Consulat général d'Australie
Nouvelle-Calédonie - Polynésie française - Wallis & Futuna
Adresse: Immeuble Foch, 19 avenue du Maréchal Foch (7ème étage), Nouméa - Téléphone: 27 24 14 - Fax: 27 80 01

Transcript of a media doorstop held by the Hon Duncan Kerr SC MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, at the Australian Consulate-General in Noumea, on 14 November 2008.

Mr Kerr: Thank you very much indeed. This is the first visit of a member of the Rudd Government to New Caledonia. I am very pleased that I am able to be here.

The visit has given us an opportunity to reinforce our strong appreciation of the role of France within our region, the work that it does in conjunction with Australia about issues of mutual security, defence cooperation, our work with suppression of illegal fishing and a number of other areas where we have strong and long lasting relationships with France.

But it has also, and very importantly, given us a chance to express our delight and our support for the evolution of New Caledonia itself under the Noumea Accord and one of the things that has been very pleasing to us has been that across all the interlocutors, all the people we have spoken to, there is a very strong commitment to the evolution of New Caledonia as a strongly, evolving peaceful society utilizing the framework of the Noumea Accord to develop greater autonomy with the support of France and bringing together all the forces and the communities that have an interest in the future in New Caledonia.

For Australia’s part, we have a very longstanding view that New Caledonia’s future is part of the Pacific region and we want to encourage its greater participation in the region both as a member… sorry as an associate member of the Pacific Island Forum and as an active participant in all other agencies of regional architecture including across issues of environment, issues in relation to trade. And there we have been encouraging an opening of a dialogue that would enable better integration of New Caledonia into a regional trading discussion which will open markets, encourage private enterprise and provide opportunities for growth of the New Caledonian economy but also put pressure downward on prices. So there are very significant issues that the community now needs to address within the Noumea Accord framework.

We know there is going to be an election soon in New Caledonia and people are starting to focus on that but we are very pleased that those that we have spoken to are approaching that election and the future with a determination to find a common solution for New Caledonia which will work towards a way in which the country can play a greater role within the Pacific community and strengthen its bilateral relations with its neighbours and to strengthen its regional integration right across the board of a whole range of issues and are of concern all of us. So thank you very much and I’ll take any question that you have.

Mr Kerr: For Australia it is part of an evolution within the Pacific where a greater autonomy has been provided to the people and community of New Caledonia and their future is to be determined by the people of New Caledonia. This is very important and we want to support, in every way we possibly can, the evolution successfully of New Caledonia into the regional architecture, so it plays a part in the regional forums and we develop with New Caledonia ways of encouraging integration within the Pacific where it engages with those institutions on a routine basis.

Journalist: Do you consider New Caledonia as a major actor?

Mr Kerr: I think New Caledonia will become a major actor. At the moment it is evolving its strength as a government, evolving from a period where many of the decisions used to be made by France. As it acquires the competencies, the powers to make its own decisions, we look forward to a time where it will be a major player within the Pacific and within the regional architecture.

Journalist: Was it important to share Remembrance Day ceremonies with Mr Jégo?

Mr Kerr: It was and I really do wish to express my appreciation to Monsieur Jégo for permitting me to fly with him on a French Airforce plane to New Caledonia. It meant that we could both celebrate Remembrance Day in Australia, together, and in New Caledonia, together, and that was, I thought, highly symbolic that we travelled together and we, on both Australian soil and in New Caledonia, we were able to make concrete our mutual history and respect of those who died.

Journalist: Another question: I come back on the relation – how do you want to work in the economic and military domains with New Caledonia? How do you want to work with the territory?

Mr Kerr: Well on the military side of course, that is still an issue that is essentially the responsibility of Metropolitan France. But there we have very, very good relationships and I met the Commanding French General just yesterday and I don’t think that we could have better relations in terms of preparing, for example, against disaster relief, to plan for possible instances where military force can be drawn on for rescue at sea, to deal with illegal fishing, a whole range of issues where, in the past perhaps, cooperation might have been more difficult. And we’re doing joint military exercises. This is a very good and successful part of our common relationship.

On the economy, there is about 237 million dollars I think of trade between New Caledonia / Australian trade into New Caledonia. I think that we can do much better. One of the issues that is going to be difficult for New Caledonia, but we think needs to be addressed, is the issue of free trade. Opening up opportunities for economic investment, dealing with a situation where prices in New Caledonia are perhaps higher than they need be because, historically there have been sectors that have been protected from competition. I don’t want to rush this, it is an issue that New Caledonia itself has to address but right, in every relationship with our Pacific neighbours, we are making the case for a greater expansion of the private sector and for addressing issues such as telecommunications monopolies and transport monopolies, a whole range of issues. It is not unique to New Caledonia.

It is a view that we take that a healthy Pacific depends on strong economies. We think that there are areas we can move without too much controversy. There are areas where there are no domestic manufacturing in New Caledonia, nothing to protect but you still have high entry tariffs. We might be able to start addressing that, but we’ll start driving down some of the prices. And at a time when the world is contracting economically, very high prices in New Caledonia are a great disincentive to tourism, but also a cost to the people who have to buy food and live in New Caledonia against that background. So, these are issues that we don’t imagine will be solved quickly.

We have a particular view about the advantages, long term, of greater economic integration. We know that there will be costs if some of these issues are addressed but we think that the overall advantages, the gains, far outweigh the costs. But those are of course debates that every Pacific community is addressing. Australia itself addressed them some years ago, making a big decision to reduce our protection and to open our economy to trade, which we think has been a great advantage to Australia in the long run, but we had that discussion, debate internally. And we are encouraging that discussion and debate internally within New Caledonia. But ultimately, it is a decision that will have to be made by the Government of New Caledonia. But we thought the reception of Monsieur Martin and the Government was pretty responsive to these ideas.

There was a willingness to listen and to recognize these are difficult issues where we need to discuss further, and I think that there is a chance, again, not immediately, but to evolve a framework that allows us to continue a discussion that hopefully will involve benefits for both sides, benefits to Australia, benefits to the region and benefits to New Caledonia. Thank you.

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