PNG: Australia to rebuild relations with PNG
Updated
Australia's new Prime Minister is reaching out to rebuild damaged relations with Papua New Guinea. But Kevin Rudd says the Moti affair is not over with Solomon Islands, and Canberra will press to have the Solomons Attorney-General extradited to face child sex charges in Australia. Mr Rudd is also putting diplomatic pressure on Japan, threatening to use the Australian Navy to shadow Japanese whaling ships.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Kevin Rudd, Australia's Prime Minister, Brendan Nelson, Australia's Opposition leader
DOBELL: The Moti affair caused Australia to place a formal freeze on Ministerial contacts with Papua New Guinea that lasted nearly a year. The standoff was finally thawed during the APEC summit in Sydney in September. Australia agreed to end the formal no-talking policy and restore the annual ministerial meeting with Papua New Guinea..
Australia imposed the freeze in October, 2006, over the Julian Moti affair. Australia had sought to have the man who became the Solomon Islands Attorney-General arrested and extradited as he transited through Port Moresby. But Mr Moti fled from Port Moresby in a plane provided by the PNG Defence Force.
After nearly a year of the diplomatic spat, PNG's Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, had talks at the Pacific Forum in October with with the then Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer. Sir Michael:
SOMARE: We laugh about it. Things have happened, but he's, I said no, I'm not here to talk about who is a criminal. I'm talking about the principles of law and regulations in each one of the countries. We should be able to sit down and sort this thing out and well, we had a lot of laugh and a lot of jokes last night, and we ended up very well. This morning, there's no hard feelings against the Australian public. After all, with all ?? the Australian public for the last 40 years have been in politics and all the Australian foreign ministers, I've never had this type of a hassle and this is the first one. But we've now sorted out and shows that he's happy and if he's not happy, that's he can talk to be about it later.
DOBELL And the repair has continued at the UN summit in Bali, where Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has had his own meeting with Sir Michael.
Mr Rudd referred to Sir Michael as The Chief, a Somare nickname in PNG, but also an expression of respect, and Mr Rudd says it's time to turn a new page in Australia's relationship with PNG.
It might be time to turn a new page in the relationship with Solomon Islands, after the fall of the Sogavare Government, but Mr Rudd made clear that Canberra still wants Mr Sogavare's Attorney-General, Julian Moti, to be sent to stand trial in Australia.
RUDD: Firstly on the question of the Moti matter, the position of the Australian Government is absolutely clear cut. This individual is the subject of criminal charges and because of the application of Australian domestic law; we have activated our extradition arrangements with the Government of the Solomon Islands. Nothing has changed on that score. We therefore intend to prosecute that to the full. The reason being is that the normal operation of the criminal law of the Commonwealth of Australia, and through its properly constituted agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, and international extradition arrangements should proceed unimpeded and that will remain our position.
DOBELL: The Prime Minister is also prepared to risk relations with Japan by sending Australian Navy ships to shadow and monitor Japanese whaling ships. Those Japanese ships are on their way through the Pacific to kill nearly one thousand whales as part of what Japan calls a scientific research program.
Mr Rudd.
RUDD: We take seriously Australia's international obligations on the proper protection of whales. We have said in the past that we would look at measures which would fortify any future case to be brought before international legal tribunals on the implementation of Japan's whaling policies, in particular Japan's assertion that these are for research purposes and not for commercial purposes and we are therefore actively considering the appropriate measures for the collection of data which would assist in any future legal case which the Government may embark upon in the future.
DOBELL: The Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, questions whether Mr Rudd knows what he is doing in threatening to deploy Australian Navy ships to shadow Japanese whalers.
Dr Nelson calls Japan a key ally, as well as major trading partner, and expresses concern at the use warships for such a purpose in the Southern Ocean, risking diplomatic consequences in dealings with Japan.
NELSON: I think Mr Rudd's basically building on the genuine support that's in the broader Australian community to do something, but I'm worried that this is not the right thing to do. I'm worried that Mr Rudd hasn't actually thought this through. I think he's thinking about sending ships and planes down to watch Japanese whalers. He risks our relationship with Japan and he also risks are border protection and regional military operations that are in support of Australia and our activities in security and stabilisation in the region.
