

TRANSCRIPT

KEVIN RUDD M.P.

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and  International Security



TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP INTERVIEW - MELBOURNE

25 SEPTEMBER 2006

E & OE - PROOF ONLY

Subjects:   Truss as Trade Minister; Uranium sales to India; US intelligence on terrorist  threat; Darfur



Rudd:     Mr Howard has decided to make Warren Truss the new Trade  Minister for Australia. The problem is that Mr Truss has a completely  compromised position on the wheat for weapons scandal, the biggest corruption  scandal in Australia’s history.

How about this for size? This is what Mr Truss has said about the $300 million  wheat for weapons scandal: “Transport and Regional Services Minister, Warren  Truss said there was hardly anything odd about the alleged bribes AWB paid to  Saddam Hussein’s regime under the UN Oil for Food Program. Mr Truss said:  “when we sell our houses we pay commission to a real estate agent. We may  think he charges us far too much but we don’t say that is corruption or a bribery  payment, it is a fee for a service.’ Mr Truss, who was Australia’s Agriculture  Minister at the time of the scandal, said it was quite “normal” to pay  commissions for services, especially in the Middle East.”*

So Mr Truss, the new Trade Minister for Australia, says that it’s quite normal to  pay these sorts of commissions for service in the Middle East. This is  extraordinary. This is a double standard of the highest order. Yet Mr Howard has  seen fit to reward these double standards by making this man the Trade Minister  for Australia.



As Trade Minister for Australia you’re responsible for upholding the norms of  international trade and diplomacy, including the enforcement of UN sanctions  against countries like Saddam Hussein’s regime. I call upon Mr Howard to  reconsider this decision. Warren Truss is neither competent nor fit to occupy the  position of Trade Minister of Australia.

Another thing I’d like to comment on is a report today, featured on the front of  Australian newspapers, about the possible sale of Australian uranium to India.  Labor’s position is clear: Uranium cannot be sold to India because India is not a  signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty. It is as simple as that. That is a first and  fundamental condition for us when it comes to our ability to sell uranium to  other countries. Now we have John Howard wanting to sell uranium to India  outside the NPT. Yet we have reports today that Mr Downer, the Foreign  Minister, is opposing that position. It’s time the Australian Government sorted  this out once and for all.

Australia should be leading the international diplomatic efforts to rebuild the  Non Proliferation Treaty. Having a Prime Minister out there holding open the  possibility of selling uranium to India outside the Non Proliferation Treaty is  destructive to say the least.



We have a national interest in taking the lead in rebuilding the non proliferation  regime. If we fail to do so and the regime collapses, we then end up with nuclear  arms races right across our own part of the world in North East Asia, possibly  South East Asia and South Asia as well.

The last thing is a report which surfaced yesterday from the New York Times and  the Washington Post. This is a major report, a National Intelligence Estimate from  the United States’ combined sixteen intelligence agencies. It says that the Iraq  war has in fact complicated, compounded and increased the global terrorist  threat. This is the first time that US intelligence agencies have formally  concluded that the Iraq war has made the war against terrorism worse.

My challenge to John Howard is this: let’s start with some honesty Mr Howard to  admit that the Iraq war has increased the world terrorist threat, not decreased it  because when you went to war in Iraq you said that the objective was to decrease

the terrorist threat. We need some honesty in this debate about terrorism and the  Iraq war, Labor has always argued, has increased the overall threat. Now we  have US intelligence agencies backing our position. It’s time for Mr Howard to

show some honesty.

Reporter:  On the uranium…(inaudible)



Rudd:   It’s very important for us that the Non Proliferation Treaty regime  be upheld. If we have a breakdown of that regime, we are deeply concerned  about the implications elsewhere. You see, right now we have a global  diplomatic effort focussed on ensuring that the Iranians adhere to their

obligations under the Non Proliferation Treaty and full inspections by the  International Atomic Energy Agency. That message is compromised if we allow  breakouts from the NPT elsewhere.

Reporter:  (inaudible)

Rudd:   The Howard Government is split right down the middle. The Prime  Minister is saying we should sell uranium to India outside the Non Proliferation  Treaty and our Foreign Minister is saying we should stick to the Non  Proliferation Treaty. I mean on something as important as this, which is how we  maintain a global regime of containment on the spread of nuclear weapons, how

can you have the Howard Government speaking with diametrically opposed  voices?

Let me add one thing, while you’ve mentioned the Foreign Minister. The Foreign  Minister was recently in New York. I understand he has been to Canada. He is  then heading off to Europe. He made a speech at the United Nations attacking  the United Nations for its failure over Darfur. I’ve been in Darfur earlier this  year. I spent several days there, looking at conditions on the ground, speaking to  the government in Khartoum, the government of Sudan.

If Mr Downer is serious about taking the lead in finding a solution to the  ongoing genocide in slow motion that is happening in Darfur, he should go and  visit Sudan, he should go to Khartoum, he should visit Darfur himself. I went a  few months ago and the crisis in Darfur has been unfolding for the last three and  a half years. He’s been Foreign Minister of Australia for ten years and has never  stepped foot in the place. My challenge to Mr Downer is this: put your money  where your mouth is, show some leadership on this question and head off from  some comfortable European capital, go to the south east, land in Khartoum and  speak directly to the government of Sudan about the need to accept the UN  peacekeeping force.

Reporter: Do you think the US intelligence report will influence the way the  Australian public view the Iraq war (inaudible) and the Howard Government’s  popularity?

Rudd:   This is the first time in the three and a half years since the invasion  of Iraq that the US intelligence agencies have combined to create a National

Intelligence Assessment that said that the Iraq war has increased the overall  global terrorist threat, not reduced it. This is the first time this has happened. I  believe this will have a major contribution to the debate on the Iraq war in this  country.



We need some truth in this debate from the Howard Government rather than  them pretending that the Iraq war has somehow been an effective response in the  war against terrorism. Let’s have some honesty from the Prime Minister and say  that in fact it has compounded the overall terrorist threat. Once we get some  honesty from the Howard Government, we can then go on to the next stage of  what to do about it all.

Reporter:  The White House has said (inaudible) no to that very narrow  reading of the report, that broadly it says that there would have been similar  risks had the same remained.

Rudd:   On the rest of the report, which remains to be published, let’s wait  and see when it is released, if it is released. What I’m responding to is those  elements that have been reported so far in the Washington Post and New York  Times. I notice also that the contents of those elements of the report have not been  explicitly repudiated by the US administration. What I’m challenging the  Howard Government to do this, fess up Mr Howard. A bit of honesty wouldn’t  go astray here.  Tell the Australian people that the Iraq war has in fact increased  the global terrorist threat.

My challenge is this, if this is what the US intelligence agencies are saying about  the Iraq war and its impact on terrorism, what now is the formal conclusion of  the Australian intelligence agencies?

Let’s have some honesty in this debate. I’m sick and tired of Mr Howard running  around the place pretending black is white and somehow the Iraq war has  helped us reduce the terrorist threat. It’s done exactly the reverse.

Ends.

Contact:  Alister Jordan 0417 605 823

*Courier Mail, 27 March 2006.



