E&OE
10 March 2009
Press conference with Republic of Cyprus Foreign Minister
Subjects: bilateral relations, Cyprus, aid funding, Fiji, Durban review, Tibet
STEPHEN SMITH: Can I again officially welcome to Australia the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, Markos Kyprianou.
Minister, can I say how pleased we are to see you here. This is not the first time we've met, of course. We met first at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September last year and I was very pleased to visit Cyprus in October. We're very pleased that you're here for a stand-alone return Foreign Minister's visit.
Australia and Cyprus have longstanding, friendly relations. The cause of that, of course, is the deep people-to-people connections between Australia and Cyprus.
There are, depending upon whose estimate you rely upon, anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 members of the Australian-Cyprus community, a substantial part of our community, and they've made a substantial contribution to Australia's economic and social affairs.
The Minister, of course, is in Canberra today, but in the last few days has been in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide speaking with the Australian-Cypriot community.
In Melbourne, of course, he spoke to some members of the Australian-Cypriot community who'd been adversely affected by the bushfires. And Minster, can I say how much the Prime Minister and I and the Parliament and the Australian people appreciated very much your expressions of condolences from you and from the President and how much we appreciated your thoughts and good wishes at what was a very terrible time for the people of Victoria and the people of Australia.
The relationship between Australia and Cyprus, of course, is underpinned by Australia's longstanding contribution to seeking to find an enduring and durable settlement to the Cyprus problem. And as a consequence, Australia has had representatives on the United Nations force in Cyprus since its inception in 1964.
When I was in Cyprus last year, I had the very great pleasure not just to speak to current members of the Australian Federal Police who've formed part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, but also some retired state and federal police officers who, over the last 40-odd years, had taken part in these matters.
Australia is a strong supporter of finding an enduring solution to the Cyprus issue. That's why we've made that contribution to the United Nations. It's also why we are very strong supporters of the current peace and settlement processes and talks. And the purpose of my visit to Cyprus was to underline that point.
It's also, of course, reflected by the fact that my predecessor, former Foreign Minister Downer, is of course the Secretary-General's special representative and I took the opportunity of speaking to Mr Downer over the weekend to get his own impression of the progress of peace talks. And of course, the Minister and I have spent a goodly proportion of our time this morning having a conversation and getting the Minister's most recent assessment of how those talks are going.
We will continue our talks this evening over dinner. The Minister will also see members of the Cyprus-Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group and I've tried to persuade the Minister to attend some part of Question Time to see Australian democracy in operation.
So Minister, we're very pleased to see you here. As I said in our meeting, of course, at a mutually convenient time, we'd very much welcome the President to come to Australia. But we've had productive discussions today and we look forward to those continuing over dinner this evening.
So I'd be pleased if you could make some opening remarks.
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: Thank you very much. I'd like to say how happy I am to be here. And I'd like to describe what's happening now as a new phase of bilateral relations between Australia and Cyprus.
It's actually our third meeting with my colleague here within six months, so I think that shows that we move into a new intensity of relations between the two countries.
And I was very happy to receive Mr Smith in Cyprus last October and actually it was the first - and you'd remember this - it was the first visit by Australian Foreign Minister to Cyprus for over 15 years. So I'm happy that we've met in New York, Cyprus and now Australia.
As the Minister said, I've been in the country for a few days now. I had the opportunity to meet with the Cypriot community all over the country. But my visit to the bushfire strike areas was really shocking and, I can say, emotional.
Cyprus, as well as most of southern Europe, suffers from fires. We know what it means, the disaster, the loss of lives, the devastation. And I felt it was my duty while being in Victoria to offer my support, the solidarity of the Cypriot people. The Government of Cyprus decided to make a small contribution with big emotions but small amount of $100,000 to the Victoria Bushfire Appeal, trying to contribute to the work of relieving those who were affected by the fires.
We have excellent relations, the two countries. There's always, of course, room for furthering even more these relations, especially - not so much the political field, politically we're doing very well - but in the economic, trade, tourism, there are other areas where we can work very closely with the Australian Government. And some areas, despite the distance between the two countries, we have similar problems and challenges, like the water management and I could even add to that, maybe some strategies to prevent and deal with fires because we both face the same problems.
