THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP

ACTING LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
E&EO TRANSCRIPT
PRESS CONFERENCE
SUNDAY, 20 JULY 2014
SYDNEY
SUBJECT/S: MH17, United Nations Security Council; Saint Marys
serice !or icti"s o! MH17; #nternational $#%S Con!erence;
&ussia and t'e ()*; &e+atriation o! icti"s to $ustralia,
TANYA PLIBERSEK, ACTING LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION: Thanks for
coming out this afternoon. The frst thing to say of course is that the Prime
Minister, his wife, the leader of the opposition Bill Shorten and I, the
Goernor!General, his wife, the "ew South #ales Goernor, the Premier
Mike Baird and a num$er of others attended a serice this morning at
Saint Mary%s cathedral to commemorate the shocking loss of life from M&
'( today. The serice was a great opportunity to remind ourseles that in
)ustralia the whole community is shocked $y this act of e*traordinary
iolence and the loss of human life that has come from it. #e now know
that at least +, )ustralian citi-ens and permanent residents hae lost
their lies. .hildren, parents, grandparents, teachers, a whole range of
people right across the )ustralian community, from all parts of our
community there are many, many families grieing today and many
communities grieing the loss of a community mem$er. The serice today
was an opportunity to show that all )ustralians are united in their grief,
and united in their support for the families who%e lost a loed one, for the
communities who%e lost a mem$er of their community.
/ery shortly, )ustralian will $e engaged with the 0" Security .ouncil in
de$ating a resolution a$out granting full access to the site of this terri$le
crash. It is a$solutely critical that Security .ouncil mem$ers unanimously
support the call for an inestigation that is transparent, that is made up of
inestigators from a num$er of countries, so a credi$le, transparent,
international inestigation. )ccess to the site must $e granted
immediately and it must $e unimpeded. I think eery )ustralian would $e
outraged at the suggestions that there are paramilitary personnel on the
site at the moment that are interfering with inestigations, preenting
inestigation and it seems perhaps preenting the remoal and retrieal
of $odies. This is completely unaccepta$le. There is no e*planation, no
e*cuse for anything other than for authorities to hae full access to the
site to retriee and remoe $odies and also of course, to ensure that the
site is not tampered with, that any inestigation is thorough and is
credi$le.
The third thing to say is that tomorrow I%ll $e traelling to Mel$ourne to go to the
International )I1S .onference. )s well as the )ustralian citi-ens and permanent
residents that were mourning for, we understand the grief of other nations,
particularly the "etherlands who%e lost so many of their citi-ens. #e also
understand the terri$le grief $eing su2ered $y those attending the International
)I1S .onference to hae lost so many colleagues in this shocking tragedy. The
people who are traelling to the conference in Mel$ourne are people who hae
spent their lies, dedicated their careers to helping others. #e%e got health
campaigners, doctors, researchers, scientists, people who hae made a huge
contri$ution to saing literally millions of lies $y ensuring $etter access to
medicines in countries where the epidemic is most ferce. So as well as the
terri$le indiidual tragedies of these lies lost, as we think of the families and
friends and colleagues of all of those on $oard, we also think of the cost to
humanity of losing so many fne researchers and health actiists at one time.
I want to 3ust, $efore we moe into 4uestions, mention another tragedy that%s
happening today. #e now know that the death toll in Ga-a is oer +55. #e need
to fnd a peaceful resolution immediately to the military con6ict that%s occurring
in Ga-a. 7f course the rockets must stop, &amas must agree to a ceasefre and I
also urge Israel to ensure that any response to that rocket fre is proportionate
and spares the lies of ciilians. #e are hearing of a lot of ciilian casualties at
the moment and I am full of concern for those people also.
JOURNALIST: 7n M&'(, the Prime Minister this morning said on teleision that
8ussia can%t wash its hand of the situation. #hat are your thoughts on the way
that 8ussia and President Putin are handling this so far9
PLIBERSEK: The priority for )ustralia has to $e getting on to the crash site and
retrieing )ustralians from that crash site. The second most important thing to
do is ensure an international inestigation into e*actly what%s happened here. I
am e*tremely concerned, howeer, a$out reports that 8ussian $acked
separatists are engaged in preenting access to the site and preenting the
inestigation that must happen. #e need to esta$lish what type of rocket this
was, who fred it and where they got it from, $ut that%s the ne*t step for us.
