Transcript of Joint Press Conference with Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett

Subjects: 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), G-20, APEC, asylum seekers, Indonesian volcano, Zahra Baker, Aung San Suu Kyi

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

13 November 2010

COLIN BARNETT: Well I'm very pleased to welcome Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, to Western Australia. And I thank you for making a special trip over to have a meeting this morning to discuss preparations for CHOGM. CHOGM is 12 months away. It will be the biggest event in Western Australia since the Commonwealth Games back in 1962.

What we've done this morning is have a go-through and take a stock take on some of the major issues to be resolved, such as security, policing, venue choice and the whole procedure itself.

We've also had a look at two venues, obviously here at Government House. That will be used throughout CHOGM. We're also looking at potentially using Kings Park. So there's a lot of work to be done but I very much thank Kevin Rudd for coming over. We are in good shape and the cooperation between the Commonwealth and the state on CHOGM has been quite superb.

It's important for Australia. The Commonwealth Government is the host of this event and Western Australia understands that and respects that. Our role as a state government is simply to support the Commonwealth and to make sure that all the arrangements on the ground go smoothly, so that this can be a very memorable CHOGM and a great opportunity for Australia and particularly Perth to promote itself internationally in the Indian Ocean and Asian region.

I'll hand over now to the Foreign Minister.

KEVIN RUDD: Thanks very much Premier. Good to be back in Perth and good to be here with the Premier talking about the practical arrangements for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which is less than one year away.

The Australian Government decided that the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting be held in Perth because Perth is Australia's gateway to the Indian Ocean region. Perth is Australia's western capital and so many Commonwealth countries are from this region. In fact nearly half the members of the Commonwealth are from the wider Indian Ocean region.

Therefore from our point of view, this is an important international occasion to showcase Perth, to showcase Western Australia to the world. This will be the single largest international political gathering in Australia's history. You will have something like 53 or so heads of government. You'll have a very large flock of foreign ministers. You'll have a significantly large cohort of senior government officials from countries from the United Kingdom, from Canada, from India, from Pakistan, from South Africa and all points in between.

The Commonwealth and its summit meetings are important for the Australian national interest. It brings together a vast array of significant developed and developing countries. It therefore provides a forum through which governments of the world can forge consensus on key global challenges. We saw that only 12 months ago at the last Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Port of Spain in Trinidad, where we were able to forge a consensus on what's called fast start finance, from developed to developing countries on climate change.

That consensus having been formed at the Commonwealth level it was then in effect taken into the Copenhagen Accord, which was agreed only a month or so later at the meeting of the UNFCCC. I say that because it gives a practical example of how the Commonwealth helps deal with major global challenges. It brings together an unusual gathering of states. Nearly 20 African states are members of the Commonwealth. Small states, large states across the continent.

It brings together of course major countries from South Asia and of course major countries from the west. There are something like five members of the G20 who are Commonwealth members. The combined population of the Commonwealth is - represents something like a third of the population of the world. This is a significant gathering.

So in making the decision to have this event here in Perth, the Australian Government didn't do so just because we knew you'd do a good job. We know you will. It's not just because WA in itself is an economic powerhouse of the nation because it is. It's because Perth is Australia's western capital and Perth is our gateway to the wider Indian Ocean region where so much of the future global, economic and security activity will be occurring in the decades ahead.

Now the Premier and I this morning had a very productive conversation about logistics and that is where critical events will be held. We've just been though Government House here, this superb building, which has been refurbished and renovated in recent times. And I'm sure we'll be making full use to the extent that the Government and the Governor wishes us to for the purposes of CHOGM.

We've also been looking at possible use of aspects of Kings Park as well. We'll work our way through these details in the immediate months ahead. What I'd say to the Premier is that at a working level this is going terrifically well. There is a political summit which we've got our focus on. We've got a business summit where the roll up and the attendance is already formidable. That'll be held out at Burswood.

We've also got a people summit. We've also got a youth summit. And the youth summit will be focused down at Fremantle, which is why my friend and colleague, the Member for Fremantle, Melissa Parke is with us today as well.

