Interview with Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Sefanovic, Today

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

Subjects: Japan earthquake 

17 March 2011

COMPERE: Well, for more on the Japanese disaster, I'm joined by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. Good morning to you, Mr Rudd.

KEVIN RUDD: Good morning.

COMPERE: This is, of course, an ever-changing situation. I'm wondering though if you could please give us the very latest travel advice. Are you asking Australians to leave Japan altogether or only those certain areas of Japan that are affected? And if so, for what reason?

KEVIN RUDD: Firstly, the reason we are suggesting that those who are not required as an essential matter to be in Tokyo or the eight affected prefectures, that they should depart. The names of those prefectures are given in the actual travel advice.

Secondly, your question is why, and the reason is, infrastructure in that part of Japan now is severely under pressure. There are problems in terms of electricity, power supply, as well as a whole range of other things as well. Schools being closed and the like – trains not functioning properly. And because of these pressures on public infrastructure, we are recommending that Australians should consider departing, as I said, from Tokyo and those eight affected prefectures.

COMPERE: So, it has nothing to do with radiation levels, it's purely to do with the breakdown of essential services?

KEVIN RUDD: It's to do with the breakdown of essential services. We continue to monitor, of course, by the minute and by the hour developments at the nuclear facility at Fukushima, and…

COMPERE: All right.

KEVIN RUDD: And that is what we'll be meeting on again today, early this morning, through the relevant officials and the National Security Committee of our Cabinet.

COMPERE: All right. And where are you advising them to go, Mr Rudd? To go to the south of Japan or to get out altogether?

KEVIN RUDD: The option for those in those locations is – having considered their need to be there as being essential or not. If it's not, they should depart the area. Where they go beyond those locations, either to the southern parts of Japan or out of the country is a matter for them. But that's the basis of the advice we have so far. That's what we've communicated in the travel advisory, as of 2.30pm yesterday, Australian time.

COMPERE: And is the Government assisting those people who want to leave, perhaps by organising flights to help get them out or paying for their tickets?

KEVIN RUDD: Well, let me put it to you in these terms. As of 5am this morning, on the Qantas flight for Australia from Narita, for 17 March, I'm advised there are still more than 250 seats available. There are other seats available on various other services, including Jetstar, out of Japan for Australia. So, the advice I have as at five this morning, is that there is quite considerable capacity on commercial flights. That, I'm advised, was also the case yesterday.

We will keep this under very close scrutiny. And furthermore, we have a team of six Australian consular officials who are permanently at Narita Airport to assist Australians seeking to return to Australia with practical information.

COMPERE: That is good news. Well, once again, the French Government is taking a more extreme approach to all of this. It's asking their residents to leave and is citing nuclear reasons for that. Do you believe then that that's a step too far?

KEVIN RUDD: What we do, and have done for a long time as a matter of practice, is work very closely with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, as well as New Zealand. We have done this over many, many decades. Therefore, we're very attentive to what the Americans are doing, including their own advisory agency, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the NRC.

We note there's been further statements from the NRC overnight. We're now corroborating those with officials concerning the actual scope of the exclusion zone around Fukushima, and we will, of course, be considering that within the course of the next hours.

COMPERE: All right. As we say, it is an ever-changing situation. Mr Rudd, we appreciate the update from you this morning. Thank you very much.

KEVIN RUDD: Can I give you one further piece of information on…

COMPERE: Certainly.

KEVIN RUDD: The number of Australians.

COMPERE: Yeah, certainly.

KEVIN RUDD: Just to update you further, overnight, and the material I'm quoting from here is dated as of 5.30 this morning, the number of Australians unaccounted for has come down to 55. This is good news.

Our consular team of officials have been out in the worst-affected areas of Japan locating Australians. One of those families is the Miller family. I notice in The Daily Telegraph this morning, they apparently say I had something to do with their rescue.

That's wrong. It's our embassy in Tokyo working with our consular team on the ground. They are doing fantastic work. That number has come down overnight from 103 to 55, and we're going to continue to work on this during the course of today.

COMPERE: All right. Mr Rudd, thank you very much for that.

END

Media enquiries