E&OE
12 March 2009
Interview - Joe O’Brien, ABC2 Breakfast
Subjects: School shooting in Germany, arrival of the Iraqi Prime Minister, war in Afghanistan and aid for Zimbabwe
COMPERE: The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, touched down in Canberra last night ahead of a five day visit to Sydney and the capital.
The Iraqi leader will be officially welcomed to Australia during a ceremony at Parliament House this morning.
JOE O’BRIEN: Mr al-Maliki's visit comes a week before the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
And for more, the Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith joins us now from Canberra.
Minister, good morning.
STEPHEN SMITH: Good morning Joe.
O’BRIEN: First of all, can we go to this terrible incident in Germany? Do you know if any Australians have been caught up in that shooting there?
SMITH: Well, it is a terrible incident. The sounds of the voices of the parents over radio and the pictures are very distressing. It's every parents' worst nightmare.
We can't confirm at the moment that no Australians are involved. Our consular officials are trying to do that very quickly, effectively, as we speak.
I don't want to alarm people. We're not expecting that any Australians will be involved. There's nothing to indicate that they are. But we're working very quickly now to try and eliminate that as a possibility.
In the meantime of course, we send our condolences to the German people, and to the families who have been terribly affected by this tragedy.
O’BRIEN: Now, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, arrived in Australia last night. When will you be meeting with him, and what will be the focus of those discussions?
SMITH: Well the Prime Minister will be meeting with Prime Minister Maliki this morning. I'll also be meeting with my counterpart Foreign Minister Zebari.
I think the importance of the visit is that it really does mark the crystallisation or the change of the shape of the relationship between Australia and Iraq. It, you know, sets the path forward for the modern day relationship between Iraq and Australia.
We of course withdrew our combat troops last year. We have a small number of defence personnel embedded in coalition forces, but they will, in accordance with the resolution of the Iraq Parliament, be out by the end of July this year.
So I think it's a visit which sets the scene for the modern relationship. We've enhanced considerably, and continue to enhance, our civilian development assistance to Iraq through agriculture, education, and law and justice administration.
So, the focus I think will be on the things that Australia can do to assist Iraq emerging now to a modern viable nation state, which is not bedevilled by war or security difficulties.
O’BRIEN: Yeah, well just how confident are you that Iraq won't disintegrate into the hands of extremists when US combat troops pull out next year? How firm is the administration there now?
SMITH: Well we saw very successful provincial elections in recent times, which went very successfully. We know there continue to be very serious security challenges for the Iraqi Government and for the Iraqi security forces. But they have made, on anyone's measure, very considerable progress, particularly in the last 12 months. They've determined through their Parliament that they want to take on more and more of the responsibility for the security matters, and that's of course a good thing.
In the end, you can't have other forces in a country forever. There's got to be an exit strategy, and that's what's occurring here.
But Iraq as a nation state has made considerable strides in recent times. Not just on the security front but also on the nation building front.
So far as Australia is concerned, we've committed over $160 million over a three year period to make our contribution to that nation building. Particularly in the areas where we've got relevant expertise. Agriculture, which is Iraqi's biggest industry, is a classic illustration of that, and that's where we are already, and will continue to want to make a contribution to help Iraq develop its capacity in that area.
O’BRIEN: Is there any likelihood that today we could see an increase in that contribution?
SMITH: Well, it's entirely of course open for the two Prime Ministers to make some announcements. I'll leave that to them.
But, I think, the trip is an important one, or the visit is an important one. It does, I think, focus on the modern Iraq and the modern relationship now between Australia and Iraq and we hope that will be an economically and socially productive one into the future.
O’BRIEN: Just turning to Afghanistan now - can you confirm that a new AFP team is due to leave for Afghanistan soon to help with training?
SMITH: Well I never talk about operational matters, particularly as they relate to Afghanistan.
What I can of course indicate and confirm is that part of our contribution to Afghanistan has not just been our own military contribution, but also a contribution to training and to again assist the Afghanistan army and police put themselves in a position where they can better manage the security challenges in Afghanistan.
So, the Defence Minister, the Attorney General, and the Minister for Home Affairs - Mr Debus, responsible for the Australian Federal Police, and I have previously made the point that we see training, whether it's training of the Afghanistan army, training of their police force, as being a very important contribution. And that's on the public record, and I'm happy to confirm that again today.
O’BRIEN: And that civilian effort looks like it's to increase. Is it likely that our military commitment will have to increase to protect those people that we're sending over there?
SMITH: Well we're making a substantial civilian capacity contribution. It's in the order of $600 million over the last six or seven years. And I have made it clear that the challenge in Afghanistan can't just be a military solution alone. It has to be a military enforcement action, also a civilian capacity building and nation building contribution and also at some point there's got to be a political dialogue amongst the Afghanistan leadership.
So far as a military contribution is concerned, we haven't received yet a formal request from the US Administration to increase our military contribution. We won't be surprised if that comes. If and when it comes, we'll deal with that on its merits. And we've also made that point very clear in recent times.
O’BRIEN: Now you've announced the resumption of aid in terms of foreign dollars going into Zimbabwe. Previously that had been stopped because of concerns that the Mugabe regime might swindle that money.
What makes you confident now that that money will go to the people that deserve it?
SMITH: Well we want to give as much help and assistance that we can to the people of Zimbabwe, but also to new Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his Ministers.
There are risks associated with that. I made that clear when I announced this in the Parliament yesterday.
But we think the time has come for Australia and the international community to make its contribution to helping to rebuild Zimbabwe's economic and social circumstances - its economy, its social fabric, whether it's health or education - have frankly been devastated by the Mugabe regime.
I have announced $5 million to help with water and water sanitation. That'll be provided through UNICEF direct to local authorities.
O’BRIEN: Thanks, thanks very much for that Minister. Unfortunately we have to leave it there. But thank you very much for talking to us this morning on ABC News Breakfast.
[ENDS]
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