The key thing though is to showcase Australia to a third of the world and also to showcase a third of the world to Australia, and to showcase that third of the world here in Perth.

Happy to take your questions.

QUESTION: Mr Rudd, you were too ill to attend APEC. Obviously you're better now and what do you think of Julia Gillard's performance on the world stage?

KEVIN RUDD: The Prime Minister has discharged her responsibilities at G20 and now at APEC appropriately and professionally. These are difficult agendas and they would be for any head of government representing Australia. The key thing when it comes to the G20 is to look at the substantive outcome. And I know for a fact Australia has been a key contributor to those outcomes, outcomes in terms of global financial regulation, outcomes in terms of the reform of the IMF, outcomes in terms of a new development agenda for the poorest countries on the planet and an outcome too in terms of how do we manage future current account imbalances around the world to provide continued stability for the global economy.

That's contained within the framework which was laid down in Pittsburgh, called the Framework for Strong, Balanced and Sustainable Economic Growth. If you were to go through the measures therefore of achievement of the G20, these are solid and sound and the Prime Minister has properly represented Australia's national interests at that gathering.

QUESTION: Ms Gillard says that foreign affairs isn't her passion. [Inaudible] advice?

KEVIN RUDD: The Prime Minister has appropriately and professionally represented the national interests of Australia at the G20 and she has done so at the East Asian Summit and as she is doing so at APEC. These are complex challenges for all countries and the Prime Minister of course has discharged her responsibilities representing our national interest well.

QUESTION: How would you describe your working relationship with Ms Gillard now?

KEVIN RUDD: My relationship with the Prime Minister, as I've said many times in the past, is positive and constructive. The business of Australian national government is not one in which personal political interests should in any way prevail. There are too many challenges facing Australia. Challenges on the global economic front. Look out there and look how fragile things are. This requires all shoulders to the wheel. The challenges of security, counter terrorism, the recent spate of incidents around the world and terrorism warnings. The big challenges domestically. This requires all to be working strongly in the national interest and the national interest is far bigger than any individual's personal interests.

QUESTION: Are you disappointed not to be at APEC today?

KEVIN RUDD: I was, as was just indicated in the previous question, having just been in China and in Korea and having just hosted Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and with us - with the Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, Bob Gates, the US Defence Secretary. I've been fairly busy in recent days and then the - then the body waved a white flag and said for God's sake go to bed. That's what my doctor said as well. So I did that for two days. I actually obeyed doctor's orders. I did have commitments here in Perth, including with the Premier and I was fit enough and well enough to travel yesterday.

QUESTION: [Inaudible question]

KEVIN RUDD: Protectionism is the enemy of all working people right around the world. Open markets is what serves the interests of working peoples right around the world. And therefore I note carefully the G20 Summit's communiqué, which stands resolutely in support of open trade and against protectionism. If we'd have learned one thing from economic history it's not to go down that road. It takes a crisis and then compounds it and makes the recovery from such a crisis even harder and more difficult.

On the question of the currency that you raise, our view, the Australian Government's view, is that in dealing with global financial imbalances we're dealing with a series of elements. One is the proper market valuation of currencies over time. The second is making sure that the fiscal houses of countries around the world is put in order. In this country we are proud of the fact that of the major developed economies we have the lowest debt and the lowest deficit. That's not the case of course in so many other economies at present and their fiscal houses need to be put in order and a clear trajectory back to budget surplus in those economies.

Of course there's a third element as well in providing future global economic stability and that's a program of structural economic reform. And that needs to enliven economic growth within borders.

If you look at the framework for balanced and sustainable and strong economic growth agreed at Pittsburgh, they are the three elements which we're taking forward. One element of that deals with currency questions. The Seoul Finance Minister's communiqué was very clear on this. We need to move over time to a greater market value of currencies. And it is our hope and expectation that will occur with all currencies.

