JOURNALIST:

There’s been repeated efforts to try and curb North Korea’s nuclear program, so far they’ve all failed. What makes you think the diplomatic option is going to work this time?

PRIME MINISTER:

The vital priority now is to ensure that the North Korean regime comes to its senses. Australia together with the global community utterly condemns the latest, reckless action by this dangerous regime – this dangerous rogue regime. Now, the UN sanctions, the enhanced UN economic sanctions will begin operation this week and China will be enforcing them.

But there will be more that needs to be done given the affront that North Korea has shown to China itself.

At the very time North Korea undertook this latest test, the most dangerous and most powerful it has ever done – of a thermonuclear device so we believe –  the Chinese President was hosting a vitally important economic conference of the BRICS, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. This is an enormous, high-profile diplomatic priority of China. Kim Jong-un chose to affront China with this test.

China has the economic leverage to bring North Korea to its senses and with that leverage comes responsibility. Now as I’ve said to you many times, we know that North Korea is not an obedient client state of China. North Korea is not to China what East Germany was to the Soviet Union and China is dismayed and frustrated by North Korea’s conduct. Nonetheless the fact remains that China has the ability, the economic ability to bring North Korea to its senses and the responsibility therefore, on China, is the greatest.

The time has come for all nations, including China to take action to bring this regime to its senses.

Right now, the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula is greater than it has been for over 60 years. Conflict on the Korean Peninsula would be a disaster for the region and for the world. The time has come for China to take the responsibility to respond to this affront with strong action that brings this regime to its senses.

Thanks very much.

[ENDS]

SABRA LANE:

Joining us now to discuss the latest is the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mr Turnbull, good morning and welcome to AM.

PRIME MINISTER:

Good morning and happy 50th birthday for AM.

SABRA LANE:

Thank you, we’ll get to that in a tick. Thank you very much.

Do North Korea and its testing of this nuclear device. The US is now talking about a massive military response that is effective and overwhelming, how can conflict be avoided?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well conflict can be avoided by the regime coming to its senses. Now, unless the regime changes its mind, that will require stronger economic pressure on North Korea. The country that has the ability to impose that pressure, is China. China has the overwhelmingly dominant economic relationship with North Korea, it’s its neighbor of course.

China can do more. Now China has roundly condemned this latest test. This test is a direct affront to China. Beijing has been hosting a very important international conference, the BRICS conference; Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. This is an area of international leadership that Xi Jinping has put enormous store on. So right at that moment, Kim Jong-un has chosen to affront China, to defy China and this calls for a strong Chinese response.

SABRA LANE:

Would an appropriate response for China to cut off oil? Would that be something Kim-Jong un understands?

PRIME MINISTER:

That absolutely would be a lever that China could pull and that would put enormous economic pressure on the regime. So this is the point that I want to stress Sabra, and I’ve made this point several times with you before, but it’s important to repeat.

North Korea is not a puppet state of China. It is not to China what East Germany was to the Soviet Union. The Chinese are frustrated and dismayed by North Korea’s conduct, but China has the greatest leverage and with the greatest leverage comes the greatest responsibility.  

SABRA LANE:

But are they frustrated, because it may be very convenient for Beijing to have a near neighbor causing so much grief for Washington?

PRIME MINISTER:

Having a near neighbor that is bringing the Korean Peninsula closer to war, than at any time since the end of the Korean War, cannot possibly be in China’s interest.

SABRA LANE:

How closely briefed is Australia on what options are open to the United States? Are you being briefed on a daily basis?

PRIME MINISTER:

Very closely briefed.

SABRA LANE:

Is he evil? John Howard told me last week that he thinks Kim Jong-un is evil.

PRIME MINISTER:

Yes, I don’t think there is any doubt about that. This is a person that routinely assassinates members of his own family, you know other people, other would-be-threats in the regime. It is a cruel and evil dictatorship and he starves his own people. Look, this is a shocking, dangerous, provocative, illegal regime that is threatening the peace and security of the region and the world and is advancing nobody’s interests other than the maintenance of that one family’s dictatorship of North Korea.

SABRA LANE:

How worried are you by the Islamic State threat in the Philippines?

PRIME MINISTER:

Very concerned. We cannot afford to have Marawi become the Raqqa of South East Asia. It is vitally important that the ISIL insurgency in Marawi is defeated.

SABRA LANE:

Australia’s considering sending, or we’ve offered to send troops, I understand Special Forces?

PRIME MINISTER:

The ABC keeps on saying this Sabra and we keep on saying it’s wrong. With all due respect on the 50th anniversary of AM –

SABRA LANE:

Clear it up?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well its been cleared up a few times. We are providing support to the Philippines government in terms of intelligence gathering through the use of the P-3 Orions. We stand ready to assist them in capacity-building but the story that the ABC has consistently run – and has been consistently corrected – that we have offered to send special forces is not true.

SABRA LANE:

The war in terrorism will soon enter is 17th year, how long do you think it will last? Will it be something that goes for decades?

