Interview with Steve Price, Melbourne Talk Radio

Subjects: Korean Peninsula, New Zealand mine rescue, Australian domestic politics

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

24 November 2010

STEVE PRICE: Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd joins us. Andrew, stay there with us.

In Canberra, Mr Rudd, good morning.

KEVIN RUDD: Good morning, Steve, how are you?

STEVE PRICE: I'm good, thank you. I was on the set of 7PM last night when the news came through here and we all looked at each other and thought, boy, this is very serious. I mean, how serious is it?

KEVIN RUDD: It's a significant development. The regime has been erratic, as Andrew's just said, over a long period of time - erratic, dangerous and destabilising.

But there's been three big events in the last several months: the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, on top of that recent reports concerning their uranium enrichment program, and then this unprovoked attack on a South Korean island. It's a dangerous environment in which we are in but I think calm heads around the region and around the world will prevail.

STEVE PRICE: I understand everybody, including yourself, needs to be careful about, you know, speculating on the timing of all of this but we had an American official in North Korea, there was inspections going on of their nuclear - of their uranium enrichment program. We've also had obviously speculation about a leadership change in North Korea. Are either of those things connected with what happened yesterday or is this just a border skirmish?

KEVIN RUDD: Steve, anyone who pretends to know actually what goes on in the minds of the North Korean leadership deserves a medal - and gets it right, I mean - because this is one of the most difficult to read, opaque regimes anywhere in the world.

Overnight I've spoken with the US Assistant Secretary of State, the South Korean Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister Kim, as well as yesterday with the Japanese Foreign Minister, who was in town.

We'll be coordinating our actions in response to this provocative act by the North Koreans but, as I said, it's important and I believe it's our common resolve to respond calmly, methodically, carefully, to what's occurring here but also to ask our friends in Beijing to apply maximum pressure to a regime in North Korea which is becoming an increasing danger to stability and security in our entire region.

STEVE PRICE: Am I right to remember that our connections or our relationship with North Korea is pretty good?

KEVIN RUDD: I think that's a bit of a radical overstatement.

STEVE PRICE: Okay, I'm sorry about that. I mean, but we had...

KEVIN RUDD: No, what we did several years ago is we re-established diplomatic relations.

We do not have a resident mission in Pyongyang, it's accredited out of Beijing. Actually, no, it's accredited out of Seoul. It used to be accredited out of Beijing.

But the bottom line is it's a difficult relationship because their international behaviour is so erratic and destabilising.

Andrew again made reference before to their nuclear weapons program. In the past we've been concerned about their plutonium, sources for what's called fissile material for the development of nuclear weapons. Recent reports have added a further potential source of fissile material and that is this uranium enrichment program. All these matters are of deep concern therefore bringing maximum pressure to bear on the North Koreans is critical.

That's where our friends in China have a significant role to play.

STEVE PRICE: Do we know what might happen today? And how will we know if there's been further developments? This is a pretty remote part of the world, isn't it?

KEVIN RUDD: Well, I was only in the Republic of Korea, South Korea, a few weeks ago. This is a highly sophisticated country, as opposed to that which faces it across the north and across...

STEVE PRICE: But this island we're talking about, what do you know about that?

KEVIN RUDD: My understanding is it's about 12 kilometres off what's called the northern limit and therefore it's in an area where it's possible that you will see over time - and we have seen in the past - areas of North Korean military activity but the bottom line is this: I am deeply concerned that if North Korea continues to engage in provocative behaviour like this, you've got to put yourself in the position, ultimately, of President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea and the domestic political pressure that he has been under since the sinking of one of his own naval vessels, without provocation, by the North several months ago, with the loss of nearly 50 sailors' lives.

Now this attack yesterday with the loss of a further two South Korean soldiers, it's a very difficult and testing time for President Lee Myung-bak. I believe his response will be calm and responsible but he'll be under significant domestic political pressure also to be firm.

STEVE PRICE: Who will you talk to today about this?

KEVIN RUDD: We'll maintain our dialogue with the Americans on this. I'll probably speak again with the US Assistant Secretary of State and others in the Administration.

We, as I said, overnight I've spoken with the South Korean Foreign Minister himself. We'll also deal with friends and partners in the region. The key thing is to make sure our response is coordinated and I go back to a theme that I have mentioned a number of times this morning: it's very important for our friends in China to exercise their maximum influence on Beijing, given - on Pyongyang, the North Korean capital - given China's historically close relationship with the North Koreans. They have an interest, like the rest of us, in maintaining the stability of the region.

STEVE PRICE: What role does our Embassy play there in South Korea today? I mean, do they talk to Australian businesses based there?

KEVIN RUDD: Well, our Ambassador to South Korea right now is in Canberra, in fact I'll be catching up with him later today and we'll make a decision then about whether to send him straight back.

He's here for consultations, together with other heads of mission from North Asia - heads of diplomatic missions from North Asia - but we are dealing directly at this stage with the foreign ministries of relevant capitals.

In terms of the normal support and advice from the Australian Government through its embassies to business communities, including that in South Korea, we'll be maintaining open lines of communication.

