E&OE
8 April 2009
Interview with Kim Landers, ABC, Washington
Subjects: Afghanistan, meeting with Secretary Clinton, AUSMIN, East Asia Summit and Thailand, Indonesian and Malaysian elections
QUESTION: Let’s start off by asking, you’ve said that the US will inevitably ask Australia for a greater contribution in Afghanistan, has that request come yet – or do you expect it’s about to be made?
SMITH: The request hasn’t come yet and I don’t expect that it will come in the course of the AUSMIN consultations but in very many respects the time has moved on from that. We are obviously giving consideration to what more if anything we can do across the range of important areas – whether we can make a greater civilian capacity-building contribution, a greater training contribution, whether we can do more on a temporary basis for the election for Afghanistan in August and whether we can make a further military contribution. We’re obviously giving very serious consideration to that, so we’ll take tomorrow’s AUSMIN consultations into account when we return to Australia and give further thought to those decisions.
QUESTION: So what are, what’s the answers to all of those questions, how soon is the answer coming?
SMITH: Well, I expect weeks rather than months, I don’t think we’re too far away but obviously Mr Fitzgibbon and I will want to return to Australia to consult further with the Prime Minister and our Cabinet colleagues. So I don’t think we’re too far away, certainly weeks rather than months.
QUESTION: So really there’s no doubt that Australia will be making a greater contribution to Afghanistan, it’s just a question of what sort of mix that’s going to take, what sort of format that’s going to take.
SMITH: No, I didn’t say that. We’re giving consideration to what, if anything it is appropriate for us to do. Certainly I’ve made it clear in the past that we are looking very carefully at the potential for us to make a greater civilian capacity contribution, to make a greater training capacity, these are obviously very sensible things to do. I’ve also made it clear in the past we’re looking at what more we can do on a temporary basis to help ensure the election in August is a full and free election conducted in an atmosphere of peace and security. So we’ve made no decisions but we’re giving careful consideration to those and whether there’re any other appropriate contributions we can make.
QUESTION: So, you must have some idea of the broad parameters of what’s possible, because you know that you’ve gone beyond that sort of knowledge of whether or not a request is going to come. Are you able to outline in broad terms what Australia is capable of contributing?
SMITH: Well in broad terms we’re looking at whether it’s appropriate for Australia to make a further civilian capacity-building contribution, a temporary contribution for election purposes, and whether it’s appropriate to make any further contribution so far as military forces are concerned. But as I say, we’ve made no decision and I’ve never engaged in speculation as to what those possibilities might be. I think it is simply best to wait until the Government has completed its consultations, not just with the United States but with other international security assistance forces, make a decision and then announce that, and as I say we expect that to be weeks rather than months away.
QUESTION: And what did you discuss with Secretary Clinton today?
SMITH: Well we discussed the importance of the alliance relationship. It’s served both countries well for over 60 years. The importance of the AUSMIN meeting, which we’ll conduct tomorrow and how the AUSMIN meeting reflects the working operations of the alliance. But we also traversed a range of important issues to Australia and the United States, both regionally and globally. In particular, I welcomed very much President Obama’s Prague speech about the US Administration’s commitment to the abolition of nuclear weapons, to strengthening non-proliferation, to signing up for the comprehensive test ban treaty. These are all issues that the Australian Government has been actively pursuing since we came to office and they’re consistent with the establishment of our International Commission for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, so I welcomed that very much. We think it’s a very important area, both for the United States and for Australia and we strongly support it.
QUESTION: And if I could ask you about the situation with the East Asia Summit this weekend that the Prime Minister’s been going to attend. There’s been some unrest in Thailand; there’ve been some anti-government protests. Has there been any review of security, whether it’s still safe in fact for the Prime Minister to attend that summit this weekend.
SMITH: All our usual security reviews and assessments will be done in the normal course of events, there’s nothing that we have to hand which would indicate anything other than that it’s appropriate for the Prime Minister to attend. The East Asia Summit, of course, is being held in Pattaya and the bulk of the demonstrations are of course in Bangkok, but we continue to monitor the situation in Thailand very carefully. Whilst, of course, there is no objection to civilised and peaceful protest we do urge restraint on all sides and hope that whatever demonstrations are effected are lawful and peaceful.
QUESTION: And the situation, the Indonesian Parliamentary elections are getting under way, is Australia confident that they’re going to be free and fair and build upon the democratic process, progress that’s already been made there?
SMITH: We certainly hope that’s the case and we certainly expect that to be the case. We see over 130 million Indonesians going to the polls. It builds very much on Indonesia’s commitment to democracy. Indonesia is emerging in this century as a significant regional influence and we welcome that very much. And we certainly welcome very much the attachment to democracy and the strengthening of democratic institutions in Indonesia.
QUESTION: Malaysia too is going to the polls; the opposition there looks like it is taking steps towards gaining control of the parliament. What would that mean for the implications for the leadership of the Prime Minister who is just very new in that job?
SMITH: Well, we of course deal with the Prime Minister and the government which the Malaysian political system throws up for us. We congratulate new Prime Minister Najib on his election to the office and we will work with him, as we always do, constructively and positively with Malaysia, a very important partner in the region for us. But as is the case in the past with Malaysia, we deal positively and constructively with whatever government the Malaysian system throws up.
QUESTION: And finally, do you think the controversy surrounding your Ministerial colleague Joel Fitzgibbon has undermined his credibility in any way while he’s been here in the US…
SMITH: Absolutely not. Mr Fitzgibbon works very closely with Secretary of Defense Gates, and he works very constructively and effectively pursuing and advancing Australia’s national security interests, and he’s very well regarded in the United States and the series of meetings that he’s been doing both individually and with me have been very productive and he’s very capable of advancing Australia’s interests.
QUESTION: So it’s not an unwelcome distraction?
SMITH: No. He’s doing his job and doing it very well.
QUESTION: Good, thank you.
[ENDS]
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