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MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS HON ALEXANDER DOWNER, MP

TRANSCRIPTION: PROOF COPY E & OE

DATE: 28 March, 2007

TITLE: Interview with 5AA Radio, Adelaide - David Hicks.

PRESENTER: Alexander Downer, good morning to you.

MR DOWNER: Good morning Keith.

PRESENTER: Do you see it in that way- that it is a symbolic victory?

MR DOWNER: No, I don’t. I think it is just a process. As you know, we’ve been concerned about the Hicks case because of our concern about terrorism. Any Australian who we believe has been involved with supporting terrorist organisations - when we’ve seen what’s happened to Australians in Bali and other places - obviously that is a massive concern to us. But the Americans have taken far too long with this process and we’ve been very critical of them, both publicly and privately, but at least the process is now coming to an end and obviously we’re pleased that it is coming to an end.

PRESENTER: Minister, were you surprised by his guilty plea?

MR DOWNER: If you’d asked me a month ago, I don’t know I would have thought it was possible. But this is really one of those things that he’s worked through with his lawyers. I don’t think I can say too much about it except this: we have quite a lot of material in relation to David Hicks and his activities so it is not surprising that this is coming out in a court now. I put it that way.

PRESENTER: Will you release this material, now that he has pleaded guilty?

MR DOWNER: Well, it is being released, of course, through the court process, through the Military Commission…

PRESENTER: Are you saying, Minister, that there is more than has been written about quite extensively, both internationally and in our national press - and people like Piers Akerman have reminded us in major articles - are you saying there’s more than that?

MR DOWNER: No. No I’m not, really. I’m just saying that that sort of material - without being specific about it, I’d have to read the article, of course, to see what they said -

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but that kind of material has been around. We have, of course, access to that kind of material years ago when this first happened - when Hicks was detained - because obviously when he was detained, we wanted to know why an Australian had been detained and what the issues were. There were interviews with him, including by our people - this is five years ago - and obviously a file of material was built up then. Some of this material has been used - not by us - but it has been used in all sorts of different ways and has now come through the Military Commission proceedings.

PRESENTER: Did the White House put pressure on the Military Commission to actually speed the whole thing up?

MR DOWNER: You’d have to ask them. I don’t know that the White House - I don’t know what conversations the White House has had with the Pentagon and the Military Commission - the conversations that we’ve had with the Americans have been that this process has taken far too long. I think it is fair to say we’ve used the very strong relationship we have with the United States to hasten the process so of course it is not for us to intervene in relation to whether Hicks would plead guilty or not guilty. That, of course, is not part of the process for us. But to hasten the process, we have been putting a lot of pressure on the Americans.

PRESENTER: It has been suggested in The Age today that the likelihood is that Hicks will receive a minimal sentence in an Adelaide prison of a year if that. Are you across that kind of prediction?

MR DOWNER: That is a matter for the lawyers, Keith. I wouldn’t get into it. That is entirely a matter for the lawyers and the judge and the Military Commission and obviously Hicks himself. Now that he’s pleaded guilty, he’s admitted his guilt, so it is a matter now for the proceedings in the Military Commission. I just wouldn’t get into it.

PRESENTER: So you’re not touching that, appropriately, but whenever he is at the end of his term in Yatala, would a control order be the sort of thing the Australian Government would look at?

MR DOWNER: That would be a matter that the Federal Police would look at. The procedure there would be that the Federal Police would make a judgement as to whether a control order was necessary and then they would make an application to a judicial officer for

a control order. It wouldn’t be so much the Government - the Attorney-General - who would make the application. That would be done through the police. So I don’t know the answer to that question. I think that would remain to be seen.

PRESENTER: Minister, thank you for your time this morning. We realise that you have interrupted a meeting so we appreciate that.

MR DOWNER: It is a pleasure.

[Ends]