Joint doorstop, Bali Process Ministerial Conference

Transcript, E&OE, proof only

  • Kevin Rudd, Minister for Foreign Affairs
  • Chris Bowen, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship

29 March 2011

KEVIN RUDD: I saw the Foreign Minister in Jakarta this morning; I saw the President as well. And so there are no easy fixes in this business but we will be working hard with our Indonesian colleagues.

JOURNALIST: Is the main goal reaching our regional agreement or having the processing centre as part of that agreement?

KEVIN RUDD: We are working our way through each of the issues and to say what we have said many times before, there are no easy fixes here, but many, many countries are in attendance. We have been working hard with the delegations, the officials have as well, but one step at a time.

JOURNALIST: Does likely progress on a regional cooperation framework give you any reason to hope that the type of processing centre you have been talking about has a hope?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well certainly, as Kevin said, we are very focused on working together with our regional colleagues to develop a framework.

Kevin and I will be arguing for better regional cooperation.

We believe part of that is an assessment centre as part of a broader framework but one step at a time. These are complex diplomatic negotiations and we will be engaging in very serious discussions with our colleagues from around the region over the next 24 hours.

JOURNALIST: So you don’t see any hope at the moment...

JOURNALIST: We are hearing that Timor has not been discussed in any of those meetings or discussions today at the official level.

CHRIS BOWEN: We have been consistent that this is about a framework. This is about an assessment centre but the location of the assessment centre is for bilateral discussion, not for discussion through the Bali Meeting itself.

JOURNALIST: Does the bilateral push actually undermine what you are on about here? A regional approach to asylum seekers and processing; a bilateral push hatched on the eve of an election?

CHRIS BOWEN: No, not at all. What we are talking about is a framework, and a framework then of course has its component parts, are further bilateral discussions.

JOURNALIST: Has a Timor Centre been mentioned in any of your trips up here at Jakarta – the Prime Minister as well, have always said as well that it would be discussed at the Bali Process and it is now not going to be...

CHRIS BOWEN: No, we have always said that a Regional Framework with a regional assessment centre as part of that, would be discussed at the Bali Process, at this meeting of course, and it will be. But the actual physical location of course, is also a matter of discussion on a bilateral basis.

KEVIN RUDD: Just before I head inside to do some other things, guys, I want to also say that I had the opportunity for good discussions this morning with the President and the Foreign Minister about this year’s East Asia Summit.

The Summit is going to be hosted here in Indonesia. It is the first one the United States will attend. It is therefore a critical meeting for the future of our regional institutions for the future on peace, on security, on strategic challenges as well as our economic cooperation.

So we have had a very good discussion on what will be an important strategic year for building this region’s institutions long term and having said that guys, we have got to zip.

END

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