









THE HON DR BRENDAN NELSON MP  Minister for Defence



Media contacts  Nigel Blunden (Dr Nelson) 02 6277 7800 0407 632 931

Defence Media Liaison  02 6265 3343 0408 498 664



www.defence.gov.au







Wednesday, 11 July, 2007





Doorstop, New Delhi



Dr Nelson:

Thank you very much all of you for coming along here today. As you know, I am  Brendan Nelson. I am Australia’s Minister for Defence and I am visiting India  specifically to discuss a number of issues with Minister Antony, and also Minister  Mukherjee and others, as far as Australia’s defence and security relationship is  concerned. The purpose of the visit is - Australia considers its relationship with India  to be extremely important, in a general sense and also specifically increasingly in  defence and security.

Last year, our Prime Minister signed with the Indian Prime Minister a memorandum  of understanding on defence and security and the purpose of my visit is to see that we  give increased momentum to that agreement. And today, we have signed an

information sharing arrangement, which enable India and Australia within a legal  framework to exchange key information in a range of areas such as maritime  surveillance, counter- terrorism, counter-insurgency, peacekeeping and our  assessments of fragile states and other things.

We are also increasing our level of senior engagement at a military level with India.  Australia will, for the first time, be participating in a naval exercise in the Bay of  Bengal in September this year with Japan, Singapore, United States and India. We  also have had our first senior air force-to-air force meeting. I have also advised my  Indian counterparts that we will be increasing the rate of exchanges between our key  military personnel and I also want to ensure that Australia and India come  increasingly closer together in cooperating in maritime security, particularly in the  Indian Ocean and we welcome also India’s increasing look toward East Asia and  interest in security in the Asia-Pacific region.

I would also like to make some other comments about another matter before I take  any questions from you. I am a physician; a medical practitioner by training. I am also  a former President of the Australian Medical Association. At the moment, there are  issues which involve the detention of an Indian doctor in Australia and inquiries

which have been undertaken in relation to matters involving terrorist attacks in  Glasgow and London. Apart from the doctor who has been detained, a number of

other Indian doctors have been interviewed in relation to those incidents. I want to say  as an senior Australian Government minister, as a former President of the Australian  Medical Association, and an Australian doctor that Australia’s healthcare system is of  very high standard that it is today, in no small way, because of the hard work,  determination, professionalism and sacrifices of Indian doctors who have come to our  country over the last century. Particularly after the end of World War II, Indian  doctors made a key contribution to improving our standards of medical practice, in  driving changes in leadership in our learned colleges and providing health care  services - particularly in regional and rural parts of Australia. There are currently  more than 156,000 Indians who live in Australia and Indians have made, and continue  to make, a key contribution to the modern Australia, which is outward looking,  competitive and compassionate.

On matters that the Australian Federal Police are investigating in cooperation with  British, Indian and other authorities, it needs to be emphasised that our concerns relate  to terrorists’ behaviour. It is not the political or cultural or religious clothes that it may  wear, and we assume innocence until proven otherwise in all of these matters. I am  also advised that the Australian Federal Police are working cooperatively and will  work cooperatively with the Indian authorities and respectfully through the Indian  processes. And again it needs to be emphasised that there should be and is a  presumption of innocence until proven otherwise in this and all similar cases.

I am very happy to take questions.

Question:

You talked about the naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal in September. Is it a  quadrilateral exercise? Is Australia also participating …?

Dr Nelson:

Yes, Australia for the first time will participate in the naval exercise. We will be  sending one of our FFGs - one of our frigates - HMAS Adelaide and what we want to  do as we go forward into the future is to develop our exercising in a number of areas  which are appropriate to our joint relationship and our mutual interest, and naval  exercise and naval engagement is arguably the most important. India has an enormous  amount of experience, not only as having a significant and highly capable, extremely  well-trained navy, but India also has a great deal of experience in dealing with  counter- insurgency, counter- terrorism and peace-keeping and of course our two  nations have served side by side in a number of theatres over the last century as well.

