Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs
2 December 2008
Interview - 3AW
Subjects: Thailand; the economy
NEIL MITCHELL: First to Bangkok, developments overnight, there were some reports that one person has been killed, and 20 anti-government protesters wounded in a bomb blast at the airport, at the domestic airport. Now that one death isn't confirmed, there are reports of injuries and not deaths, but there's also this one report of the death. Australians are still trapped in Thailand, on the line, the Acting Foreign Minister, Simon Crean, good morning.
SIMON CREAN: Good morning, Neil.
MITCHELL: What's the latest you have on this bomb attack?
CREAN: Well, only the reports, we haven't been able to confirm it as yet, or the extent of the injuries. It is an explosion, whether it's a bomb or a hand grenade, it's occurred at the domestic airport, the Don Muang domestic airport, as far as we can gather from the reports, but we're checking the information, Neil.
MITCHELL: Do you believe there are any Australians at that domestic airport?
CREAN: Well again, we're obviously checking that, but we've been trying - we've been in contact, the Ambassador has been out to that airport on a number of occasions, we some days ago were telling people that if there were difficulties getting them out of those airports, we were trying to make arrangements.
We've got 289 out of Phuket after we travelled them by bus down to there, that plane has taken off. There is another scheduled flight by Qantas out of Phuket, another unscheduled one, you know, they've put an extra plane on, Neil, and Jetstar has redirected the Bangkok plane to come out of Phuket, so we're doing everything we can to get those who want to come home, out.
MITCHELL: How many are there, do you know?
CREAN: No, we don't know the exact numbers, because people need to register, not everyone does register. The Embassy has been enormously active, not just at the airports, but at the hotels, and I think that if you look at the reports associated with the people moving to Phuket, they've been very praiseworthy of the efforts of the Australian Embassy there.
So look, it's a constant monitoring, processing operation, Neil. Some people have chosen not to leave, they're prepared to stay, but then the difficulty is getting them accommodation, and so they're involved on all those fronts.
MITCHELL: So as far as we know though, there are roughly a couple of hundred left there, or not?
CREAN: Well, no, we've had 3000 inquiries, but that's families ringing, that's all sorts of things. I've been trying to establish whether or not the 900 seats associated with those three special flights, if you like, that I've talked about, whether that's going to clear the backlog. We won't know that until, you know, we take a reconnoitre, but Qantas and Jetstar have been particularly helpful in this regard, so we'll continue to work with them, and the logistics of moving them from Bangkok to Phuket, it's 12 hours in the bus, but it's better than six days not knowing where you're going, at an airport.
MITCHELL: How dangerous is it there, do you think? What's the advice?
CREAN: Well, obviously our travel advice has been reissued, to urge Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Bangkok, not to Thailand as a whole, but to Bangkok, because of the continued closure of the international and the Don Muang airports. Obviously this latest event, the reported blast, is another concern, but our continuing advice is for people to stay away from the airports until further notice, to avoid demonstrations, rallies, et cetera, and to check with the airlines the status of flights, and particularly if they want to get out.
MITCHELL: Yes, obviously you want to get everybody out who wants to get out, as soon as you can?
CREAN: Yes, and I think it was interesting that a number of people who again have been reported coming, didn't sense the anxiety, the fear, the concern for their safety so much as just the sheer frustration, of not knowing what was going on.
MITCHELL: Okay, thank you for speaking to us. Can you just put your trade hat on for a moment? Wall Street, down 7.7 per cent, that's horrendous, isn't it?
CREAN: Yes, well, I mean anyone who can pick the markets, the stock markets in these circumstances Neil, is pretty damned good. I mean even with injection packages, they go down, and then they rally - it's a very volatile situation. But this is why it requires the global solution, it's why the G20 meeting took place, it's why it's calling for the conclusion of the Doha round of trade talks, why it's calling for governments in a concerted way, to take action to stimulate the domestic economy.
Obviously we've done that, next week there will be billions of dollars going into consumers' pockets at a time just before Christmas. That will sustain retail spending, no doubt. We're anticipating, everyone's anticipating the Reserve Bank's decision today, which will also put some - if it does it, will put liquidity into the system.
So I think in domestic terms and global terms, it's not just a question of watching this, we are ahead of the game, but you can't pick it, and we have to be ever vigilant with it.
MITCHELL: Thank you very much for your time.
CREAN: Thanks, Neil.
MITCHELL: The Acting Foreign Minister, and the Trade Minister, Simon Crean.
ENDS
Media Inquiries: Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555