Doorstop, Fiji
18 January 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Can I begin by saying how devastated I am by the despicable, tragic and violent killing of Aiia Maasarwe. Every woman in Australia, every person in Australia should be able to travel home safely. I can’t begin to think of what I would say to her family. But I am thinking about her attacker. I suspect it’s the same thing that many Australians are thinking today. So, I know the police will do their job and they'll deal with it. But the rest of the country has to wake up today and deal with the most despicable of crimes. So my heartfelt condolences on behalf of myself and Jenny and my family, to her family. I just pray you can find whatever comfort you can in the worst of all circumstances.
So that said on a more positive note it's been great to be here with Anne over the last few days here in Fiji and of course in Vanuatu prior, to be really bringing together and taking, as we've said yesterday, this relationship to a whole new level. We've made further announcements here today, particularly about support for this wonderful institution, the University of the South Pacific which is obviously not just here in Suva - although this is where the majority of students are - but it reaches right across the South Pacific, raising up generations now for 50 years of young people from the Pacific, to take on leadership roles. Not just obviously in government, but across the economy, science, research, teaching, nursing, right across so many different areas. It's an important institution and today we announce further commitments to support it into the future. It's part of our ‘step-up’, it's part of our showing up and demonstrating that here today, as we will into the future and Anne will be leading that charge, along with our heads of mission right across the region.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on climate change, you said in the speech that you’ve made commitments in the area of climate change and that you will add to them, particularly here in the Pacific. Can you just expand on what you meant? You’re referring to infrastructure?
PRIME MINISTER: Well not just in infrastructure. What I'm saying is that we keep our commitments as Australia and we have made solid commitments when it comes to emissions reduction. We have been keeping them and we will keep them. I have said that we have already made financial commitments here in the Pacific, some $200 million already invested. $100 million further here in Fiji alone, most recently. And into the future, we will continue to fund these resilience works in the Pacific and we'll do it directly. As I've said, we won't be doing it through global climate funds or anything like that, we'll be doing it directly in our ongoing programmes to support climate change resilience works and preparedness here in the Pacific. It's our home and we'll be working with fellow family members here to address the impacts of climate change here in the Pacific.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you be working and adding any more announcements to counteract the cause and the spread of climate change, or just the impact?
PRIME MINISTER: Well our commitments on emissions reductions address part of those and our commitments on resilience work deals with the impacts. So, we have a comprehensive response when it comes to climate change. We have sensible, achievable commitments that will continue to ensure that Australia has a prosperous economy and Australians will have the choices that they want in the future, while at the same time respecting the need to address the real impacts of climate change, both here in the Pacific and elsewhere, at home and around the world.
JOURNALIST: The Fijian Prime Minister last night had some very strong words on climate change in his speech. He said Australia should not put the interests of one industry ahead of the lives of Pacific nations. Is it time to go further in moving towards a clean energy future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we are already pursuing those policies in a way that I believe is consistent with what the Prime Minister is expecting of Australia. They were discussions we had yesterday and we have been having very positive discussions about our future investments in this area. It's very much welcomed that we will be doing this directly in partnership, whether it's countries like Fiji here, or where we were in Vanuatu, or anywhere else throughout the region.
This is direct work we're doing with people here. We're not going do it through, you know, those who are a million miles away from the Pacific. We're going to do it with people who live here and live with the consequences here, which includes Australia and Australians.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve obviously turned a new leaf here in a serious way with Fiji. No one is pretending that the last two elections haven’t been fair, but there are still persistent critics within civil society here who say that there are authoritarians still within Mr Bainimarama’s regime. Will we use our position with Fiji under this agreement, to press Frank Bainimarama on that point?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I don't accept the premise of your question -
JOURNALIST: But that’s what they’re saying.
PRIME MINISTER: As you've just said, this most recent election demonstrates itself the enormous advances - and this is a country where its economy has been growing year on year, for nine years -
JOURNALIST: But those criticisms remain, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: The leadership that's been demonstrated here is setting up Fiji for a decade of prosperity and stability and continued peace. This is something that I've looked for, for a long time, and I'm so pleased to see it realised here, as someone who's had a longstanding interest in the welfare of the people of Fiji.
JOURNALIST: Just on the rugby league announcement today. I know at Labor's National Conference, they proposed getting a PNG team in the NRL. Would you see this announcement today as a step towards a potential Pacific or Fijian team in the NRL?
PRIME MINISTER: Well today as you know, I announced that we’ll be facilitating the pathway of a Fijian team in the Intrust New South Wales Rugby League. That obviously provides opportunities down the track, not only for potentially something like that - I mean, that's a matter for the NRL, at the end of the day, the Australian Government doesn't run the NRL. From time to time, I'd like to.
[Laughter]
But that is something that is beyond the responsibilities of the Prime Minister. But I am pleased that we're able to take this next step and I really thank the NRL for being up here today.
