ABC Newsradio with Marius Benson
9 July 2010
Topics: Regional immigration processing centre
MARIUS BENSON: Brendan O'Connor, the Government is universally being seen today as back flipping on a statement that Prime Minister made on Tuesday that East Timor was the chosen site for a processing centre for asylum seekers. Is back flip fair?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I don't think that's the right characterisation because on Tuesday the Prime Minister made it clear she would be discussing this matter and, indeed, had discussed the matter with the President of East Timor, about the possibility of a regional processing centre. There'd been no reference to where and, indeed, there was certainly no point made about exactly how this was to be done.
This is no quick fix. We made clear we would want to engage. The good news is the Prime Minister of East Timor and the President have said they want to sit down and talk about the detail about such a centre because, in the end, we need a long term, sustainable answer to this regional problem.
MARIUS BENSON: But the Prime Minister of East Timor, Xanana Gusmao, said he'd like to sit down and talk about it after initially saying - what scheme? Was it premature for the Prime Minister to announce discussions with East Timor before she spoke even to the Prime Minister?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Look, not at all. The Prime Minister had no problem at all in her engaging with the President. The President of East Timor is an international figure of high standing, with a great understanding of international and regional issues and after his conversation with the Prime Minister they were both agreeing that they would sit down and speak with Australia about the detail of a proposal, back to the next logical step, and that's what we will be doing.
MARIUS BENSON: But the point many people have been making is that if you want to speak to the Government of East Timor about some practical issue like establishing a processing centre, you don't speak to the President. He's a more ceremonial position. That's like talking to the Australian Governor-General about government action here.
This, it's claimed, reveals an amateurism by Julia Gillard in the international sphere.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I've heard that claim. The point is Jose Ramos-Horta is not such a figure. He is a very active President. He engages on regional and international matters and, indeed, he has sat down with the Prime Minister and they are both on the same page wanting to discuss now the detail of the proposal and that's a good thing. It's the next step and that's what we'll be doing.
MARIUS BENSON: But was the Prime Minister premature in announcing that these negotiations were underway when, in fact, the extent of the negotiations was one phone call on Monday night to the East Timorese President?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Look, it was, I think, an example of her willingness to get on with this issue. In her first week of Prime Ministership she resolved the mining tax matter. That was a challenge. That was resolved. She's moved on to this issue and has indicated that we need a regional approach, we need partnership with our neighbours in the region to fix this very complex issue and she was right to get onto the phone and speak to heads of state and leaders of the region and that was a good thing.
MARIUS BENSON: But she was acting with the extreme urgency and excessive urgency according to many assessments because of political considerations and just to show the, mention some of the headlines this morning describing her latest position: Gillard eats her words, Gillard retreats on Timor plan, Julia's boat policy sinks.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: I've seen that characterisation but I don't think that's a fair description, quite frankly, of the approach. We've made clear we want to establish a regional processing centre. We've engaged with East Timor and other countries including New Zealand and, indeed, East Timor's President and Prime Minister want to sit down and talk about the detail and that's a very good thing and that's the next logical step and that's what we will be doing.
MARIUS BENSON: Do you think it is clear that the Prime Minister has done Labor's cause some harm by the confusion over this issue, over the past three days?
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: The Prime Minister understands the importance of this issue and understands the concern of the Australian people to get this right. There is no quick fix and people may want to throw stones but the fact is we have a Prime Minister who will relentlessly pursue a regional answer to this regional problem and, indeed, that's what we're doing and the next logical step now is to accept the offer by the President and Prime Minister of East Timor and look through the detail of a proposal for a regional processing centre.
MARIUS BENSON: Brendan O'Connor, thank you very much.
BRENDAN O'CONNOR: Thank you very much, Marius.