I think it's important for people to be calm and confident that the South Korean government is behaving entirely responsibly and appropriately in the face of this enormous provocation but, as I said, I am concerned about what the North does next given we've had three big ones in only a few months.

STEVE PRICE: Just switching attention to New Zealand, we've given as much assistance as we possibly can to that Pike River Greymouth mine collapse. That's just such a heart wrenching story and as each day goes past, hope for those 29 men, obviously two Australians, fades. We've seen more robots - another robot, I think, there from Western Australia and we've given as much assistance as we can, I guess.

KEVIN RUDD: Well Steve, this is a - one of those stories which makes your heart bleed. The families are going through sheer hell at the moment in terms of the waiting game. What's our responsibility as an Australian Government? Probably in two parts.

The first is when you've got families in distress, to provide them with every level of practical support to get there, to get to Greymouth. And to provide them with ongoing support and information about what's happening in relation to rescue and recovery efforts for their loved ones. So that's why we've had our Consul General on the ground, from Wellington, despatched to Greymouth from day one.

The second area of support, of course, is to make sure that through Emergency Management Australia, we have the proper coordination of the delivery of the people and the expertise and the equipment that New Zealand has ask for, to assist in this rescue and recovery effort.

STEVE PRICE: Yeah, let's just hope and pray for them. Just, if I can, while I've got you - I know you've got to go - the - a very significant date today, you'd recall.

KEVIN RUDD: Well, three years ago the Australian Labor Government was elected. A number of people have asked me this morning about the significance of this. I think that's for the historians to judge. But one thing I'd say very plainly is that if you look at the history of the last three years, around the rest of the world, most of the other economies around the world have gone crashing into recession with massive levels of unemployment. This economy has not. We've remained out of recession and that's because the Australian Government took decisive action to make sure that didn't happen.

STEVE PRICE: The Australian newspaper has taken the opportunity this morning...they've been leaked - what they say is a full transcript of what you said to the caucus on the morning of Thursday, 24 June this year, and they have highlighted the comment from you where you say 'when Julia and I met last night, we agreed on a way through this, which would not have resulted in us being here this morning. Later in the evening Julia came and told me she had received advice I no longer had the confidence and support of the caucus. As a consequence I called the ballot this morning.'

Is that what happened?

KEVIN RUDD: Steve, you know something, I've maintained a consistent policy since the 23/24 June, which is not to comment on the details of that day, or the events leading up to it and I'll be maintaining that policy today. The reason's very simple. The country's got big challenges and those challenges are bigger than the personal political interests of any individual, including me.

STEVE PRICE: Are you disappointed that the transcript of what you said that day has been sent to The Australian?

KEVIN RUDD: I've been around for a long, long time Steve, and I've seen things like this happen on many, many times in the past. Nothing surprises me in politics any more and so - but as I said, going back to your first question about the third anniversary of the election of this Australian Government, the bottom line is this; people should just ask themselves one fundamental question about the economy.

If you lived anywhere else in the world, you would have been ravaged by recession and double digit unemployment. In Australia, that's not the case and that's because the Australian Government led and took decisive action to keep our economy out of recession, to prevent a half a million Australians from losing their jobs. I believe that's been a job well done.

STEVE PRICE: So you'd agree - you disagree, obviously. Tony Abbott's used today's date to say this morning that since you ended 11 years of Coalition rule, that the government has no agenda, no vision and he says it's chalk and cheese when compared to the former Hawke/Keating Governments.

KEVIN RUDD: Well let me just make two or three quick points. One, this Australian Government faced the greatest single threat to global economic stability since the Great Depression and we came through with flying colours with the Australian economy not going into recession. Point one.

Point two. This Australian Government brought Australia into the councils of the G20. For the first time in our history we're at the top table of global economic decision-making.

Point Three. This government has assisted fundamentally in reshaping our region's foreign policy architecture by helping to bring America into the region and a new institution. That's been important as well.

Point Four. The biggest health and hospital reform program the country's seen since the introduction of Medicare.

And point five. Attending to the great unfinished business of delivering an apology to the first Australians.

These are five core achievements. I could go on, but I believe these are there, on the record, and people make their own judgements.

STEVE PRICE: We could give you 10 or so couldn't we?

KEVIN RUDD: We could....

STEVE PRICE: [Laughs]

KEVIN RUDD: ...well we could go through a whole range of things Steve, but the bottom line is this, and I think the Australian people have been around long enough to deal with, you know, overblown political statements by Mr Abbott or anyone else and simply go to the core facts of what's been done.

No government's perfect, but I believe this Government's strong record of achievement, on keeping the economy out of recession - when you look at Europe, look at North America and just ask yourself what would happen if we were living there, and the reason is we chose to do things differently here. We kept Australia out of recession. And that means so many working families listening to your program this morning have a job; otherwise if they were in other parts of the world they would not.

STEVE PRICE: Appreciate your time.

KEVIN RUDD: Thanks Steve.

STEVE PRICE: Good on you. Kevin Rudd there.

END

Media enquiries