ISSUES: Haiti earthquake
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW 2GB
9.10AM THURSDAY
14 JANUARY 2010
BEN FORDHAM: Joining me on the line is the Acting Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. Julia, good morning to you.
JULIA GILLARD: Good morning, Ben.
BEN FORDHAM: Tough stuff.
JULIA GILLARD: It is tough stuff and like many other Australians I’ve watched the footage coming out of Haiti with a mounting sense of horror; the blood, the dust, the devastation, it really does pull at your heart strings.
As a government obviously we have been working to do two things; to confirm the safety of Australians in Haiti and if there’s anybody out there who is still concerned about the whereabouts of a loved one who they think may be in Haiti then they should call through to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to have that checked and worked through. And then secondly, of course, I’ve been working with our Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, on what we can do about aid and assistance and Stephen Smith will make a statement later today to detail this nation’s response to help the people of Haiti with this enormous catastrophe.
BEN FORDHAM: You really do have to stop for a moment, don’t you, to soak in the magnitude of it; the kind of numbers we’re talking about. We are so used to seeing death and destruction and devastation on the TV from overseas but this is one where you really do have to sit back and let it soak in. 100,000 people could be dead.
JULIA GILLARD: I think that’s right, Ben. I mean, we get in the modern age images from around the world very quickly and so we see many images of catastrophic scenes but the scale here is truly, truly horrifying. So many people, so many parts of Haiti and of course the images that are being brought to us can only ever be a snapshot of what is going on right throughout that country and for hundreds of thousands, millions of people.
BEN FORDHAM: We’ve heard from President Obama and you’ve indicated that Australia is also going to get involved. I know the detail is still to be nutted out but how will that happen? There’ll be meetings held today with various people involved to try and work out what we can do?
JULIA GILLARD: We’ve been in a process coordinated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs where he’s obviously worked with his department and also talked to our aid agencies about what we can do and he will make a full statement about that later today. Obviously, we are not a neighbouring country so in terms of quick deployment of personnel that is going to be done by the countries nearby but as a good global citizen and I think as a nation full of very, very compassionate people we obviously want to do what we can to help. And I know of course that the charities and aid agencies that always respond in these circumstances will also be asking the Australian people directly to see if they can put their hand in their purse or wallet and give a bit as well. I’ve heard people from the Red Cross and other agencies this morning starting to make appeals to Australians directly for assistance.
BEN FORDHAM: I’m going to go through some details of those appeals in just a second and I don’t want to take away from the focus of Haiti. I would have loved to have spoken to you on a couple of other things but is there a chance we could possibly do that tomorrow?
JULIA GILLARD: You never know Ben so we’ll see what we can do about that and if I can just conclude by saying if there is anybody concerned about the welfare of an Australian, a family member or friend or might be travelling and you fear that they might be in Haiti, the number to call is 02 6261 3305. That’s the 24 hour hotline for those sorts of problems and obviously Haiti is the focus today.
BEN FORDHAM: Acting Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, thank you very much.
JULIA GILLARD: Thanks Ben.
ENDS