I had the opportunity to give the latest information to my colleague on what is happening on the island, the negotiations between the two communities for a permanent settlement of the Cyprus problem. We're in the middle of the process now. We are already finishing two chapters. Differences are still there of some important issues, but what is important is there is a process in place, there are negotiations in place, there is goodwill to try to achieve a solution. And our side, we're working very hard to achieve these results.
And I'd like to thank Australia for their support throughout the history of the Cyprus problem. The Minister mentioned the presence, the continued presence of Australian representatives in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. And of course, now there's even another link, Mr Downer's presence as the representative of the Secretary-General.
Cyprus and Australia are both members of the Commonwealth, so we have other areas of interest as well, not just bilateral but also regional, and also Australia is very interested in what's happening in the Middle East. Cyprus is in the Middle East. So we had and will have the opportunity to continue discussions not just on bilateral issues but on regional issues and inform each other on how the developments are in these regions.
And of course, I hope that both the President and the Prime Minister will have the opportunity to exchange visits, as soon as possible I'd like to say, but also we, at our level, will continue these meetings.
Thank you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, Minister, thank you very much, and can I say how grateful we are for your announcement of Cyprus' contribution to the Bushfire Appeal. We were very touched by your condolences and expressions of solidarity and we gratefully appreciate the contribution that you have announced.
We're happy to respond to questions, but in accordance with the usual customs, can we have questions about the bilateral relationship and other matters relating to Cyprus before we deal with any other domestic matters? I've warned the Foreign Minister that there may be the odd domestic issue which he has to suffer.
QUESTION: Mr Kyprianou, could I ask you how much time is Mr Downer actually spending working on the Cyprus issue?
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: Well, of course, that's something he should reply. But he comes and goes to Cyprus. He's there whenever we have the beginning of a chapter. He meets - he's not just present at the negotiations, but he also meets with members of the society in Cyprus, political parties, local authorities and other parts of the society in Cyprus.
And I think he's offering mostly the political input of support of the Secretary-General and the personal interest of the Secretary-General in this process, which, by the way, I should remind you, what's been agreed last March when it started, it's a Cypriot-owned procedure, so it's the two sides who negotiate. The UN is facilitating and supporting but not intervening.
QUESTION: Sandra O'Malley from AAP.
Given that, since, there hadn't been an Australian Foreign Minister visiting before, 15 years before Mr Smith went last year; how, I mean, what do you think Mr Downer can actually bring to the process, given that there wasn't necessarily that much engagement?
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: Well, I mean, there's two different things I have to say, because, Foreign Ministers have the occasional meeting on different occasions as well, whether it's the General Assembly United Nations, or the Commonwealth for our first, or heads of state meetings.
So, there were contacts. And he's been Foreign Minister for a long time. Unfortunately Cyprus' problems have been there for a long time as well and I'm sure he knows the problem quite well, despite the fact there may not have been visits recently on the island.
STEPHEN SMITH: If I can leap to Mr Downer's defence. I spoke to him over the weekend. He of course is there intermittently as the talks progress, but he made the point to me that he's expecting that in the course of this year, that activity will increase and the time he spends in Cyprus will also increase.
The Government also very strongly supported his appointment by the UN Secretary General, as a person of, well, Australia's longest serving Foreign Minister, with the experience to make a contribution.
So we think he's applying himself diligently and assiduously to the task and we certainly hope that ultimately the process is successful.
But I think Minister Kyprianou and I, and Mr Downer, all share the same view, which is in the end the solution to the Cyprus problem has to be a solution which is adopted locally. It's not something that can be artificially imposed from outside.
So it's a matter of using the good officers of the UN and other members in the international community to progress these, these matters.
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: If I may add something just on this issue, which maybe I neglected saying in the beginning. It's a Cypriot-owned procedure, but the Cyprus problem still is international problem of invasion occupation and Turkey still has a role to play, maybe the most important role in this effort.
And both the international community and the European Union, expects from Turkey to be constructive and supportive of this process, and, the final outcome, as this has been agreed between the two sides and it's described in the Security Council resolutions.
