Transcript, E&OE
27 July 2009
Interview - Newshour
Subjects: Singapore's economy - Global Financial Crisis; overseas students in Australia; terrorism - regional security; Pacific Island Forum.
JIM MIDDLETON: Australia's been working overtime to restore the reputation of its lucrative education export business ever since protests erupted over a protracted series of attacks on Indian students on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney. But now Australia's third biggest export earner has been further jeopardised by revelations about exploitation and intimidation of Indian students. ABC Television's Four Corners programme has documented cases of Australian educational institutions failing to live up to their promises; a flying school which offered little time in the air, a cooking school without a kitchen. And there are also revelations of a black market in English language and work experience tests required for Australian residency. Today Australian Federal Police responded to the investigation, raiding an immigration agent in Sydney and seizing documents. But India is far from the only source of foreign students for Australia; Singapore, for example, has nearly nine thousand students heading south hoping to gain skills and education.
Australia's Minsters for Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade met their Singaporean counterparts today. At the end of their talks they issued a Communique, speaking among other things about promoting further education linkages, and student exchanges.
Stephen Smith is Australia's Foreign Minister. Foreign Minister, welcome to the programme.
STEPHEN SMITH: Pleasure, Jim.
JIM MIDDLETON: Australia and Singapore are very long standing and significant trading partners but Singapore's economy has suffered a real belting in recent years. What was the Singapore Government able to tell you about prospects for recovery?
STEPHEN SMITH: Like very many nations in our region, and in the world, Singapore is suffering the adverse consequences of the Global Financial Crisis, but they expect to work their way very carefully through the current difficulties. Essentially, Singapore has become a prosperous nation by being an attractive place for overseas capital investment and by being a great trading nation, a great trading hub. Now, those things will continue. Singapore, like Australia, is suffering the adverse consequence of a downturn in global demand but the fundamentals are sound and there are very many similarities in that respect between Australia's economic performance and prospects and Singapore's economic performance and prospects. Both are great trading nations but when you have a global downturn you do suffer adverse consequences.
JIM MIDDLETON: Singapore has a significant number of students in Australia, not as many as India, where of course the recent bashing of students in Australia is causing considerable furore. How worried then are you about the new allegations revealed on ABC television just in the last hour or so about the exploitation of Indian students in Australia, evidence for example of cooking schools without kitchens, that sort of thing. That's not on is it?
STEPHEN SMITH: First, in terms of a historical sweep, one of the great things that Australia has done in educational terms throughout our region was the Colombo plan and the modern successor of that, our scholarship and fellowship arrangements, sees very many students from Singapore in Australia as we speak. We've currently got about nine thousand Singapore students in Australia, that's a very good thing. I've seen references to those concerns about abuses so far as migration agents are concerned and education agents are concerned. Of course it's very concerning. I'm not in a position to comment on the details because I haven't seen them precisely and in any event in the first instance it's a matter for my colleague Senator Evans the Immigration Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Education Minister. But on both fronts, on the migration front, when we were in opposition we did express significant concerns about the regulation of migration agents and as a consequence of that we've recently seen a migration regulatory authority come into existence to regulate that industry better. And, as you know, we've been applying ourselves across the board so far as education services are concerned. We want Australia to continue to be a good place for students to come, whether that's from India or Singapore or elsewhere. But any of these abuses we of course won't tolerate and don't tolerate and the cracking down so far as the migration agents regulatory arrangements are concerned will assist in that process, just as the efforts that we've been making together with the Indian Government, both in India and through its High Commission in Australia on the education services front will also help. We haven't triggered this just as a security matter, we've also treated it as an education services matter.
JIM MIDDLETON: Fair enough. We won't go any further on that issue just at this moment, but in the discussions with your Singaporean counterparts today did you deal specifically with renewed terrorism in its neighbouring country, Indonesia, with the recent hotel blasts and the consequences of that for regional security?
STEPHEN SMITH: Yes, we did, in a couple of contexts. One, the longstanding defence cooperation arrangements between Australia and Singapore are very strong, the so-called Five Power defence arrangements. We also cooperate on counter-terrorism, police-to-police, agency-to-agency, and of course the recent atrocities in Indonesia have been very concerning, not just for Australia and Indonesia but also in our region and we continue to work closely with Singapore. Singapore's attitude is one of eternal vigilance. We can't be complacent, and Singapore continues to apply itself diligently in the counter-terrorism area, just as Australia does. But we need to, just as we do with Indonesia, work closely with other countries and partners in the region and Singapore is a very good example of that.
JIM MIDDLETON: Just finally, one final issue, Australia's hosting the Pacific Islands Forum next week. What are you doing to try to convince the Melanesian member nations to reverse their decision to back Fiji, the Fijian military regime, Frank Bainimarama's intransigence, its refusal to call elections before 2014 at least?
STEPHEN SMITH: I've read the Communiqué from the Melanesian Spearhead group and I've also seen the media reporting of it. I don't think some of the media reporting actually accurately reflects what the Communiqué was. I don't think there was anything in the Melanesian Spearhead group Communiqué which cuts across the unanimous decision of the Pacific Islands Forum so far as Fiji is concerned. But there's also, as I've spoken to my Foreign Ministerial colleagues and leaders throughout the Pacific, I think there's a very strong sentiment that on this occasion they'd like the forum to focus on some of the real work at hand; the adverse implication for the Pacific for the Global Financial and Economic Crisis, key difficulties so far as climate change is concerned and also whether we can better coordinate development assistance. So there's a strong sentiment I've picked up which is the Region doesn't want to see another Pacific Islands Forum which is dominated either by the presence or the absence of Commodore Bainimarama. So I expect...
JIM MIDDLETON: … But that can only be, that can only be achieved if there is genuine unity. At the moment, whether or not you think what was emerged from the Melanesian Spearhead group, is what other people may be reporting doesn't really matter if there is an appearance of disunity. That has to be settled categorically, does it not, at this Pacific Islands Forum if the other issues are to take some precedence?
STEPHEN SMITH: I'm confident that at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting next week in Cairns, there will continue to be unanimity on Fiji; that Fiji, not having complied with the undertaking that Commodore Bainimarama gave to the Forum leaders' meeting in Tonga in 2007, having walked further away from democracy in recent times. I'm confident that the Forum will continue to have a unanimous view so far as Fiji is concerned. We want Fiji to return to democracy. We want to be in a position where we can do things to assist the people of Fiji because we are very very worried about Fiji's economic circumstances and the social and economic deterioration that we've seen in Fiji since the interim military regime came into power. But in any event we'll know in a week. But I am very confident that the Forum will focus on those things which are of considerable concern to the region: climate change, the adverse consequences of the economic downturn and better coordination so far as development assistance is concerned. I don't think leaders want to be distracted again by Commodore Bainimarama and I'm confident there will continue to be unanimity on Fiji so far as the Forum leaders are concerned.
JIM MIDDLETON: Well, Minister, thanks again for your time, and we'll see you in Cairns.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks Jim, thanks very much.
[ENDS]
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