PRIME MINISTER:

Madame President, welcome to Australia. You’re the first Croatian President to visit Australia since 1995.

We’ve already had a very good discussion this morning, we’ve got a lot more to talk about but of course you come as President of Croatia to a nation that has a very large Croatian community, I know, that has received you rapturously. We can understand why.

You’ve had a very enthusiastic reception here and a very warm welcome.

You’ve been a great supporter of Australia as we have of Croatia in terms of our multilateral nominations for the Human Rights Council and I thank you for your support on the European Free Trade Agreement.

We look forward to further discussions about how we can advance our shared values in the world and of course promote further investment between Croatia and Australia. 

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA:

Thank you very much Mr Prime Minister. It’s a true pleasure to be here, and I’d like to thank you on behalf of my delegation and myself for the very warm reception this morning.

And I’d like to thank the Australian people and especially the Croatian community for the warm welcome that we have received throughout the few days that we have been here already.

Yes the Croatian community is a huge reason, a great reason for the visit to Australia as well and we’re very proud of them because they are proud Australians, but also they cherish and nourish their Croatian heritage and they keep close connections with Croatia.

I’m very pleased that this morning we could already discuss our bilateral relationship and our desire to have closer cooperation and closer discussions.

Croatia will continue to support Australia in the European Union and argue for closer links between the European Union and Australia. So those in the European Union and in NATO you have a strong friend and ally.

We are very much interested in expanding our bilateral relationship in many areas from science and technology to most notably economic exchanges, trade and investment.

I hope that with today’s discussions we will also take a new step forward towards potential new investment of Australia in Croatia, and Croatia in Australia in of course trade exchange.

I am pleased that there are four chambers of commerce, Croatian-Australian Chambers of Commerce here and on Sunday we signed a Memorandum of Understanding between our Chamber of the Economy and the four chambers and I believe that that also will contribute to our bilateral relationship.

So thank you very much once again for the warm reception and I’m very much looking forward to working closely with you, Mr Prime Minister, Madame Minister and with all of you and I am very much looking forward to our growing friendship between Croatia and Australia.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you.

[ENDS]

PRIME MINISTER:

Welcome. I’m joined this morning by the Attorney-General, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, the Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, who is the Minister assisting me for Counter-Terrorism and the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester.

Also, the heads of our agencies that we are bringing together into the new Department of Home Affairs. It’s long overdue, this reform, but it will mean that these agencies – critically important to keeping Australians safe – are working together in the same department.

The agencies whose leaders are with us today were responsible for disrupting and containing the most serious, elaborate terrorist plot within Australia that we’ve confronted. This was a plot to bring down an aeroplane. Hundreds of people would have died had it been carried out.

It’s a great credit, particularly to the work of ASIO, whose Director-General is here, and the Federal Police, whose Commissioner is here, for the way in which they worked with the State Police to identify this conspiracy, to disrupt it, contain it, to ensure that Australians were kept safe and of course now, to prosecute two individuals on terrorist offences. Since September 2014, our agencies have disrupted 13 terrorist plots and charged 73 Australians with terrorism offences here in Australia.

Now, none of this can be taken for granted. We all know that there is no place for ‘set and forget’. We congratulate and thank the officers of the agencies, Border Force, police, ASIO, Office of Transport Security. We thank them for their diligence and their commitment and for their success on this occasion. But we all know the challenge is relentless and so we can’t be complacent.

So what we’re doing with the Department of Home Affairs is ensuring that our agencies can do an even better job. To support that, we’re having a discussion here today about how the implementation of this reform is underway.

I want to note that we have maintained additional security measures at airports following this recent disruption of this plot. Some of the measures are obvious to the travelling public and others are not but all of these aspects of security are under constant review.

The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester, will be reviewing – is reviewing currently -our aviation security arrangements. That includes the viability of checking identities at airports.

I’ve also asked the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton, to undertake further work on cargo, passenger security and screening at airports.

So constantly, in every way, every day, we are focused on improving, enhancing the ability of our agencies to keep Australians safe.

As I said, there is no place for ‘set and forget’. We are relentless. We recognise the challenge that we face is relentless as well. So we must be resolute in our efforts to ensure we are always doing everything we can to keep Australians safe.

I look forward to having a good discussion here about the implementation of this important reform.

Thank you.

[ENDS]