Interview with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith by Madonna King, ABC 612 Brisbane
Topic: Search for mining executives charter plane
Transcript, proof copy E&OE
21 June 2010
MADONNA KING: Stephen Smith is the Foreign Affairs Minister. Minister, good morning.
STEPHEN SMITH: Good morning, Madonna.
MADONNA KING: It's now night in the area. Has the search been called off for the interim?
STEPHEN SMITH: Well, the search for the day has completed because it's now the middle of the night in West Africa. But at the completion of the search today, Africa time, there was no conclusive evidence. So the search will resume at first light tomorrow, subject, of course, to weather conditions.
MADONNA KING: Is there a confined search area?
STEPHEN SMITH: There's no confined search area. What we do know is that the plane made two, as I'm advised, standard contacts with ground control a couple of minutes after departure and then 30 minutes into the flight. So the focus of the search area is near the border area, the border between Cameroon and the Congo and also Gabon, the three countries intersecting there.
MADONNA KING: And the search being undertaken will reactivate, I guess, tomorrow morning. Is that being done by air or by ground, Minister?
STEPHEN SMITH: At this stage it's being done by air, both by fixed wing aircraft and also by helicopters. There's an expectation that there'll be an additional helicopter or helicopters tomorrow.
It's being coordinated, as you would expect, by the Cameroon authorities but they are working in close consultation with the company itself. The company is allocating a helicopter of its own and there are offers from at least one other mining company for a helicopter, a helicopter or helicopters to be made available.
So it's being coordinated by the Cameroon authorities. I spoke to the Chief Financial Officer of the company last night, who's in Perth, and there's very close cooperation between the company and the Cameroon authorities. And of course we have our High Commissioner to Nigeria on the ground in Cameroon and we're supplementing him with two extra officers to be able to assist the company on the ground there, but also for the key liaison with the authorities.
MADONNA KING: And can you confirm that the company says six Australians, one person from the United Kingdom, one from the USA and a French citizen who has an Australian passport. Is there only Ken Talbot from Queensland or is there someone else as well?
STEPHEN SMITH: The person who's being referred to there is a person who is a French citizen. As a consequence of that the formal consular responsibilities and action will be done by the French authorities. But it is a person who is a permanent resident, lives in Brisbane, with relatives in Brisbane, so we have been and will continue to be in contact with the French authorities and also with the Talbot company.
So we will also provide whatever assistance we can to the family members who are based in Australia, of that French citizen, but we're obviously concerned about her safety and wellbeing as we are the Australians who've been named by the two companies, Talbot Resources and the Western Australian company.
MADONNA KING: Sundance.
STEPHEN SMITH: Sundance.
MADONNA KING: Yes. Appreciate your time, Minister, thank you.
STEPHEN SMITH: Thanks, Madonna, thanks very much.
MADONNA KING: That's the Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith.
ENDS
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