KEVIN RUDD M.P.

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and  International Security

GAVAN O’CONNOR M.P  Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries





TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP INTERVIEW- MONARTO, SOUTH  AUSTRALIA.

4 APRIL 2006

E & OE - PROOF ONLY

Subjects:     Developments in the Cole Inquiry; sale of uranium to Taiwan; Australia-Indonesia  relations; Afghanistan.

RUDD:   It is good to be here in the Murray river region to talk to local wheat  farmers and to representatives of the South Australian Farmers Federation about  the future of the single desk.

Gavan O’Connor and I are here today as part of our nation-wide consultation  with wheat farmers and peak bodies about what should happen in the future.  This is a $4 billion dollar export business for Australia. It is too important for our  wheat farmers to become the meat in the sandwich because of the Cole Inquiry.  We have got to make sure that our exporting arrangements are organised in the

best way possible for the future.

Here in South Australia where we produce something like 15% of the nation’s  wheat crop, it is critical that we get this right for the future.  80% of the wheat  grown in South Australia goes to exports and this is Australia’s third largest  wheat growing state. It is very important that we get these arrangements right  for the future.

Here we have had a range of views expressed by growers but also by the South  Australian Farmers Federation. There is an interest in how the cost structure as  that affects farmers can be improved, how the competitive environment which

farmers have to improve so that they can get a better return at their farm gate for  themselves.

A critical concern here of course is what we do to make sure that these  arrangements are the best for the next generation of farmers who are here to  make sure that they can continue a career on the land. If we don’t have new and  continuing farmers across our country, then frankly our rural industry is going  to be left behind.

REPORTER:    US Senators are asking the US Government to investigate AWB…

RUDD:   Well, I haven’t seen those reports in detail today. I was aware that there  are concerns being raised by various US Senators. You have always got to be  mindful of the fact that US Senators will be pursuing the interests of the  American wheat industry and wheat farmers.



At the same time, it is a disturbing development if apart from the Cole Inquiry,  the AWB now faces the potentiality of legal action in the United States as well. Of  course, none of this crisis would have occurred had the Howard Government  done its job in preventing the AWB from breaching sanctions against Saddam  Hussein’s regime.



The reason that we are having a debate now about the future of the single desk is  because the Howard Government didn’t do its job to stop those breaches of UN  sanctions. And the reason that we have now got problems being raised by US  Senators is because the Howard Government failed to respond to the 27  warnings that it got about the Saddam Hussein scandal over the five years that  scandal ran.

So we are concerned about these reports from America. Unfortunately, that just  creates a greater difficulty for Australia’s wheat industry now to contend with.

REPORTER:    Would the terms of reference of the Cole Inquiry allow it to look  into that sort of thing?

RUDD:    The problem with the terms of reference with the Cole Inquiry is that  they are too narrowly cast. What John Howard has done is design an Inquiry  which is purely to look at the actions of the AWB, not the actions of the Howard  Government which approved the AWB’s operations in the first place. If there  was going to be a properly balanced Inquiry, it would look at both.

Our call and our continued call is for John Howard to do the right thing. He has  set up an Inquiry which trains the gun at the AWB’s head, while leaving the

government itself basically out there without any real accountability in terms of  the actions undertaken by Howard Government Ministers.

Our call is for a properly balanced Inquiry, one which focuses equally on the  AWB and Howard Government Ministers. And that must happen as a matter of  urgency.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  I think that one of the key things to happen here is to just get  all of the facts on the table about the AWB through the Cole Inquiry. I have  already said that if the Cole Inquiry is putting all of the facts on the table, then

let’s hope that it can get all of the facts on the table about the AWB. And if heads  must roll, then roll they should. If restructuring has to happen, then we should  make sure that the restructuring occurs.