The NRL does tremendous work in the Pacific. That's why they're an important partner in our ‘step up’ programme. The PM's XIII match this year up in Port Moresby carried the message about opposing domestic violence. Sport is such a powerful tool to address important messages like that, whether it's in Australia or PNG or indeed here in Fiji. So the NRL, netball, rugby, all of these different sports have a key role to play in our ‘step up’ arrangements here in the Pacific, as do the churches. As you know, it was the first time ever a Prime Minister has attended a prayer breakfast here in Fiji today. Now, people may expect me to do that, fair enough. But churches and religion here in Fiji play an important role in their society, an incredibly important role. It's part of the fabric of the community here. Working with church leaders here, we will have Melanesian church leaders coming to Australia in the next few weeks, as part of our engagement program of churches working with churches in Australia, where there already is a great deal of interchange.
So whether it's NRL, whether it’s church, whether it's other community ties, education - I'm about, as you know, to head up to Nandi we’re we’re going to turn the sod up at Blackrock - this is a very wide-ranging partnership.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on what Frank Bainimarama said last night, he said that he repeatedly urged your predecessor to honour his commitment to a clean energy future. Did Mr Bainimarama urge you to honour a clean energy future?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wouldn't put it in those terms because I mean, the Prime Minister and I have had quite a number of conversations about this. This is our third bilateral meeting and it's been a topic throughout our discussions. He's very well aware of my commitments as Prime Minister. My first conversation with him following taking on the role of Prime Minister actually addressed this, where I made it very clear that Australia would continue to honour the commitments that we’ve made on emissions reduction. That was very well received. So on that point, I think we very much got off on the right foot and there was a clear understanding that those commitments were in place, as Australians would expect us to make.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on PACER Plus, did Frank Bainimarama indicate that it’s likely that Fiji will sign up in the coming two or three months?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, I wouldn't speculate too much on that. I mean, with these arrangements, you know, you've got to be patient. PACER Plus is stronger with Fiji, that's my point to the Fijian Government and the point I made to the Prime Minister. That's why we've engaged in this new trade and economic study. It's also now encompassing issues around double tax arrangements which was a matter that was raised. You never know, kava could be the key factor.
JOURNALIST: On kava though, Nigel Scullion, the Indigenous Affairs Minister in 2015 wanted it banned because it could have a negative impact on Aboriginal communities. How are you going to manage that when you have got more kava coming in?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that was the point I made when I made the announcement in Vanuatu. I said that we would do this in a way that would ensure we would mitigate against those risks. I'm very alive to those risks and I think they're real, particularly in remote Indigenous communities. But I don't think it's beyond our wit or capability to ensure that we can manage personal importation for private use, so that when Pacific communities get together in Ashfield in Sydney, they can get more than, you know, half a bowl of kava. I mean, it’s important to understand the cultural significance, the role kava plays in Pacific communities. So, there's a cultural element to this and of course, there's a commercial one ultimately as well. But, I mean, kava can be exported into the United States, New Zealand and other parts of the world. New Zealand is also a place where they have Indigenous communities, as it is in the United States. So these are things that I think are not beyond our ability to control, but I think Senator Scullion is right, as I have said also, that we manage those risks carefully.
JOURNALIST: On the Murray-Darling Basin Prime Minister, do you think that you would be prepared or the Government would be prepared to sit down and see if you can rewrite the Murray-Darling Basin Plan to account for some of the dramatic changes we have seen recently?
PRIME MINISTER: As I said yesterday, the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is a bipartisan arrangement. It’s the product of a lot of work that has been done by governments of both persuasions and the most recent serious scientific work that was done to inform the very issues that we're now seeing played out, was done by the previous government.
Now, we're pulling together the licence-holders, the environmental licence-holders, water-holders and the water managers and I think we need to look carefully at what is actually occurring. Of course, the drought, as the Deputy Prime Minister has said, has had a devastating impact on what we're seeing. There has been a perfect storm of other environmental factors, which has crystallised into the serious fish deaths that we've seen. But before we start ripping up bipartisan agreements that have been very important to how we manage that area, I think it's important that we inform ourselves more. We put $5 million in for the fish species recovery programme, we're getting people together who actively have responsibility for managing these flows and particularly the New South Wales Government, who has the lead role here. So we want to support them in the decisions they take.
I believe it's a very serious issue, but I also know that when you deal with serious issues like this, you don't get involved in knee-jerk responses. You act calmly, methodically, you work with people who know what they’re talking about and you make calm and rational decisions. Where possible you make them together, because I think it’s the bipartisanship, the absence of playing politics with the Murray-Darling Basin, which is so important to ensuring we have an economy that can manage water in the basin.
JOURNALIST: On the Melbourne murder, we obviously don’t know all the details yet, but it’s yet another woman who has been murdered by domestic violence or by a random attacker. Do we need to get more radical in our approach to dealing with male violence against women in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We must be forever vigilant. That’s why I’m so sickened by the attack and frankly disturbed by it, as I’m sure Australians are all around the country. We’ve put in $350 million for programs to address domestic violence around Australia. There will be a fourth action plan that we will be announcing between now and the next election, particularly as we move into the Budget. It’s a top, priority order issue for our Government and has been. Again, it’s something that should enjoy bipartisan commitment, it’s not something that we should do anything other than express great empathy and sympathy for the families of those who have suffered a terrible loss and just redouble our efforts in every occasion. I mean, it is just so shocking, I’m speechless.
Alright, thank you.