So this is an issue that we're asking all our friends, who are also friends with Turkey, to use their influence to encourage Turkey to be as supportive as possible during this process so we can have the positive outcome in the sense that the Minister has just described - an agreement between the sides on the island who are going to actually live with this solution.
QUESTION: Minister, sorry, can I just ask another question? Today you have overturned the ban on abortion funding. Can you explain why you've done this, what this will mean on the ground for aid agencies, and secondly, do you have any concerns that you'll see a backlash from say Senator Fielding or from more conservative elements within the ALP?
STEPHEN SMITH: Look, can I say firstly generally this was a difficult decision. This is a deeply sensitive area. It's one where strong views are held deeply and very personally.
And so I thought long and hard about the decision that I made and I engaged in exhaustive consultation with my Parliamentary colleagues and with others.
In the end I came to the conclusion that the correct decision was to reverse the decision made effectively by Mr Howard and Senator Harradine in 1996.
There were two, I think, very important factors. One was, if you look at that period of time, there is, in my view, a substantial decline of the contribution that Australian overseas development assistance has made to child and maternal health care generally, to family planning matters generally. And I think this has been deleterious. And we've seen a substantial decline of a contribution that Australia, Australian NGOs have made.
In that context, the statistics, which I have included in my press release, provided by the United Nations about the state of unwanted pregnancies, the state of abortions, the danger to women of effectively backyard abortions is also I think a compelling feature. I have announced also, as part of the decision, an additional $15 million for family planning and maternal health care services and counselling.
I think the second factor which weighed upon me was that it became very clear to me that the view I have just expressed, the view reflected by the decision I made, was the view of the majority, if not the overwhelming membership of the Parliamentary Labor Party and I wanted to also reflect that.
Whilst this is an area and a decision where personal views are held deeply it's entirely open in my view to members of the Parliamentary Party to express a different view if they so want to.
But I was left with the very distinct impression that the substantial, if not the overwhelming majority of the Parliamentary members of the Labor Party believed that this was also the correct outcome.
QUESTION: On Fiji, the US Ambassador there has been encouraging local people I guess to rise up against the military government. Is that something that Australia would encourage - for ordinary Fijians to…
STEPHEN SMITH: Well I have to say I haven't seen those remarks, so I'm not going to be drawn on those remarks, not having seen them.
We continue to make the same points about Fiji that we have for some time. We think the best thing that can occur for Fiji is for Fiji to return to democracy.
I notice that last week, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group - CMAG, which, which Australia is not a member of - but CMAG effectively resolved to put the Commonwealth on the same path as the Pacific Island Forum in terms of Fiji's suspension from the Commonwealth. As the Pacific Island Forum leaders resolved, if Fiji does not show progress towards democracy by 1 May it runs the very grave risk of being suspended from the Pacific Island Leaders Forum and the same now applies so far as the Commonwealth itself is concerned.
So the solution here is for a political dialogue which sees Commodore Bainimarama return to barracks.
In the meantime can I say I'm very gravely concerned about the deleterious economic and social circumstances in Fiji. I think Fiji is now being very much buffeted by the adverse consequences of the global financial and economic crisis.
We've seen Fiji's economic and social circumstances deteriorate significantly since the time of the military intervention. I think they are now being very much compounded by the general international economic environment.
And, our position remains, we want to see this matter resolved peacefully and peaceably. That's best resolved through a political dialogue, the Commodore return to barracks to enable Fiji to take its rightful place within the regional and the international community.
And we continue to render support where we can to the people of Fiji. And the most recent example of that was our contribution in the aftermath of the floods.
QUESTION: Do you have any concerns that the questions that are now being asked about the Governor General's tour of Africa that it could damage Australia's bid for the UN Security Council…
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I must say, I'm much more concerned about the remarks as they're addressed against the Governor General than I am about what implications they may have for Australia's to become a member of the United Nations Security Council in 2013/14.
I'm very concerned that there seems to be effectively a Liberal Party political attack on what the Governor General is doing.
You never saw this in previous years. In previous years when, as a member of the Opposition for a very long period of time, various Governor Generals went overseas extensively, they were never once criticised by the then Opposition.