Question:

Besides India and Australia, are Singapore, the US and Japan are also in it?

Dr Nelson:

Yes. Correct. As I understand it. It is common for our various navies throughout the  world to conduct exercises and to have exchanges and so on but Australia has not  participated in this before as I understand.



Question:

You have just come back from China (inaudible)?

Dr Nelson:

Australia and Japan have an alliance with the United States of America and since the  end of World War II Japan has been a democracy; Japan is one of Australia’s major  trading partners, along with Korea and also China. We have agreed and indeed we  have entered into a trilateral strategic dialogue with the United States and Japan based  on our alliances, based on our common democracies and our common security  interests in the region, particularly in North-East Asia. There has been some  suggestion that it be extended to a quadrilateral strategic dialogue and Australia’s  position is that whilst we are prepared to have quadrilateral discussions on trade,  economic, cultural and other issues and our officials have already had a meeting on  the margins of the ARF meeting in Manila in May, we do not wish to have a formal  quadrilateral strategic dialogue in defence and security matters. We believe that the  matters that we do wish to and want to discuss with India, we do so very capably in a  bilateral arrangement. And we also think that the multilateral arrangements which  currently exist are able to satisfy that. We also want to make sure that we do not  detract from the importance of the trilateral strategic dialogue and further to that we  don’t want to do something which is not necessary, which might otherwise cause  concern in other countries, particularly in China. I have also reassured the Chinese  that Australia is not seeking a quadrilateral strategic dialogue on core security and  defence issues.

Question:

Two questions. First, are you aware that the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation  seeking a letter in the (inaudible) and the second question is about the agreement  signed today?

Dr Nelson:

Yes, I am aware of it and I am advised that those issues, respectfully working through  the processes of the Australian and Indian governments, are being negotiated and  worked through and it is very important that they be so. It perhaps further suggests  that this particular issue which perhaps none of us really expected will require us  perhaps to develop some sort of mutual arrangement which will allow us to expedite  the deliberations, investigations of these sorts of issues in future.

On the second question, today’s information sharing agreement is specifically in the  defence and security space. It does not relate to transnational crime and investigation  thereof.

Question:

What about counter-terrorism?

Dr Nelson:

Yes, information in relation to counter- terrorism but much more specifically has a  defence flavour to it. The information sharing arrangement that we have signed today  would not directly change the approach that is being taken for the current inquiries.



Question:

What is the status of the investigations? The detainee has been held for nine days  without being charged?

Dr Nelson:

I cannot shed any further information on it. Firstly, it is not appropriate to do so and  secondly I am not the Minister who is primarily responsible for these investigations.  As far as the detention period is concerned, again I emphasise that there should be,  and is a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. The investigation of these  kinds of cases, however, requires complex domestic and international investigations  and in the Australian system and under the Australian laws once a period of detention  has been approved, it can only be approved on the approval of a Judge - a magistrate.  So it requires, under our processes, the police to convince a magistrate that they  require more time for detention to be satisfied themselves that all of the relevant  information has been collected and the processes by necessity, in definition, are  complex and time consuming.

Question:

How long will be the detention for?

Dr Nelson:

I am not in a position to say. But the detention period will be a product of a  combination of the police being satisfied that they have completed their enquiries or  indeed they need to continue those enquiries, and at the same time, convincing the  magistrate that that is a reasonable course of action. The most important thing, I think,  for all of us, is to ensure that all relevant information and lines of enquiry are

completed and so that whatever the events as they may unfold, that it may not  subsequently be said that insufficient attention to detail is given to the case. But it  goes without saying that our police that are working with Indian, British and other  agencies, are being absolutely thorough and scrupulously meticulous in what they are  doing.

Question:

This demand for paperwork from the Indian Government …?

Dr Nelson:

I would not comment on that.

Question:

But you are not telling us anything about the Haneef inquiry, Minister?