We cannot afford to allow this $300 million dollar wheat for weapons scandal to  in any way damage the interests of Australia’s hard working wheat farmers and  this $4 billion dollar export crop for Australia.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  It is going to be very important to establish the facts about  what the Board knew, about what the Management knew and about what the  Government knew. Right now we have has an Inquiry which looked at the role  of the United Nations, that was the Volcker Inquiry, and the Cole Inquiry, which  is looking at the role of the AWB. But we have no Inquiry at all making  determinations about the actions of Howard Government Ministers. That is the  whole element missing in this whole Inquiry process.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

O’CONNOR: The issue of indemnifying crop is a very difficult one at this  stage. I think that it is very important that at the end of the Cole Inquiry process,  let’s look at that particular issue once we find out exactly what has happened.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:   Well, these reports from the United States are disturbing.  Obviously, the Americans are going to be pursuing the interests of their own  wheat farmers. But at the end of the day, the AWB also has to answer whether in  fact they may have breached American law. Where the American investigators  go with this remains to be seen. But I have got to say that none of these problems

in America would have occurred had the Howard Government done its job in  preventing the AWB from passing bribes to Saddam Hussein.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:   We are still waiting on the detail of these reports from the  United States. But I have got to say that it will be yet another problem for the  wheat industry to deal with if it is proved that the Howard Government was not  doing its job of enforcing UN sanctions. We now have a further problem with the  law in the United States.

The bottom line is this: if the Howard Government had done its job properly and  enforced UN sanctions, we would not be having a Cole Inquiry and we would  not have to face the possibility of further legal action in the United States and the  buck stops with the Howard Government when it comes to this mess.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:   I think that it is time that everyone just took a deep breath  when it comes to the current state of relations between Australia and Indonesia.  This is a very important relationship for both countries. I do not want to see this  relationship get into any worse state of repair. We have got a major common  interest when it comes to counter-terrorism, a major common interest when it  comes to dealing with unlawful people movements and it is time that the two  countries got back together to work together. The temperature in the relationship  at the moment is not good. We need to get it back to normal and I would urge  both our friends in Jakarta as well as the government in Canberra to get back to  the diplomatic negotiating table as quickly as possible.

REPORTER:  Did the government do the right thing?

RUDD:  The position already articulated by the Labor Party as the  alternative government of Australia is that the decision by our immigration  authorities was the correct one. They correctly applied Australian laws and it is  not for us to comment on the merits or otherwise of individual decisions.  Australian administrative law and immigration law was properly implemented  so we stand by those decisions.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  Well the challenge for the Howard Government is to work  with our friends in Jakarta to make sure that an autonomy package is working  properly for West Papua. If an autonomy package for West Papua is being

properly implemented and human rights are being properly observed there, then  the likelihood of outflow of people will be greatly reduced. That is one thing.

The second thing is this: the Howard Government now must be working  overtime to get our diplomatic relationship with Jakarta back on an even keel. It  is now in a state of considerable disrepair. We need to get it back to normal. That  is the only way that we can have a positive, working relationship with Jakarta is  if we can work together to prevent unlawful people movements.



REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  Our policy on the sale of uranium worldwide is that it  depends entirely on whether the countries concerned are abiding by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, applying the directives of the International Atomic Energy  Agency and on top of that, whether we have got bilateral nuclear safeguards  arrangements with those countries. So long as those criteria are satisfied, there is  no problem with selling uranium to that market, whether it is China, whether it  is Taiwan or any other market.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  Taiwan has a separate arrangement with the Non-Proliferation Treaty because it is not an independent nation state. It does accept  the international supervisions of IAEA through its own protocol and beyond that  we do have a bilateral safeguards arrangement with the Taiwanese. So long as  those conditions have been met by the Taiwanese, there should be no problem,  similarly with the People’s Republic of China.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:  Well, when it comes to the future of the three mines policy  or the no new mines policy, because this is entrenched in Labor’s National  Platform, if there is to be any change to the Platform it can only occur at our  National Conference. But that debate will obviously gear up in the lead up to the  National Conference. But as I have already said, this is a big export business for  Australia, a half billion dollar industry and I think that there is room for us to  expand our exports to the rest of the world. And we could do so in a manner  which is consistent with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

REPORTER:  Inaudible

RUDD:   Well, I visited Afghanistan a couple of years ago and I met  many members of the Dutch Defence Force who were a part of the international

security force for Afghanistan. They are forming a very important function,  together with other NATO forces in Afghanistan, and together with Australia we  have a common interest in ensuring that Afghanistan’s security is stabilised and  that Afghanistan’s political arrangements are underpinned by proper domestic  security. Together with the Dutch and other members of the alliance partnership  in Afghanistan, we must do the utmost to see the elimination of the opium crop  in that country. The opium crop and exports from it not only cross-subsidise  terrorist organisations throughout the world, including Al-Qaeda, but also  provides one of the largest sources of export of illegal drugs to Europe and to  Australia.

Ends 4 April 2006.



Media contact:  Alister Jordan 0417 605 823



