Transcript E&OE
6 July 2009
Interview - Sky News
Subjects: Visit to Malaysia; People trafficking; International students.
NEWSREADER: Mr Smith joins me now from Kuala Lumpur. Minister, thanks for your time. To what extent has Malaysia been a convenient transit point or gateway for people smugglers?
STEPHEN SMITH: Malaysia is one of the transit countries and both Australia and Malaysia recognise that. Combating people smuggling and human trafficking was one of the topics that I considered today in my talks with my Foreign Ministerial counterpart and, shortly, I'll be off to join the two Prime Ministers: Prime Minister Najib and Prime Minister Rudd. People smuggling and working together will be part of that conversation.
Malaysia being a transit country is well known to us. It's also well known to them. We are working very closely together. We're very pleased with the way in which we've 'upped the ante' so far as our cooperation and relationship is concerned and it's been a very good day of meetings as well.
NEWSREADER: Minister, do you feel Malaysia could be doing more to stop so-called 'illegals' leaving their country and heading Down Under?
STEPHEN SMITH: The problem for Malaysia is the same problem as for us. We've got hundreds of thousands of displaced people coming from, in the past Iraq, more recently Afghanistan and Pakistan and again more recently, Sri Lanka because of the conflict there. And so, we've got these very heavy 'push' factors. The only way we can address those - and the cause of those - is by working together in the region.
We're very pleased with the cooperation we've received from Malaysia. We've had a longstanding, friendly and good relationship with Malaysia but both governments and both nations think that we can do even more. Part of my trip here and, if you like, a joint call upon Prime Minister Najib by Prime Minister Rudd and me is to underline that point, that we think there's more that we can do so far as general bilateral cooperation is concerned and that includes, operationally, so far as combating people smuggling is concerned but more generally, so far as the relationship goes, whether it's economic or educational or sporting and cultural. We think there's a lot more we can do to enhance the relationship.
NEWSREADER: But there is the thorny issue of human rights. Did you discuss that and the alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia?
STEPHEN SMITH: Certainly, we dealt with the question of displaced people and refugee issues and people smuggling and people movement. But Malaysia, of course, is emerging as a robust democracy. It has an opposition, parliamentary elections and there's plenty of parliamentary scrutiny on these issues as well. So we're very pleased, as I say, with the relationship that we have. But also, these issues are issues for the Malaysian Government to also deal with publicly within its own country, as in Australia we deal with it as well. And so...
NEWSREADER: Just a final point Minister, on the people smuggling, what sort of numbers are we talking about? In the hundreds or thousands? What is your intelligence and sources in Malaysia telling you?
STEPHEN SMITH: We never talk about intelligence matters and we're not proposing to be drawn or speculate on numbers. I think it's important though to make the point that we have for some time been saying that there are significant risks of additional 'push' factors, particularly, for example, from Sri Lanka.
We know that there are large numbers of people in transit through our region and that's why our approach has to be not just taking our own domestic measures, not just working bilaterally with countries like Malaysia and Indonesia but also working in the region. And one of the good things that we do with Malaysia is working closely with them in the so-called Bali Process, which is the regional meetings we have dealing with people smuggling and human trafficking issues. And a couple of months ago in Bali, Indonesian Foreign Minister Wirajuda and I chaired the first ministerial level meeting of the Bali Process for a number of years.
So we're working in the region and that's very important. Only by acting together can we combat these very serious issues, the vast bulk of which start with the 'push' factors that we see displacing people in countries where there's serious and severe conflict like Afghanistan and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area and Sri Lanka.
NEWSREADER: Minister, can you tell me in 20 seconds what Malaysia would like us to do about foreign students here in Australia?
STEPHEN SMITH: We have about 20,000 Malaysian students in Australia. There's also 15,000 more who study under twinning arrangements or on Australian campuses in Malaysia. It's a very good and productive relationship.
We haven't seen any of the terrible or tragic incidents that we've seen so far as Indian students are concerned. It came up, in part, in our informal conversations over lunch but both Australia and Malaysia are very pleased with the traffic, so far as educational issues are concerned.
We've agreed to have a memorandum of understanding on higher education issues. We've also agreed to double the number of schools that we currently have. There's a sister school arrangement between Australia and Malaysia, so we're both very pleased with the good and productive work we're doing on the education front.
NEWSREADER: Minister, much to talk about but we have to leave it there. Thank you very much for your time.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks Jim, thanks very much.
[Ends]
Media Inquiries: Foreign Minister's office (02) 6277 7500