KEVIN RUDD M.P.  Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and  International Security

TRANSCRIPT OF DOORSTOP INTERVIEW - Brisbane

22  SEPTEMBER 2006

E & OE - PROOF ONLY

Subjects:    Cairns Group meeting; Trade Ministry; Doha Round; Solomon Islands; Iran

RUDD:    Well, this is a disappointing outcome for Australia and for  the Cairns Group. If you read the communiquÃÂ© from this meeting, basically it is a  non- communiquÃÂ©, it is a non-outcome. There are in fact no tangible results  coming out of this conference. Remember that it was Mr Vaile who talked about  this conference as being a possible breakthrough to re-start the current Doha  Round of trade negotiations.

Why is all of that important for Australia? It is important for Australia because  we need to liberalise the world trade in agriculture to give our hardworking  farmers a decent break. International agricultural prices are still distorted by  massive protectionist practices, both in the European Union, the United States as  well as various parts of the developing world as well.



You know, I think that the time has come for Mr Vaile to quietly hang up his  shingle and just shuffle off into the sunset. This has been a bad outcome for him,  a bad outcome for Australia and a bad outcome for the Cairns Group. He has  been Trade Minister now for six long years or more, and frankly Australia  deserves a better outcome than this.

It is time that Mr Howard shifted Mr Vaile from this portfolio - it is time that we  had someone in the job who has their heart in it, who has their head in it and is  up to the difficult task of bringing this Doha Round to a successful conclusion.



REPORTER:  And who would you like to see in that portfolio?

RUDD:   It is time for the National Party to tap the mat in terms of  their grab on the Trade portfolio. It is time that someone who is competent was  picked for it and Warren Truss is not competent. It is not simply time to play

pass the parcel within the National Party. We actually need someone who can do  the job. And within the Liberal Party, look the best bet is to find someone like  Malcolm Turnbull who might put his mind to something like this. This is too

important. Australia under a Labor Government established the Cairns Group 20  years ago. We used it to bring the Uruguay Round to a successful conclusion.  Since then, Mr Vaile, the National Party and the Howard Government have  dropped the ball and dropped it badly.



And on the Cairns Group I would just conclude on this: I am deeply concerned if  Mr Vaile is beginning to hint that he is prepared to trade away Australia’s single  desk selling arrangements for our wheat crop in exchange for other concessions  in the Doha Round of negotiations. I don’t believe that it is right that Australia’s

hardworking wheat farmers should have their interests sacrificed in this round. I  would be deeply concerned if because of the AWB $300 million dollar wheat for  weapons scandal, Mr Vaile now sees that as his opportunity to cash in our chips  when it comes to the single desk and throw it on the table in these negotiations  with the Europeans and the Americans. They are the ones who should be  compromising here because their distortion of their agricultural markets is huge.

Australia is a fair and free trading agricultural country and frankly those other  states need to move. I would be very disappointed if Mr Vaile is now indicating  that our single desk is up for sale.

REPORTER:  But Mr Rudd the EU didn’t have a representative in Cairns..

RUDD:   Well Mr Vaile made a mistake on day one by badging this as  a breakthrough for the Doha Round because I would not have convened such a  meeting had I not secured Mr Mandelson’s attendance in the first place.  Australia is a member of the G6 - the six principal negotiating countries for this  world trade round of agricultural negotiations. How can you convene a  conference which you then badge as being a possible breakthrough for the world  trade round, and not even secure Mr Mandelson of the European Union’s  attendance.

You know what this needs is an injection of political will and commitment. The  Prime Minister needs to take control of this. Mr Vaile has failed. The Prime  Minister needs to take control of this and become the global champion of these  free, agricultural trade negotiations. Unless that happens and unless he can get  President Bush on the same cart, these negotiations are destined for failure.

REPORTER:  And on the Solomon Islands, Mr Rudd?

RUDD:   I am concerned about the tone I hear from Foreign Minister  Downer this morning on the radio on his meetings with his Solomon Islands  counterpart. You know the easiest thing to do in the world is to be the  schoolyard bully and the hardest thing in the world is to behave responsibly  with your counterparts from smaller states within our own region.

Australia has big national interests at stake in the Solomons. We have a huge  number of ADF personnel, police personnel and Australian public servants  doing hard work on the ground. And to make sure that work continues, we have  got to get our diplomatic relationship back in order. And Mr Downer sounding  like a schoolyard bully, which is exactly how he sounded on ABC radio this  morning, from his meeting with his Solomon Islands counterpart, I don’t think is  the right way to go.