JOURNALIST: I suppose for a lot of the families, of let%s say the )ustralian
ictims, they%d $e wondering whether or not President Putin should $e allowed
into )ustralian for the G:5 Summit, or should attend the G:5 Summit. .an you
understand some of these families and more $roadly the )ustralian community
$elieing that he shouldn%t $e here in person9
PLIBERSEK: I a$solutely support ;inaudi$le< concerned a$out the, what
President Putin has said. .ertainly his frst response in seeking to $lame 0kraine
for this terri$le tragedy is completely unaccepta$le. &e has the opportunity now,
in the Security .ouncil, to $ack the full international inestigation and he also
has the opportunity to send a ery strong message to 8ussian $acked separatists
in 0kraine that they must cooperate with an international inestigation. They
must cooperate in allowing $odies to $e remoed from the site and repatriated,
taken home, $rought home to )ustralia and to all of those nations that are
sharing in this tragedy with us. President Putin has the opportunity of showing
leadership on this $y $acking that inestigation and ensuring that 8ussian
$acked separatists allow the international team inestigating and remoing and
repatriating $odies to do their work in ;inaudi$le<.
JOURNALIST: But a$out him coming to the G:59
PLIBERSEK: #ell, I think that that%s something that we need to consider when it
$ecomes clear what type of rocket this was, where it came from and who fred it.
JOURNALIST: )nd the Sister Tiernan, she was from your electorate9
PLIBERSEK: "o, she was from a neigh$ouring electorate I $eliee, $ut I was
a$le to meet this morning at Saint Mary%s with a num$er of her fellow Sisters of
the Sacred &eart and a num$er of other 7rders were also represented there.
There were a num$er of young women from =incoppal who were at the serice
this morning and I know that they are feeling a great deal of grief at this time.
#e were a$le to o2er our condolences to those other nuns, $ut of course it%s a
tragic time for them as it is for all of the families, friends and colleagues of those
)ustralian citi-ens and permanent residents.
JOURNALIST: >ust $ack on to 8ussia, do you think that the $roader international
community and countries like Germany and Britain also need to do their $it to try
and encourage 8ussia or force 8ussia into supporting an independent and
international in4uiry9
PLIBERSEK: )$solutely. I think any nation, any world leader that is in contact
with /ladimir Putin with any nation that has any in6uence with 8ussia should $e
using that in6uence right now to ensure that 8ussia supports a 0" Security
.ouncil resolution to allow a credi$le, independent, international inestigation.
)nd that, also on top of that, that /ladimir Putin urges 8ussian separatists ery
clearly to ensure that the site is accessi$le, that there is no tampering with the
site.
JOURNALIST: But are you concerned that Germany and Britain might $e
tempering their comments $ecause there%s an economic imperatie for $oth
countries9
PLIBERSEK: ?ook I think, no I couldn%t say that now, I don%t see any eidence of
that.
JOURNALIST: 7kay, and also >ulie Bishop has $een fnding it di@cult to get on to
her 8ussian counterpart and Tony )$$ott still hasn%t $een a$le to speak to
/ladimir Putin. #hat do you think that this sort of stu2 signals9
PLIBERSEK: I think it is e*traordinary that the 8ussian foreign minister
apparently is on holidays and not contacta$le and that President Putin, at a time
like this of international shock and horror, is not aaila$le.
JOURNALIST: 1o you hae any concerns that the M&'( incident could in6ame
tensions here regarding the 0kraineA8ussia con6ict9
PLIBERSEK: "o, I don%t share those concerns. I $eliee the 8ussian community
and 0krainian community here in )ustralia are $oth shocked and appalled at the
loss of life from M&'( going down, and I%m sure that as good )ustralian citi-ens
they will $e as shocked and as horrifed as any other )ustralian citi-en at this
loss of life.
Thanks eeryone.

EN%S