Julie Bishop - Member for Curtin

Sky News, PM Agenda with David Lipson

Subjects: Meeting with Indonesian President Yudhoyono; border protection; death of Australian soldier in Afghanistan; Melinda Taylor’s release
 
E&OE…
 
DAVID LIPSON    There was also another meeting this afternoon with Tony Abbott. Tony Abbott, Julie Bishop and also Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and some of his Ministers met for some time just a short time ago. Of course the Coalition’s policy of towing boats back to Indonesia as you mentioned there David is a very controversial one, it is not one the Indonesians are keen on at all, and I spoke to the Deputy Leader, the [Shadow] Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop a short time ago and started by asking her exactly about this point.
 
Julie Bishop thanks for your time. Can you tell us how the meeting went in regard to the Coalition’s policy to tow boats back to Indonesia?
 
JULIE BISHOP    Tony Abbott and I had a very warm and cordial meeting President Yudhoyono and a number of his Cabinet Ministers. The discussion was confidential; we talked about a whole range of matters. Indonesia is one of our most important relationships, Indonesia should be one of our most important foreign policy priorities and it was appropriate that Tony and I come to Darwin and meet with the President while he was here and with his Ministers. I will be having a meeting shortly with Foreign Minister Natalegawa but we did express the view that these discussions would be kept confidential and of course that is appropriate.
DAVID LIPSON    I understand that the conversations are kept confidential but in the past Marty Natalegawa has been very critical of the Coalition’s policy in public. He said it is impossible and not advisable to shift the nature of the challenge from one end of the continuum to the other. So is this an area where the two policies can actually gel together – yours and Indonesia’s?
 
JULIE BISHOP    I have met with Marty Natalegawa recently in Jakarta and we had a very wide ranging discussion at that time. Again, very warm, very friendly, very productive. And we intend, should we win government at the next election, we intend to make Indonesia one of our most important foreign policy priorities. I intend to meet with the Foreign Minister on a regular basis, Tony Abbott has already stated publicly that his first visit, should he become Prime Minister of the country, would be to Indonesia. And so there will be ongoing discussions with Indonesian officials, with the President, with Ministers about the whole gamut of issues that exist between Australia and Indonesia.
 
DAVID LIPSON    But the bottom line, is the Coalition going to be able to implement this policy to tow boats back to Indonesian waters?
 
JULIE BISHOP    The Coalition’s policy has worked in the past and we are committed to implementing that policy and we are sure that it will work again. It worked under the Howard government, the policies of offshore processing at Nauru or Manus Island if necessary, temporary protection visas and …
 
DAVID LIPSON    Just on towing back the boats – sorry to interrupt, but Indonesia has very publicly stated its opposition to this policy, can the two work together?
 
JULIE BISHOP    And we will work very diligently behind the scenes with Indonesia to ensure that we can stop the boats and stop these tragic deaths occurring at sea and put some integrity back into Australia’s border protection.
 
DAVID LIPSON    On a few other issues. Afghanistan, another tragic death of an Australian soldier there. He had completed seven rotations, seven tours of duty in Afghanistan, are we putting too much pressure and asking too much of our special forces soldiers?
 
JULIE BISHOP    Well first I extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the soldier’s family and friends and colleagues. It is a very sad day when such a tragic event occurs in Afghanistan and we all feel it, we all feel it as a nation.
 
The question of rotations is of course a matter for the military, they are the experts in this field and the government – and if we were in government – must rely on that advice, that advice from the military. It has been a long campaign and we were committed to it for the long term. Tragically that means that there are consequences such as we have seen today. But on the question of actual rotations and the number of times that our experienced SAS soldiers go to Afghanistan, I will leave that to the Defence experts.
 
DAVID LIPSON    Okay, Melinda Taylor, obviously your initial reaction there. I will just get that first.
 
JULIE BISHOP    We welcome the fact that Melinda Taylor has been released. She has been detained in Libya since the 7th of June. She was there as an official from the International Criminal Court. At the time I said that I could see no reason why she would detained particularly as she would have attracted immunity. And I am delighted that the President of the International Criminal Court made a personal intervention, President Song personally intervened and that seemed to be a critical intervention. I note that he paid great tribute to the Italian government for their support and likewise I acknowledge the efforts of the Italian government in their support to secure her release and that of the rest of her team.
 
DAVID LIPSON    What about Bob Carr’s intervention? He was pretty public about what exactly what he was doing along the way, in the end the result has been a very positive one but you were very critical of the megaphone diplomacy that you said he was engaging in.
 
JULIE BISHOP    I was concerned by the unorthodox approach. Whenever I have been briefed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on matters involving Australian citizens in trouble overseas the message, the advice is clearly not to have a running commentary through the media. I think that is the advice that Melinda Taylor’s parents also received, that it is best not to have a running commentary. It can often work against a person’s situation.
 
However in these circumstances I have assumed that Senator Carr was acting on the Department’s advice and the result has been the fact that Melinda Taylor has been released, so we are all grateful for that. I don’t know particularly what influence Senator Carr had over that, he did travel to Tripoli. I note that the Australian Ambassador from Italy, David Richie, also went to Tripoli in the first instance and he was able to secure a 90 minute consular meeting with Melinda Taylor and we also acknowledge the great efforts he put in and the rest of the diplomatic staff.
 
DAVID LIPSON    Julie Bishop, thank you.
 
JULIE BISHOP    My pleasure.