Interview with Kieran Gilbert, Sky News

Subject: Cyclone Yasi; Unrest in Egypt

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

3 February 2011

KIERAN GILBERT: Good morning Leigh, good morning Sharon and with me on the line from Athens I have the Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd who's been in a series of bilateral meetings with his counterpart in Greece.

Mr Rudd as a Queenslander first of all, can I get your reaction to these events in your home state, the state battered again by Mother Nature.

KEVIN RUDD: I've been following the cyclone in Queensland closely from here. What you may be unaware of back home is the fact that it's also dominated a lot of the international coverage here and people have been deeply concerned around the region and the world about Queensland copping it again in the guts.

So we've had our fingers crossed in terms of the impact on far north Queensland and north Queensland. The reports do not sound good, those from Townsville and Cairns sound better but I'm waiting for full and detailed briefings on the precise level of damage. This has been a big kick in the guts for Queensland again but we'll come through this as we've come through the floods in the south.

KIERAN GILBERT: Mr Rudd as you say, you are awaiting further briefings. The advice that we have from Premier Bligh just a moment ago when she was talking to Leigh and Sharon is that essentially there are no reports of fatalities or serious injury at this point, it's still the early hours of the morning, but at this stage at least the worst fears don't seem to have been realised.

KEVIN RUDD: Well we'll all just hear the sigh of relief if that turns out to be the case. I mean I've been talking to Thérèse tonight about what's been going on in Queensland and it just worries anyone from our part of Australia to the pit of our stomach in terms of copping another one but if we come through this okay, that is terrific but I'd much rather get the fuller report in terms of what's happening.

I emphasise again the expressions of concern today about floods in Queensland and cyclones in Queensland from the President of Greece, the Prime Minister of Greece, Foreign Minister of Greece, with whom I've been having discussions about the situation in Egypt.

KIERAN GILBERT: Well let's have a chat about that now if we can. After days of fairly peaceful protest in the centre of Cairo, those protests unfortunately descended into violence overnight, obviously very concerning.

KEVIN RUDD: Well its own government deplores this violence which occurred in Tahrir Square and these have been attacks on peaceful demonstrators. Such attacks are unacceptable and they must not continue and again we call the Egyptian Government to take the steps necessary to ensure that its citizens are free to demonstrate safely.

Further more, I think the disturbing elements that we've seen in the square in the last 24 hours underlines the urgent need for negotiated and peaceful solution to the political crisis. And that this process of political reform must begin now.

KIERAN GILBERT: So first of all in terms of the violence itself there are some claims by anti-government protesters that these were thugs dispatched by the Mubarak forces to try and quell the protests. What do you make of those claims?

KEVIN RUDD: We're in no position to confirm the actual nature of those who were administering the violence and there have been claims and counter-claims about that. However we can make a fundamental observation is that whoever is responsible for initiating this violence, the authorities, that is the Egyptian authorities, have a responsibility to prevent it and to intervene when it occurs. That's why again we call upon the Government of Egypt to take all necessary measures to ensure that their citizens can protest peacefully and safely and that is not the case in the last 24 hours.

KIERAN GILBERT: The comments that you made, you want fundamental political reform, you're calling for fundamental political reform now.

So obviously from that statement you're not satisfied with Mubarak's commitment not to seek re-election in the presidential polls of September this year, that he should leave now?

KEVIN RUDD: Our view is that the process of political reform must begin now and it must involve all parties; those who are formally associated with the traditional opposition within Egypt but those also who represent other voices within the Egyptian body politic.

This has got to get underway now and whatever people's views may be of the September deadline which Mr Mubarak has spoken of, the process of political reform has to get underway. That's also the view of the President of the United States through his statement.

It's also the view of the British Prime Minister in statements he's made today, European time, at the same time as he met with the UN Secretary General at Downing Street. That's the Australian Government's view as well.

KIERAN GILBERT: But President Mubarak's held power with an iron grip for many years, as you know. What gives you any hope that he might expedite that process?

KEVIN RUDD: I believe there are fundamental democratic forces at play here which have decided that the time has come for them to give full expression to their views. And when you see the size, the magnitude, the intensity of the political expression, not just in Egypt but elsewhere across the Middle East, this is a fundamental phenomenon which is occurring and therefore the Egyptian authorities in our view must respond and must respond positively.

Ultimately this is a matter of course for the Egyptians themselves, but the views of the international community are very clear. Yesterday I was in Turkey and spoke with both the Turkish President and the Turkish Foreign Minister at the same time as the Turkish Prime Minister was in their parliament issuing a direct plea to President Mubarak to respond positively and directly to the aspirations being expressed by the people in the streets.

This is the first time a leader from the immediate regions, from the immediate Muslim region has expressed that view and I believe that also has been a contributing factor in the sentiments that we see on the ground.

I also Kieran, spoke today with the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Secretary General Moussa and expressed our views directly to him that what we and the rest of the world want to see is a peaceful response from the Egyptian authorities in dealing with peaceful protest and political reform and change must begin now.

KIERAN GILBERT: Mr Rudd, I know it's just before 11pm in Athens, so I'll let you go. Just one last question, we also have to get back to our cyclone coverage of course, but I just want to get your sense of, you know, the concern that when you replace a pro-western government like Mubarak has been with the unknown, are you worried that the unknown might be something like what we saw in Gaza for example where Hamas won a subsequent democratic poll?

KEVIN RUDD: We've been discussing that both today in Athens and yesterday in Ankara, obviously a new democratically elected government must reflect the plurality of views in Egypt. But the bottom line is any analysis of those on the street suggests that the Muslim Brotherhood represents one part of the crowd, one part of this protest movement, but there are overwhelming parts as well representing youth, representing a middle class frustrated through lack of political voice and others.

Kieran, before I go I should also say to your viewers this morning that I've just checked with our consular team in Frankfurt who confirmed that the - about 200 Australians passengers have arrived there safely from Cairo and are being processed by a team of about 15 Australian Government officials on the ground at Frankfurt Airport. And they appear to be in good spirits.

KIERAN GILBERT: Will that - that will be the last chartered flight planned at this stage then?

KEVIN RUDD: No, we are planning to provide another tomorrow based on my most recent information.

Also we continue our process with other friendly governments which is to share places - us sharing places throughout our aircraft and their aircraft when capacity exists to share with us. This is the normal arrangement that we have in place in crisis around the world and that will apply tomorrow as well.

KIERAN GILBERT: Mr Rudd, thanks so much for your time, I appreciate it.

KEVIN RUDD: Thanks for having me on your program.

END

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