The Hon Bob McMullan MP

Transcript of interview with Jacinta Tynan and Susanne Latimore – Sky News on the Hour 2pm

7 May 2008

TYNAN: Well joining us on the line now is Bob McMullan, the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance. Mr McMullan, thank you for talking to us this afternoon. Do tell us what channels will aid be delivered through?

MCMULLAN: Well, we'll be delivering our aid through only two routes: recognised, reputable United Nations agencies and recognised, reputable Australian non-government organisations. We won't be allowing any of the money to go through the government of Burma.

LATIMORE: We have reports, of course, that some agencies are having a hard time actually getting into Burma. Can you be confident the aid will reach those who need it?

MCMULLAN: Well, clearly we'll only release the money when it's capable of getting into the country. But once it gets in the hands of the agencies that we're forwarding - to people like UNICEF and big, reputable Australian non-government organisations like World Vision - then we are confident that they will handle it fairly and efficiently. But it is very frustrating that the government of Burma is not only a repressive regime, it seems to be a very incompetent one as well.

TYNAN: Bob McMullan, the number of casualties and the amount of destruction in the country, it just seems to be getting bigger by the day. Is $3 million really going to be enough?

MCMULLAN: Well, $3 million is an initial response. Before we know the full scale of the problem, we know that that will help, because it'll get clean water to people and some of those really very basic requirements that you can do straight away. But what we need is the Burmese regime to allow international assessment teams in so they can tell us what the full scale of the problem is and then we can join the international community in a more comprehensive response.

We're ready to do more. This is what we know we can do now to get immediate assistance as soon as people can get the visas and get in to deliver the water and other essentials.

LATIMORE: Mr McMullan, if invited by the government - as you say, that's obviously a problem - would Australia be prepared to send teams of people to assist?

MCMULLAN: Well, yes. We have a lot of expertise in that. I'm not sure we are going to be at the front line of doing that because there are UN agencies set up and poised ready to go. But if we were requested, we - Australia - has a lot of expertise in this area, and we'd be happy to assist.

It's more likely we'll be providing our share of the financial resources that others distribute. Though there'll be Australians on the ground from the NGOs, but we can assist if the UN asks us to be part of it. We're ready to do that.

TYNAN: You've mentioned it a few times. It seems that, well, the political situation in Burma is really having an impact here, making it really difficult, where it wouldn't be that case in most countries to get aid in.

MCMULLAN: Exactly. This is a government that is very frightened of people around the world, first of all, seeing what really goes on, but secondly having a chance to talk to the people, because they govern only by repression and secrecy. But they have to move, they have to appreciate that the humanitarian crisis outweighs any political interest they might have and they have to make it possible for the international community to come in to assist people in need. And they'll have to deal with the political consequences afterwards.

LATIMORE: Bob McMullan, a million people homeless. It's extraordinary. The first challenge is, I guess, shelter and clean water and food.

MCMULLAN: It is. I keep referring to clean water because it's so symbolic, and that's the first thing that we know we can provide, we know how to do it. But shelter is going to be important next, and it won't be long before there's a food crisis. I don't understand that that's absolutely the case now. The problem when I last heard it - excuse me, I'm in an airport, there's a very noisy plane going past, I don't know if you can hear it - but when I last heard, the problem was the price of food was going up, which is very bad for the poor. But it won't be long before there's a more serious food shortage if we don't some action taken.

LATIMORE: All right, we'll leave it there. Bob McMullan, thank you so much for your time on Sky News today.

MCMULLAN: Thanks very much, bye.

ENDS

2008