Sally Sara, Host: The Prime Minister will hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from PNG and Tonga today in Brisbane before the leaders watch the rugby league State of Origin decider. Anthony Albanese is back in Australia after signing the Vuvale Union Security and Development pact in Fiji and joining Independence Day celebrations in the Solomon Islands. Matt Thistlethwaite is the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Assistant Minister for Immigration and joins me now. Minister, welcome back to Radio National Breakfast.
Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Good morning, Sally. Thanks for having me on.
Sara: The Prime Minister will host Pacific leaders for regional security talks later today. Does China's ballistic missile test earlier this make the government's task easier or harder in persuading Pacific nations to sign security agreements with Australia?
Assistant Minister: Well, it's certainly been destabilising and it undermines peace and security in the region. It's the complete opposite of what we're trying to achieve with these talks and these agreements with Pacific leaders. Last year, the 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum signed the Pacific Ocean of Peace declaration where we committed to working together to ensure a peaceful and stable region. And we've seen this week the Prime Minister sign the Ocean of Peace alliance with Fiji. That's a very important defence and security treaty and it's open to other Pacific neighbours as well to become members of that important agreement. So, it does destabilise the region, but nonetheless we're committed to working together to try and ensure peace and security moving forward.
Sara: The Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Matthew Wale, has criticised the test, urging China to, quote, not to threaten. Is China listening, do you think?
Assistant Minister: Hopefully they are. I think that they were powerful words from Matthew Wale and certainly his expression that they're not the action of a friend, I think was quite telling. Solomons has had a relationship with China in the past and he's expressed his disappointment at the actions of China, as has Australia. We've made our objections clearly known to the Chinese government. There's a protocol, the Hague Code of Conduct regarding missile testing, giving appropriate notice where and when the tests will take place. And China hasn't followed that protocol in this regard. So, we've expressed our opposition to what's been done and no doubt it'll be a topic of further discussions between our Foreign Ministers.
Sara: Mr. Wale says the missile test is, quote, further evidence of the need for his idea of a regional security pact in the Pacific. In your view, does the proposal have merit for those reasons?
Assistant Minister: Well, essentially, that's what the Ocean of Peace Declaration is all about. It's the notion that Pacific nations should cooperate to deter and resist external threats. And an attack on any Pacific nation risks peace and security of all of our members. And there's an objective of us working together, subject to domestic processes, to combat that. So, really, that's what this declaration is all about. It's further reinforced by the Ocean of Peace Alliance. And we welcome other Pacific neighbours joining that alliance as well.
Sara: You're listening to Radio National Breakfast. Speaking with the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Matt Thistlethwaite. Mr. Albanese is expected to sign agreements with the PNG Prime Minister and Tonga's Prime Minister detailing how they'll spend around $200 million allocated for grassroots rugby league in the Pacific. How important is sport to strengthening Australia's relationships?
Assistant Minister: It's really important. Obviously, we share a common bond around the love of the game of rugby league. And the Pacific leaders that are with the PM will attend the State of Origin tonight. And I think it's significant, Sally, that you'll have players from Samoa, from Tonga and PNG running around tonight in the finale to what is the greatest rugby league event in the world. And that's a great symbol of the contribution that Pacific players are making to the NRL. But this partnership is about trying to foster the grassroots, the community level of rugby league. It'll help establish competitions at primary and high school level, and importantly women's competitions in these countries as well. When I was the Assistant Minister for the Pacific in the previous Labor government, I travelled to Pacific nations and I saw the health and social benefits of rugby league, rugby union and cricket programs that are all run by our national bodies in those countries, particularly the health benefits. We know that Pacific nations have some of the worst health outcomes in terms of life expectancy, rates of obesity and the like. So, the more that we can have kids running around playing the great game of rugby league, the better off the health effects will be for those countries.
Sara: In other issues in the Middle East, there's breaking news this morning that the US has launched a series of strikes on Iran in response to attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. How concerned are you that this conflict and the significant economic impacts in Australia are far from an end?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, look, this conflict's gone on for too long and I think Australians are sick and tired of the stop start nature of it. They're hopeful that the ceasefire would hold. And our message to all the parties is that that ceasefire needs to be upheld and the Strait needs to reopen permanently to shipping so that the world economy can return to normal. So, our message to all the parties to the ceasefire is please uphold the terms of it. The world expects that the strait would reopen as quickly as possible and normal shipping is resumed.
Sara: The ABC is reporting that the last of the known ISIS linked Australian women in Syria will return home amid allegations that a Yazidi girl was enslaved, beaten and raped in her home in Syria a decade ago. Will this woman be charged on arrival in Australia?
Assistant Minister: Well, that's a matter for the Australian Federal Police. They're the ones that are the appropriate organisation to charge someone for alleged crimes. But we've made sure that there was no assistance for these individuals to return home and that they would face the full brunt of the law if they'd committed any crimes. There's a couple of people that have been charged with very, very serious crimes and they're now being prosecuted. So, this individual can't expect any assistance from the government and is likely to face the full weight of the law when they return to Australia.
Sara: Why is this individual being allowed back into the country at all?
Assistant Minister: Well, Australia has an obligation to uphold its international commitments and to apply Australian law. Under Australian law, citizens are entitled to return to our country unless there is an adverse finding and a recommendation from our security and intelligence agencies. There isn't the case in this particular matter. So, upholding Australian law under the passports legislation, under Australian citizenship legislation, people are entitled to return to Australia.
Sara: Matt Thistlethwaite, thank you for joining me this morning.
Assistant Minister: Thanks, Sally.