Aus. Joint Press Conference with Dr Paul Wolfowitz
Minister for Defence Media Mail List
Saturday, 1 June, 2002 MIN 258/02
TRANSCRIPT
Joint Press Conference Australian Minister for Defence Senator the Hon. Robert Hill United States Deputy Secretary of
Defense Dr Paul Wolfowitz Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore 8:30am, 1 June 2002
Dr Wolfowitz:
Senator Hill the Australian Defence Minister - since these are American reporters why don't I let you go first, how's
that?
Senator Hill:
Well this has been a useful opportunity for Australians to again reinforce our intention to continue to contribute to
the war against terror until we are all more confident that there is a much reduced chance of major terrorist events
again occurring. We've been concentrating our efforts in Afghanistan itself on the ground, in the Gulf and with some air
support. We now have refuellers in Kyrgyzstan refuelling American and French air combat aircraft. And we intend to
continue with that contribution. It may vary from time to time as we might jointly determine is the right mix. Beyond
that, we intend to continue to contribute elsewhere in the world as might be appropriate and with our resources. And
like everyone else at the moment we are quite stretched. In particular, within this region we are seeking to work ...
[mobile phone rings] ... we are seeking to work constructively in supporting governments that we believe are going to
seriously address these issues. In particular we have been working closely with the Government of Indonesia and continue
to do that. We're now exploring ways in which we can support them in some maritime surveillance work, we're increasing
our intelligence exchange with Indonesia, we're talking to them about the possibility of assisting with some counter
terrorism training. And that's just an example of what we're prepared to do around the region as we sort of extend our
efforts beyond Afghanistan to ensure that the terrorist networks that have been established in recent years and have in
fact to some extent fed off each other are not going to be able to build upon what's been established. So in other
words, winning in Afghanistan we accept is not going to total picture. We need to look to the problem wherever it
exists, and we see we have a particular responsibility in this part of the world to make a positive contribution.
Dr Wolfowitz:
Let me just add to that I would say Australia has once again proven to be one of our most reliable and militarily
capable allies and it's great and we thank you for your ongoing contribution. We talked about Afghanistan, Indonesia,
East Timor, South Pacific. If we had more time we probably could have covered quite a few other parts of the world
because we have common interest in so many places. It's a pleasure to have an ally with the same pragmatic view of how
to make things move forward. That was the extent of our discussions. I think we have time for about one question.
Journalist:
Senator, does Australia favour the United States re-establishing military to military contacts with Indonesia?
I'm reluctant to say what America should do. But TNI is an institution that is critical to the internal stability of
Indonesia in the way that the military is not within our societies. And I think it's got to be a critical part of a good
future for Indonesia and therefore, in terms of wanting to support and assist country as it goes through a very dramatic
period of change - including change in terms of the military - and to bring good influences to bear has to be useful.
ENDS
ENDS