Interview with David Koch, Sunrise, Seven Network

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

Subjects: Japan; Libya

21 March 2011

DAVID KOCH: I'm joined by Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd. Good to see you. First to Japan. Still hundreds of Aussies there. Some want to come home but apparently can't afford it. Have a listen to what expat Cathy Fisher had to say to our reporter Nick McCallum.

CATHY FISHER: The Australian government has been calling me today and telling me to – to go home, so – but that's not really much of a help right now, to just tell me to leave.

DAVID KOCH: Now, I should point out Cathy has lived in Japan for 30 years. Kevin, how can the government help in these sorts of cases?

KEVIN RUDD: Thanks, Kochie. Also I couldn't quite hear everything that Mrs Fisher was saying but I'm broadly aware of the case.

First and foremost is the question of seat availability in getting out of Japan. As of today there are several hundred seats on commercial flights available, out of Japan to Australia.

Secondly, if a person cannot afford to buy the ticket, then we, the Australian government, are providing consular loans to cover the cost of the ticket and we have very, shall I say, flexible repayment arrangements for that.

Thirdly, if a person can't get a hold of their passport or it's been not used for a long time and it's out of date, if you are in an affected area from this earthquake and tsunami, we've made arrangements to provide emergency passports and discretion for our local officers to provide fee-waivers for the provision of those passports.

DAVID KOCH: Okay, that's good. So there's a lot of support there for people. They just have to – have to go and ask.

Let's move on to Libya. The air strikes. Do you support the air strikes even if they've harmed civilians?

KEVIN RUDD: I notice very carefully a statement from the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who we in Australia know very well. Mike Mullen said that he had no information before him that civilian casualties had resulted from air strikes. I think it's realistic to assume, however, that that ongoing risk exists. The targeting strategy employed by the Americans, by the French and the British will be the absolute best possible and we should also be very sceptical about anything which Qaddafi says publicly on this matter.

DAVID KOCH: Yeah, there's a bit of a propaganda war obviously going on as well.

Look, are you concerned about the Arab League withdrawing support? Has this been a bit of a blow for the offensive? Initially they supported it, now they seem to have done a complete back flip.

KEVIN RUDD: I've seen this debate about what actually the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, has said. I saw Amr Moussa when I was in Cairo a week or so ago and I've been on the phone to him. There is now genuine uncertainty about what he has said. One news report this morning has said that he has been misquoted and misrepresented and that they are not his views.

Furthermore, we now have a statement out of British officials saying that Amr Moussa, I should say, has been the subject of mistranslation.

I think, knowing how strongly Amr Moussa felt about this, when I've been in contact with him, I'd be surprised if his views have been represented completely accurately.

Let's give it a few more hours to establish the exact truth of what he's said and whether a clarifying statement has come out.

DAVID KOCH: Okay. All right, Kevin Rudd, thanks for joining us.

KEVIN RUDD: Thanks for having us on the program, Kochie.

END

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