Transcript

21 July 2008

Extradition of Jayant Patel

BOB DEBUS:

Well clearly, a great many people, especially in Queensland, will be very pleased today that Doctor Patel is back in the jurisdiction and will face the charges about which we have heard so much in recent times.  A lot of people have worked very hard indeed to bring about this result, and I congratulate the Queensland authorities, and indeed thank the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department for the role that they have played in what is now a successful extradition proceeding.

QUESTION:

That extradition proceeding has taken some time.  Is there any way in which the process can be streamlined to expedite future extraditions?

BOB DEBUS:

Well each extradition must be seen as an individual matter.  It's very hard indeed to make a general rule in that respect, and obviously there were particularly unique circumstances in the present matter.

QUESTION:

Are you confident that he will get a fair trial?

BOB DEBUS:

I am confident that Dr Patel will get a fair trial.  I think that each of the Australian jurisdictions is of the highest order, so far as the performance of courts are concerned.  The fact is that Australian courts are well prepared to deal with the circumstance in which a charged person has been the subject of a lot of publicity in the media and elsewhere.  It's normal to be able to arrange court proceedings, so that juries do in fact give a defendant a fair hearing. 

QUESTION:

How important it - would it, will it be for his alleged victims, for Jayant Patel to finally face justice.

BOB DEBUS:

Well it's clear that there are a lot of people in Queensland directly affected by the matters surrounding Dr Patel who will feel a deep sense of vindication that he is bought back to trial. 

QUESTION:

Have you spoken to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who is from Queensland about this matter?

BOB DEBUS:

I haven't spoken specifically to the Prime Minister about it, no.  There's been no cause for that.

QUESTION:

Do you know what his thoughts are?

BOB DEBUS:

I cannot say in any particular.

QUESTION:

A community cabinet meeting this week up in the Northern Territory, first time the [indistinct] went up there officially.  What are you expecting?  Any ideas?

BOB DEBUS:

Well, the community cabinet meetings that have occured so far have been, in my estimation, astonishingly well attended.  They've been taken very seriously by the communities who have actually been directly involved, and I've got no reason at all to think that that won't happen again in the Northern Territory, that individual and local matters will be raised at the same time as cabinet ministers talk about those matters of national importance that affect and occupy every cabinet meeting. 

QUESTION:

Is the...

QUESTION:

[Indistinct] be a good thing for those alleged victims, do you think Queensland Health is going to be on trial, so to speak, with this?

BOB DEBUS:

Well, it's obviously not appropriate for me to talk at the present time about the nature of the court cases involved.  I mean, the reason that I can say to you that we feel sure that there will be a fair trial in Queensland is that we have established procedures, and one of them is that people in my position don't discuss the details of the case. 

Thank you.