QUESTION: Mr Rudd has the stalled plan for a detention centre in East Timor damaged Australia's reputation in the Asia Pacific?

KEVIN RUDD: Well our position on the question of a regional processing centre and a regional protection framework is pretty simple. One, it's being advanced on the condition that it is consistent with our international legal obligations under the Refugee Convention. Two, that it has the support of the relevant international organisations, UNHCR and the International Organisation of Migration. And thirdly it has the support of regional countries.

That's why we're advancing this through what's called the Bali Process and that involves a whole range of regional countries. Those negotiations continue and there is still a fair bit of work to be done, led by the Immigration Minister, supported by myself.

That process remains on track.

QUESTION: It was something that was announced [inaudible]. It certainly sounded as though it was going to happen tomorrow but it's certainly not that easy is it?

KEVIN RUDD: I think the Prime Minister has been quite consistent on this question, indicating that this will be a process which took time and negotiations do take time. I have had discussions myself with the Foreign Minister of Indonesia and of East Timor at the UN General Assembly in New York on this in September. There's still a ways to go yet on these questions.

QUESTION: Mr Rudd, would the Australian Government consider a further funding of aid to Indonesia, post volcano?

KEVIN RUDD: We have a very, very close relationship with our friends in Jakarta, when it comes to dealing with natural disasters. We're looking very closely at this unfolding natural disaster concerning this volcanic eruption. And of course we've dealt most recently with our friends in Indonesia, with the tsunami, which claimed so many hundreds of lives off the west coast of Sumatra.

The Indonesia Archipelago is riven with natural disasters, just given its geomorphology. Therefore we always stand ready to assist our friends in Indonesia. We've done so in the case of the most recent tsunami. In the case of this we stand ready through our offices from AusAID, located in the embassy in Jakarta to do more as well.

Indonesians are handling these disasters well and we always stand ready to assist. And I'll be next catching up with Indonesian leaders in the Bali Democracy Forum next month.

QUESTION: Is DFAT offering any assistance to the Australian mother of Zahra the girl in [indistinct]?

KEVIN RUDD: My advice is that yes, that is - that contact has occurred. The content of those conversations remain confidential. And that contact will continue I'm advised. Furthermore can I just say about this little girl, Zahra, this is just an unspeakable horror and tragedy. Just watching this little girl's face this morning on television, it's just makes your heart bleed when these sort of things happen. It's just awful.

QUESTION: [Inaudible].

KEVIN RUDD: Well I've said last night at a gathering with Melissa Parke down in Fremantle that those people of faith should offer a quiet prayer today for Aung San Suu Kyi. This woman is a woman of courage. There she is holding the torch of democracy alight in a country which has not given her the support she has needed in terms of its government for so many, many years. In fact have treated her with - have treated her appallingly.

We remain hopeful that the Burmese regime will honour their public commitments to release Aung San Suu Kyi. We are watching these developments very closely. We would call upon the Burmese regime to honour their public commitments to release her and to enable her to enjoy proper personal liberties upon her release.

These recently conducted Burmese elections have been far from free and far from fair. No international media was allowed in. No international election monitors were allowed in. We've had our embassies scrambled right across the country, with like minded countries, to try and provide whatever scrutiny we could provide on the conduct of these elections. A number of political parties have been prevented from participating but some democratic parties have participated.

We're watching equally the outcome therefore, the final outcome of these Burmese elections and will be very attentive to what Aung San Suu Kyi has to say if and when she's released.

Again, I call upon the Burmese regime to honour their commitments to release Aung San Suu Kyi and to release her without conditions on her freedom of movement and speech.

Now I'm about done I think on the federal front. The Premier has indicated that you want to harass him and a whole bunch of local questions. At which point I might haul up the white flag and run. So I might leave it there. Thank you for your attention here. Just to go back to CHOGM, this is going to be a very big event. The Premier and I have agreed we'll be keeping in touch every month or so to keep oversight on the details. This will be a fantastic event for the west, a fantastic event for Perth, fantastic event for Australia.

Thank you Premier.

END

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