Dr Nelson:

The situation is that the Australian Federal Police working in cooperation with other  agencies and authorities from other relevant nations are in the process of collecting  and considering a significant amount of material that they consider relevant to the  case, and they have put their case to a magistrate as to why they consider detention is  to continue to be necessary and it is not appropriate for me to say any more than that.

Question:

Is there an upper limit to the number of days of the detention?

Dr Nelson:

As I am advised, I understand that is not the case but clearly there is no intention for  detention beyond any period that is considered reasonable by a judge to be necessary  for relevant material to be collected.

Question:

On Iraq, President Bush is talking about talking about a withdrawal. What about  Australia?

Dr Nelson:

Well as we have repeatedly said, we will make decision on the Australian deployment  in Iraq on the basis of conditions on the ground in Iraq. Our overall objective is to see  that with the form of democracy chosen by the Iraqis that their own security forces are  to the point of being able to provide for a reasonable level of security for Iraq. Our  withdrawal will be a product of negotiation between the Iraqis, the Americans, the  British and our other allies. Our key objective, as it is in all of our deployments  essentially, is to see that the indigenous security forces are able essentially to provide  for their own security. So the decisions will be taken based on conditions on the  ground and in key consultations with the Iraqis and the Americans and the British.

Question:

(inaudible)

Dr Nelson:

Firstly, General Petraeus will present his assessment of the surge in Baghdad in  September to the US Administration and to Congress. That is a point at which the  United States principally will make a decision about the nature of its deployment.  Certainly, we are in very close cooperation militarily and in discussions with the  Americans, British, Iraqis and our other allies there, and obviously there will be

significant consideration once General Petraeus’ report is received. As Prime Minister  Howard, I think said yesterday; he is not expecting any change in the approach in Iraq  at this stage.

Question:

(Inaudible)

Dr Nelson:

No.

Question:

What is your stand on the civilian nuclear cooperation between Indian and the US?

Dr Nelson:

We generally are supportive of the arrangements that have been entered into with the  United States in terms of separating military and civilian use of nuclear power.  Australia does not sell uranium to countries that are not signatories to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and if we were to do so we would require obviously very stringent  arrangements which would ensure very full International Atomic Energy Agency  inspections and compliance with protocols. So, from Australia’s perspective, we are  quite comfortable with the arrangements that India and the US have entered into.

Question:

In the context of the recent developments, would there be a more stringent screening  of Indian doctors who are keen to move to Australia? Based on religion or  (inaudible)?

Dr Nelson:

Screening on those bases is not acceptable. The screening for doctors who come to  Australia is based, and should be based, in a nationally consistent way on their  standards of medical practice and capacity to communicate with Australians in their

day-to-day medical practise. Nothing else should be acceptable.

Question:

Minister, on the cooperation between Indian authorities and the AFP?

Dr Nelson:

I am advised - again I can only say, as you know I am not the Minister responsible for  these things - that the Indian authorities are working very hard on this and are  working very cooperatively with the Australian Federal Police and we need to be, and  we are mindful and respectful of the fact that we are two different sovereign countries

with different ways of approaching similar issues. We are very conscious of that but I  am advised that it is a very cooperative arrangement from Australia’s perspective.

Question:

What about media reports … (inaudible)?

Dr Nelson:

I am not going to comment on things that I have seen in the media.

Question:

Do you still have problems with al Qaeda?

Dr Nelson:

Are we still having a problem with al Qaeda? I think all countries throughout the  world that are committed to the ideals of freedom and respect for human beings,  irrespective of their race, religion or gender, have a concern with al Qaeda. The  generational struggle for us as Australians is to deal with terrorism globally and  terrorism has touched Australia. We had 88 Australians murdered in Bali in 2002 by  three men who were trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan. That amongst many other  reasons is why we have got troops deployed in Afghanistan and we also have some  individuals that are currently being tried in Australia for alleged terrorist activity, and  I am not referring to the Indian doctor.

Thank you very much everybody.



































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