Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

My dealings with President Yudhoyono of Indonesia are in first-class working order right across the spread of the bilateral relationship, including on border security matters—and I will come back to the question of our meetings at the recent APEC gathering. Can I say to the member for Curtin that, notwithstanding the opposition’s preoccupation with this individual vessel—which some would say is a legitimate preoccupation—we are, with the Indonesians, on a rolling basis engaged in a series of interruptions of people-smuggling activities. In fact, together with other countries in the region, in the last 12 months we have engaged in some 90 interruptions of such activities.

In the course of the APEC meeting the President of Indonesia and I discussed a range of things, including his visit to Australia which will occur at either the end of this year or early next year—we are working on dates, and it is currently likely to be in February. Can I suggest to those opposite that as a further mark of respect for the Indonesian President—and I have had some early consultations with the Presiding Officers about this—and given that he was recently elected as the democratically elected President of his country, when he visits it would be good if he were extended the honour of addressing the Australian parliament. We think that is entirely appropriate, as it would be the first time he has done so.

On the question of the APEC meetings and the discussions with the President of Indonesia—

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