REPORTER:  There was talk that RAMSI would be ‘cut up like salami’.

RUDD:  Well, Mr Downer is using all sorts of hairy-chested  language, but for goodness sake, Australia - a country our size; the Solomon  Islands - a country their size. I mean, as I said the easiest thing for Mr Downer to  do is to behave like a schoolyard bully. The hardest thing to do is to get this  diplomatic relationship back on an even keel - that is his job.

REPORTER:  Is it appropriate for those two counterparts to meet?

RUDD:  Mr Downer has got a responsibility to look at our long-term  national interests in the South Pacific rather than his short-term political interests  which is to sound hairy-chested to the audience back home. I mean, for goodness  sake, it is the Solomon Islands - it is the easiest thing you can do in the world is  to play the part of the schoolyard bully. The hard thing is to get this relationship  back on an even keel.



REPORTER:  What about the Solomon Islands Prime Minister, has he  acted appropriately do you think?

RUDD:   Look when it comes to the expulsion of Australia’s  diplomats from Honiara, it has been entirely inappropriate and disproportionate  action on the part of the Solomon Islands Government. But I thought the  business of diplomacy was to fix problems, not to make them worse. Mr Downer  seems to think that if he sounds hairy-chested and beat his chest in the air and  behaves like a schoolyard bully, that that is going to make things better. I mean,  it is time for Mr Downer to grow up.

REPORTER:  Will this worsen the relationship between Australia and  Honiara?

RUDD:   Look, I don’t know the answer to that. But what I do know  that when it comes to putting a relationship back on an even keel, we need a  more mature performance than our Foreign Minister than the tone he adopted  today in his interview with ABC Radio. To go into a meeting with the Solomon  Islands Foreign Minister and to come out and tell Australia and tell the world  what a solid dressing down our Foreign Minister gave to theirs, I mean who is  Mr Downer’s audience here? Is it the Liberal Party sub-branch at Mayo or is it  the constituency that he should be concerned about, which is the people and the  politicians in the Solomon Islands. It is time that Mr Downer realised that he is  the Foreign Minister of Australia and he is not some low-rent schoolyard bully.

REPORTER:  And on Mr Downer’s meeting with the Iran Foreign  Minister, are we being used as a de facto to the US in the relationship with Iran?

RUDD:   Once again, I am basing comments on Mr Downer’s meeting  with the Iranian Foreign Minister based on Mr Downer’s boys own annual  account of that meeting on ABC Radio today. I am yet to hear the Iranian version  of it.



I have got to say that we have a major problem on our hands with Iran. Iran  continues to be in defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency and in  defiance of the relevant UN Security Council resolution. We have got to be tough  and hardline in our dealings with Iran. Iran does support terrorist organisations  around the world. Iran is pursuing a nuclear program in breach of the  International Atomic Energy Agency and in breach of UN Security Council  resolutions. And we have got to be firm and tough in our dealings with them.

REPORTER:  Mr Rudd, in your opinion, is the US using Australia as a go  between with Iran?

RUDD:  I don’t have any evidence that the United States is so doing. I  think that Australia needs to speak with a calm, reasoned and firm voice with the  Iranians. We need a diplomatic coalition of the states in projecting a calm and  solid resolve to the Iranians that they need to adhere to their obligations under  the International Atomic Energy Agency and under the relevant Security Council  resolution.

Iran has got to realise that its got stakes and interests in the international order as  well. It can’t simply keep standing outside that order. We have got to be tough,  we have got to be hardline and pull together a diplomatic coalition to that effect.



REPORTER:  Would it be a good idea for Australia to adopt that role as a  go between?

RUDD:   I think Australia has in the past had reasonable bilateral  relations with Tehran. Mr Downer some years ago hosted a visit to this country  by the Iranian Foreign Minister. I presume those discussions will resume in some  form or another in New York most recently. I think it is important for Australia  to register its strong views. My argument is this and I put this in a speech only a  few nights ago - Australia has a responsibility to show leadership on the  rebuilding of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We have direct national  interests at stake in this and the reason we have them, is because if it breaks  down, we run the risk of a nuclear arms race in South East Asia, in North East  Asia and in South Asia. Therefore, we have major national interests at stake. It is  time for Australia to stop being a follower and start being a leader when it comes  to our foreign policy more generally. It is time for Australia to stop being a  follower and start being a leader with a proposal on how to put the Non-Proliferation Treaty back together and to ensure that it provides the best basis to  prevent an outbreak of a nuclear arms race in the future.

Ends

22 September 2006.





Contact:  Alister Jordan 0417 605 823