I think this is a very, very concerning development. I think it's potential very dangerous. And I think people should just think through very carefully what the Governor General is doing.
The Australian Government has a very strong foreign policy view that we have neglected Africa in the past.
This is a continent of 900 million to a billion people over 50 nations. And there are very good economic, social, foreign policy, and politically strategic reasons why we need to stop the neglect of the past and substantially enhance our engagement with Africa.
The minerals and petroleum resources industry has great potential in Africa. There's a lot of good work that we can do economically in the agricultural area, in water and water sanitation, and in child and maternal health. There's a lot we can do in building their capacity.
But there are significant economic, social, and foreign policy reasons why Australia can no longer continue to ignore a continent of nearly a billion people. And that was the policy of the previous government, and that has been Australian foreign policy neglect for a quarter of a century, in my view.
The Governor General is going to Africa to underscore this point, to make the point that Australia wants to enhance its engagement with Africa.
And as appropriate, when she is meeting and speaking with African leaders, of course she will underline what the Australian Government policy is.
The Australian Government policy is Australia is a strong supporter of the United Nations. We want to engage more, both in and with the United Nations. And reflecting our strong support as a regionalist and as a multilateralist we are running for the Security Council and she will make that point as appropriate. I've seen, quite frankly, nonsense suggestions that somehow she'll be negotiating or bargaining.
She will simply reflect Australian Government policy. Australian Government policy is we are a strong multilateralist, we believe that very many of the problems we find in the international community these days, whether they're terrorism, whether they're climate change whether they're a global financial crisis, whether they're people trafficking or people smuggling, can only be addressed by dealing with other nations in a regional or multi-lateral forum.
And I think these comments and criticisms of the Governor-General take us into very concerning and dangerous grounds and I think the Liberal Party needs to have a very long, hard think about keeping it going.
QUESTION: The High Commissioner for Pakistan, how's his investigation going into the cricket security breach there? Has he managed to reveal or uncover any information around what might have occurred?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I spoke to the High Commissioner. I am happy to stand corrected if I get the date wrong, but I spoke to the High Commissioner late last week, Zorica McCarthy and she was in the process of liaising with the interior ministry headed by Interior Advisor Malik to get their assessment of any security lapses on the day.
And that information and advice will be forthcoming we hope in the near future. She has also repeated on my behalf, our offer of any Australian Federal Police forensic or investigatory assistance.
Can I also make this point, in recent days spoke to Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Bogollagama to do a number of things. Firstly to thank him for the assistance that Australian nationals received in being transported from Pakistan to Colombo, Trevor Bayliss and the two other coaching staff members.
He indicated to me that he had had an extensive conversation with Foreign Minister Qureshi about the investigation into the attack which included both circumstances on the day and who was behind it. And he was satisfied with the processes underway.
When these things occur, when these terrible things occur, our first and immediate thought is to seek to ascertain the safety and welfare of Australian nationals involved, and if they have been involved, to get them to safety as quickly as possible.
We then go through the exhaustive analysis of what occurred and who was behind it and that process is underway to my satisfaction and to the satisfaction of the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister.
QUESTION: Minister, just back on the abortion aid issue, are you concerned that your decision could you see you lose the vote of Senator Fielding and Senator [indistinct]?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, that will be entirely a matter for Senator Fielding. I don't link this particular issue, but whether other senators or members do is a matter for them.
I've spoken to Senator Fielding in the past about this issue. He has a very strong view about it. I've made a decision with which he won't agree and I am expecting that he will voice that disagreement and be critical of the decision I've made. That's entirely a matter for him.
Whether that impacts upon other policy matters that he deals with, again, will be entirely a matter for him.
QUESTION: Are there specific programs or funding for specific NGOs which is now being hyped along because of this change?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, I've announced the additional $15 million for general family planning, counselling and services.
It will now be open to Australian NGOs to now move back into, if they so desire, that the child and maternal healthcare area. Some, if not, the majority of Australian NGOs will do that. There are also some NGOs who for, either philosophical or religious reasons, will not take part.
