally, what do think of the Ferris wheel?
[Laughter]
SMITH: Ah, I think it's too small.
QUESTION: Should be bigger?
SMITH: Well, to me it's like the bell tower: if you're going to do it, do it big. My only criticism of the bell tower and the Ferris wheel is they're both too small.
QUESTION: Do you think it looks a bit dinky?
SMITH: Thank you. Bit too small.
[Ends]
Media inquiries
Foreign Minister's office (02) 6277 7500