PRIME MINISTER:

I fear it easily could, yes. I think this is a crisis within Islam. Fundamentally, what you have is an extremist, violent, intolerant ideology within Islam. It is supported by a tiny minority of Muslims, obviously. Most of its victims are other Muslims; we’ve seen examples of that every day. But I think it is going to be a long term struggle.

But you know, the reality is that we have to continue defending ourselves, both at home and abroad and we do so. My government has taken measures both at home and abroad to ensure that our agencies – whether it’s the Australian Defence Force overseas, whether it is our police and intelligence services at home – have all of the resources they need to keep us safe. We will continue to do that. There is no ‘set and forget’ in national security.

Every day I’m focused on ensuring that those who work night and day to keep us safe have the tools, the resources in every respect, to do their job.

SABRA LANE:

Back home now, energy policy, the Clean Energy Target. It’s something you’ve said you’d like to see sorted by the years end. Will it still be called the Clean Energy Target by the time you’re finished with it?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well Sabra, I’m focused on ensuring that we have energy measures, policy measures that will deliver us reliable and affordable power, that will enable us to reduce our emissions in accordance with our commitments internationally. What we’ve seen is some shocking failures in policy. The most recently confessed-to failure of course was Labor’s failure over gas.

SABRA LANE:

We could point to other failures – CPRS.

PRIME MINISTER:

Sabra, I know you don’t like me talking about the failures of the Labor Party, but on your 50th anniversary at least give me a hearing.

We have got on the East Coast of Australia a shortage of gas. How could that possibly happen? It seems inconceivable. We’re one of the biggest gas exporters in the world, how could we be short of gas?

SABRA LANE:

People on the left like Paul Howes and Martin Ferguson warned about this for years.

PRIME MINISTER:

But people in government, the Labor Party in government ignored those warnings and now admit they ignored those warnings.

It because of that Gillard Government’s decision, of which Bill Shorten was a Minister, that Australians are paying too much for gas, thousands of jobs are being threatened and we’re paying too much for electricity.

Now I have had to take – as a Liberal Prime Minister – the tough decision of putting limits on exports of gas, to make up for a failure of Labor Policy to which they have now made a full confession.

They owe a massive apology to families and businesses in Australia that are being threatened by these crushingly high gas prices. Which I might say are now coming back, they’re coming down because of the measures we’ve taken. But they should never have gone up, if Labor had put Australians first.

SABRA LANE:

Parliament is back from today, the Opposition says “anything can happen”. They’re not happy that Barnaby Joyce could possibly be the Acting Prime Minister at the end of this week given that his election to Parliament is in question – the validity of it is in question.

If the High Court finds that he was invalidly elected, Labor will claim vindication won’t it?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well it says a lot about the Labor Party, Sabra, doesn’t it?

That at a time when we’re facing the greatest threat of war on the Korean Pensiula in 60 years – more than 60 years – in the face of that, in the face of rising energy prices and Labor’s admitted responsibility for that – in the face of all of that, what the Labor Party wants to do is talk about creating disruption on the floor of the Parliament.

Australian’s will be sickened by the sight of the Labor Party’s failure to recognise the priorities of the Australian Parliament is to keep Australians safe and to support the opportunity, the economic opportunity that Australians deserve. That requires the Parliament to focus on the real issues, rather than playing political games. I mean consider this; you have Tanya Plibersek out there yesterday, is she talking about North Korea? Is she talking about how the Opposition stands in support of the government in demanding stronger sanctions against North Korea? No. She’s talking about playing games on the floor of the Parliament. It’s pathetic.

SABRA LANE:

Well Labor could, they’ve taken a leaf straight out straight out of Tony Abbott’s playbook on how to run the Opposition in these circumstances.

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, that is no justification. The reality is we are facing on the Korean Peninsula, the gravest threat to peace since the end of the Korean War. These are dangerous times. Now, what Australians would expect is the Parliament to be resolute in support of the security of Australia.

SABRA LANE:

As you pointed out at the start of this interview, AM is turning 50 today. It feels a little somber to be honest. We have more than a million people listening to this program. Why do you think it has endured when so many other things haven’t?

PRIME MINISTER:

Well, I believe it has endured because it focuses on what the ABC is, by act of Parliament, required to do; which is to deliver accurate and impartial news and current affairs.

We live in a media environment Sabra, where, you know, because of the internet and clickbait and social media, there is so much sensationalism, so much – well, fake news, Donald Trump would call it. But quite a bit of it is fake, as we know. Of course the big commercial media companies are under more pressure than ever before. The ABC has assured taxpayer funding and the responsibility on the ABC to be accurate and impartial and balanced and thoughtful and focus on the real issues of the day, is greater than ever.

So AMs celebrated 50 years. Happy birthday, AM and the values on which AM was created, I hope will be enduring, because they are vitally important for the ABC and for all Australians.

SABRA LANE:

Well on that note Prime Minister, thank you very much for talking to AM this morning.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thanks so much.

[ENDS]