Again, that's entirely a matter for them. They won't be forced to take part, their activity or their inactivity won't in any way, prejudice their role in any other aspects of Australian overseas development assistance.
QUESTION: Mr Smith, when will Australia decide exactly how it will handle Durban II?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, again, I think it's worth just making some remarks about Durban Review so that people understand where we are both in terms of the conference and the processes.
Of course, the Durban Review is a conference about anti-racism, a conference about anti-discrimination, and the first review conference was, as the name suggests, held in Durban in 2001.
The Australian view following that conference was that while a number of positive things were discussed at that conference, in the end the conference became, regrettably, an anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic harangue. And as a consequence of that analysis, Australia has not actively taken part in any of the preparatory work for the Durban II conference until very recently.
The second Durban conference is scheduled to be held in Geneva from 20 to 24 of April, some six weeks away.
A couple of weeks ago in the middle of February, Australia, together with other like-minded countries, including the United States, decided for the first time to take part in some of the working group negotiations, to see whether we could improve the text, because we had indicated through our officials, as I had indicated privately in my conversations with people interested in this matter, that we were very gravely concerned with the text because it looked as though it might simply be a re-run of Durban I.
The United States, of course, have made the point in recent times that they were so under-whelmed by any changes to the text, they've indicated that they won't take part in any ongoing Working Group arrangements and will reserve the right not to attend the conference itself.
In terms of the processes, the Chair of the Working Group has now undertaken to try and produce a draft text by the 16th of this month. And the Working Group preparations, or the Working Group activities will re-commence on 6 April.
We are very interested to see what text might emerge from the Chair of the Working Group in the middle of March and very interested to see whether any improvements are made to the text when the working group reconvenes on 6 April.
But people should please understand this: if we come to the conclusion that the text being prepared for the Durban review number two conference sets us up for a re-run of an anti-Jewish anti-Semitic harangue, as the first conference was, then Australia will not take part. And I've made that point privately with people who have raised it with me, including some of my Foreign Ministerial colleagues and including the Jewish community both in Australia and internationally.
But there is about six weeks to go and we want to see whether improvements can be made because there are some issues which arose in 2001 which the Government of the day welcomed as being worthy of international conversation and deliberation. And if we could have what might be a genuine international conversation about anti-racism and anti-discrimination that of itself would be a good thing.
So we are very carefully working our way through the processes in the hope that the text presented to the conference substantially improves. That may well be a vain hope, but for the moment is only a small number of countries who have determined not to attend the conference itself - that's Israel and Canada - and a number of other countries - the United States and Italy - who have indicated that they're not proposing to attend the conference unless substantial improvements are made to the text.
Our view is as I've stated it. We won't propose to go to the conference if all it looks like is being a replica of 2001. But we're prepared to give the chair of the working group and the working group itself an opportunity to rectify what is currently a text which looks like a Durban 2001 re-run.
QUESTION: Mr Smith, should the Chinese Embassy butt out of Tibetan protests being held in Australia where they've sent letters to MPs asking not to…
STEPHEN SMITH: I'm now feeling very guilty for my colleague, so I'll make this the last one and then we'll return to Cyprus or the Minister and I will flee.
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: [Laughs]
STEPHEN SMITH: Look, it's perfectly open to Ambassadors of any country or representatives of any country, diplomats, to publicly or privately put the view which reflects the foreign policy of the Government that the Ambassador or the official represents. Perfectly entitled to put a view about his or her nation state's foreign policy publicly or privately.
What a diplomat is not entitled to do is to somehow seek to direct an elected official or an elected Member of Parliament in how he or she might conduct himself or herself. They're entitled to put a view, but they're not entitled to try and seek to direct.
Now, I've seen the exchange of correspondence between the Chinese Ambassador and Mr Danby and to be fair to both Mr Danby and to the Chinese Ambassador, the Chinese Ambassador politely requests Mr Danby not to attend the demonstration. Mr Danby replies by saying politely that he's proposing to attend.
For myself, I think Mr Danby made the right decision and I support him fully.
Minister, thanks very much for that.
MARKOS KYPRIANOU: Thank you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thank you.
[END]
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