Transcript E&OE
21 October 2009
Joint Press Conference with the Vice Governor of West Sumatra Marlis Rahman, Padang, West Sumatra
Subject: Australian Assistance to West Sumatra, people smuggling, disaster relief.
VICE GOVERNOR: Ladies and Gentlemen, today we are going to have a press conference with his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, so I would like to give the opportunity to you (Mr Smith to speak).
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks very much Vice Governor. I am very pleased to be here together with Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia, to be able to inspect on the ground the assistance Australia is giving to Padang and the surrounding area in the aftermath of the terrible earthquakes.
Can I firstly publicly, as I did privately, express to you, to the Governor, the Mayor and the people of Padang, Australia's deepest condolences at the terrible loss of life and the terrible tragedy that has fallen upon your city and your area.
Today you reminded me of the terrible extent of the tragedy: over a thousand people killed; over a thousand people seriously injured; over a hundred thousand homes destroyed; and over two hundred public buildings destroyed. This is a terrible tragedy and both Indonesia generally, and Australia and the international community want to play its part in helping to rebuild your community.
Yesterday in Jakarta, Prime Minister Rudd and I attended President Yudhoyono's inauguration and after his inauguration, we were able to have a meeting. Both the President and the Prime Minister are very pleased with the cooperation between Australia and Indonesia, which has seen Australia bring assistance to your area.
Importantly, everything we have done here has been done in close cooperation with Indonesia and its relevant agencies. Very importantly, there has been very close cooperation between the Australian Defence Forces and the TNI. We welcome that very much and the President and the Prime Minister are very pleased with that very close cooperation.
In addition to assisting with search and rescue activities, Australia of course is making a contribution to recovery and reconstruction. The Mayor, the Governor and the Vice Governor have all this morning told me how important Australia's role has been in providing fresh water to the local community and we are very pleased to be able to provide such a vital essential item to the local community.
Our longer-term recovery and reconstruction assistance will be aimed at the rebuilding of schools and the rebuilding of health facilities, providing essential services for children: education and essential services in the health area for the local people.
Finally, Vice Governor can I just take this opportunity to thank the Australian officials who have worked so hard and so well, from the Australian Defence Forces, from AusAID, and from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who have done a lot of hard work to render assistance.
We are very pleased with their efforts and very grateful for their efforts. They tell me as well that they very much enjoy being here, they very much enjoy working closely with the Indonesian people and that's a very good thing both for Australia and for Indonesia.
And in conclusion can I thank you, the Governor who I saw at the airport this morning, the Mayor and the General for your very kind hospitality and welcome this morning.
VICE GOVERNOR: Inaudible.
On behalf of the people and Government of West Sumatra I would like to thank very much your Excellency and please send our best regards to the Prime Minister of Australia. Thank you very much. I cannot say anything much but thank you very much for the participation and coordination of your team. And we really enjoy working together with Australia. Thank you.
MAYOR OF PADANG: Statement inaudible.
JOURNALIST: Inaudible… Can you comment on people smuggling in the Australia-Indonesia relationship?
STEPHEN SMITH: Just as Australia and Indonesia have been working very closely to render assistance to Padang and its people, so Australia and Indonesia have been working very closely to deal with large numbers of displaced people moving throughout our region. We've seen areas of the world with very serious military conflicts, which are pushing people to our region, from areas of conflict like the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area and Sri Lanka. And as a consequence of the movement of displaced people, Australia and Indonesia are working very closely together to deal with this difficultly. Together we chair the Bali process, which is the regional institution which seeks to put a regional focus on this difficult issue.
And countries in our region are also members of the Bali Process, like Malaysia, like Thailand and Australia and Indonesia have very good cooperation in this area. Yesterday Prime Minister Rudd and President Yudhoyono spoke about our cooperation. But there is a need to enhance our cooperation because, as a consequence of conflict in Sri Lanka, we now see more displaced people potentially coming to Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia.
This of course is a very difficult issue and a difficult challenge for us, but we work closely together. My own view is that working on difficult issues, like recovery and reconstruction, like the challenge of people smugglers and people movements, reflects the strength of the Australia Indonesia relationship. We don't just do easy things together, we work on hard things together as well.
So Australia and Indonesia are not just friends in good times, we are friends in good times and bad times. We're friends and work closely on easy issues. We're friends and work closely on the hard and the tough issues. And that's what we are doing together on people smuggling and people movement.
JOURNALIST: Inaudible
STEPHEN SMITH: I can't deal with a hypothetical situation. What we do know from the science, from the advice of Indonesian and Australian experts, is that this part of the world is at risk of further earthquakes and further tsunamis.
We've known this since Aceh, and since Aceh the disaster relief coordination, the disaster response coordination between Australia and Indonesia, and between the ASEAN countries, is much better.
But both Indonesia and Australia think that we can do even better and yesterday when President Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Rudd spoke, they spoke about seeking to enhance better disaster relief and disaster response coordination throughout our region. And this is something which will be discussed in the relevant regional forums, like the East Asia Summit.
The other area where we have now made considerable improvement is with tsunami early warning systems. But again, we think there are ongoing improvements that can be made in tsunami early warning systems.
The other thing of course we can do is to look at suggestions that the Mayor made. In an area which has been the subject of an earthquake and a tsunami, when the recovery and reconstruction does occur, we need to have thought about taking sensible precautions to improve the facilities, to improve the infrastructure, and to improve the capacity to get people out of the area safely if events like an earthquake or a tsunami happen again.
So none of us can foretell when a natural disaster may occur: the timing, the extent, and the location. But we do have to make as much sensible preparation and precaution as we can. That's not just an issue for Indonesia or Australia. It's an issue for the ASEAN countries, it's an issue for the Pacific countries, it's an issue for our region, and we all need to work closely together on that task. It's another example of the challenge that a country faces which it can't deal with alone. It can only be dealt with by working closely with neighbours and friends and partners in the region.
Thank you, thanks very much.
JOURNALIST: How much has Australia spent on earthquake recovery?
STEPHEN SMITH: For the search and rescue and initial emergency assistance, nearly $4 million Australian, about $3.8 million Australian.
For the recovery and reconstruction, for the rebuilding of schools and health facilities, about $10-$12 million Australian. On schools can I just make this point, Australia and Indonesia as part of our partnership for development assistance, already have a school building program. Our current partnership will see the building of 2000 schools throughout Indonesia as a result of the partnership between Australia and Indonesia.
And last year, with Foreign Minister Wirajuda in South Sulawesi, together we opened the 1000th school built in Indonesia under this program.
So we have a lot of experience together building schools in partnership and that's why it's a natural thing for Australia to do to try and help rebuild schools that have been damaged or destroyed by earthquakes or tsunamis.
[ENDS]
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