Transcript, E&OE
5 August 2009
Interview - Sky News AM Agenda
Subjects: Arrests of suspected terorrists in Melbourne; Pacific Island Forum.
DAVID SPEERS: Well joining us here in Cairns for a talk about this, and also what we can expect at the forum over the next few days is the Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith. Minister, welcome to the program.
STEPHEN SMITH: Morning, David.
DAVID SPEERS: Firstly on these terror raids, Al-Shabaab, the group that these men were allegedly linked to, what can you tell us about them? And are - is this group, Al-Shabaab linked to al-Qaeda?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well firstly, Al-Shabaab's a terrorist group that we've looked at in the past. It has come under review. Consideration in the past has been given as to whether it should be listed as a terrorist organisation under Australian domestic law.
These things are always constantly kept under review. Given the events of the last couple of days, obviously that now comes into consideration and review again. I don't want to say anything which, for example, would prejudice the rights of those people who have been detained or who have been arrested. Obviously, we presume their innocence, but we're dealing with a very serious situation here. So all of those things that you've referred to, the security arrangements, they will of course be in the normal course of events, exhaustively reviewed and assessed.
DAVID SPEERS: But you said you've looked at Al-Shabaab in the past and it obviously hasn't been listed as a terrorist organisation here in Australia. Is that because no connection was found with al-Qaeda?
STEPHEN SMITH: I don't obviously want to go into the details of that earlier consideration. Suffice to say that it has been listed by some countries as a terrorist organisation. These things we keep under constant review, but when we have events like we've seen in the last 24 - 48 hours, obviously that review is heightened and that will now fall for further consideration by the Attorney-General.
In terms of its links, obviously one of things that we are generally concerned about is that just as governments have conversations one to the other, so do terrorist organisations have conversations. That's one of the points we've made in the past, that we're dealing here with an international phenomenon. We need to be vigilant, not just for Australians living and working in Australia, but also for Australians off-shore.
And there's no one spot where terrorism is reserved exclusively for, so we have challenges in South East Asia, we obviously have challenges in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border area, but there are obviously challenges in Somalia as well, which has, for the last two decades, effectively been a lawless or a stateless society.
DAVID SPEERS: Now Minister, the Pacific Islands Forum, the reason we're here in Cairns. The Pacific leaders, many of them are saying Australia needs to do more on climate change, it needs to set a target to reduce emissions of 50 per cent by 2020, well above what the Government's committed to.
What do you say to those leaders, many of them who are the most vulnerable when it comes to global warming?
STEPHEN SMITH: What we say to them is that Australia is effectively leading the way on climate change. Our first act was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. We've set a very ambitious target on the basis of going to Copenhagen with a maximum range of a 25 per cent reduction on year 2000 levels by 2020.
I don't think that the Pacific Island Forum leaders will be setting targets. Obviously we want to have a keen conversation about climate change because...
DAVID SPEERS: And offer more help?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well we have a substantial program in the climate change assistance or abatement area - $150 million dollars in our last budget. Penny Wong and I will be making some further announcements about the detail of that. But yes, we obviously want to give practical assistance as well. But we're looking at the Forum to have a good conversation about climate change because, of course, the Forum occurs in the run up to Copenhagen.
But climate change is one of the things which weighs very heavily on the Pacific Island Forum leaders just as the adverse consequences of the economic recession...
DAVID SPEERS: Well just on that, this is a region where poverty is apparently getting worse. The figures show that one in four households in the Pacific live below the poverty line. These leaders want more aid from Australia. Will that be forthcoming?
STEPHEN SMITH: One of the things that we have on the list for consideration is better coordination of our development assistance, not just Australia. Australia, of course works very closely with New Zealand, but there are other so-called donor countries or organisations as well, the European Union for example.
So, the so-called Post Forum Dialogue on Friday will have at its heart, better coordination of development assistance. But we want a consideration of the adverse consequences of the economic recession and better coordination so far as assistance is concerned, development assistance is concerned.
We want to see the economy in the Pacific grow because that's good not just for individual countries, but also obviously good for the region.
DAVID SPEERS: All right, Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, thank you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks David.
DAVID SPEERS: Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
[ENDS]
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