Carr sworn in as Foreign Affairs Minister

Print Email

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Broadcast: 13/03/2012

Reporter: Tom Iggulden

Bob Carr has been sworn in as a Federal Senator and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Transcript

EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: Bob Carr attended his first Federal Cabinet meeting this evening, just hours after being sworn in as Foreign Minister. He swept into Canberra amid a storm of controversy, with his main rival for the job Stephen Smith facing Opposition questions about his commitment as Defence Minister, and the Greens demanding withdrawal date for troops from Afghanistan. Political correspondent Tom Iggulden reports from Canberra.

TOM IGGULDEN, REPORTER: Cabinet’s got a different look since last it met. Its newest member was busy posing for the cameras when Julia Gillard formally welcomed him.

JULIA GILLARD, PRIME MINISTER: If we can welcome Bob to his first Cabinet meeting.

CABINET: Hear, hear!

BOB CARR, FOREIGN MINISTER: Thanks. Thanks.

TOM IGGULDEN: This is where Bob Carr’s wanted to be since he was a teenager – at his swearing-in the former journalist had a rare stumble under the weight of the moment.

BOB CARR: I, Robert John Carr, do swear that I wi… I, Robert John Carr, do swear that I will well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia…

TOM IGGULDEN: Mr Carr has been out of politics for six years, since abruptly quitting as New South Wales Premier.

REPORTER (2005): Can you categorically rule out a tilt at Canberra?

BOB CARR (2005): Yes, I can.

TOM IGGULDEN: On his first day of his new job, he showed he’s lost none of his renowned media skills in describing Tony Abbott.

BOB CARR: A cheapskate hypnotist in a rundown circus. “Look into my eyes, you’re growing weaker. No more boats. Look into my eyes, you are growing weaker. End Labor’s big bad tax.”

TOM IGGULDEN: And he traded blows with the Greens who are pushing for a withdrawal date for troops in Afghanistan, in the wake of the weekend’s deadly attack on Afghan civilians by a US soldier.

BOB CARR: I would caution against such dangerously simplistic thinking.

ADAM BANDT, GREENS MP: Bob Carr’s reasoning is dangerously simplistic.

BOB CARR: We’ve got women to protect in Afghanistan who would lose their rights under Taliban rule. We’ve got a commitment to mentor and build the Afghan army.

ADAM BANDT: The Karzai government in Afghanistan is in the process of dealing with the Taliban and making greater concessions to them that are going to come at the expense of women.

TOM IGGULDEN: Mr Carr’s new Cabinet colleague Stephen Smith wanted the foreign portfolio when Kevin Rudd resigned three weeks ago. Now the Opposition’s leapt on what it says is more evidence he doesn’t want the Defence Minister’s job: an inflammatory newspaper column written by a former commander of Australian forces in the Middle East, published on the weekend. “Smith had no respect for those who chose to serve in uniform for their country,” says Major-General John Cantwell about a trip to Afghanistan Mr Smith made in 2010. The general says he was uninterested at briefings and dismissive of the concerns of rank and file soldiers. “In relation to the commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy and the inexcusable skype scandal, I sense that the judgment I formed in 2010 was on the money.”

STUART ROBERT, SHADOW DEFENCE PERSONNEL MINISTER: Will the minister confirm the accuracy of the account of his visit to Afghanistan relayed by Major-General Cantwell?

STEPHEN SMITH, DEFENCE MINISTER: I was surprised, disappointed and saddened by Major-General Cantwell’s contribution. I believed it was a wrong and unfair depiction of my visit to Afghanistan.

TOM IGGULDEN: Opposition questioning on the matter today was sustained.

TONY ABBOTT, OPPOSITION LEADER: Can the minister confirm the accuracy of Major-General Cantwell’s account?

STEVEN SMITH: I reject absolutely any criticism or questioning of my commitment to our forces in the field. And there is no evidence, no evidence to the contrary.

TONY ABBOTT: Did the minister utter the words attributed to him by Major-General Cantwell?

TOM IGGULDEN: Stephen Smith says the article was motivated by his decision against apologising for standing down the commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy, after he held a disciplinary hearing into a cadet who’d complained of sexual abuse.

STEPHEN SMITH: Let’s be under no doubt as to why this question has come in the context. Mr Speaker, I make no apology, no apology for standing up for an 18-year-old member of the ADF when she was vulnerable and in distress. I make no apology.

TONY ABBOTT: The Opposition smells blood in the souring relationship between Mr Smith and uniformed officers.

STUART ROBERT: The Prime Minister will have to move this minister on, if in the coming weeks the minister can’t fundamentally repair this relationship.

TOM IGGULDEN: But Mr Smith’s performance is being defended from a somewhat unlikely quarter – a former Liberal Defence Minister.

BRENDAN NELSON, NATO AMBASSADOR: He works diligently, he is across his brief, he works respectfully with the Chief of Defence, and he prosecutes Australia’s arguments, particularly in relation to Afghanistan, and the needs of our troops in the most professional and, I daresay, effective manner.

TOM IGGULDEN: Dr Nelson says Defence Minister was the hardest job he has ever had, and Stephen Smith probably agrees. How Julia Gillard manages the inherent rivalry between Mr Smith and Senator Carr is yet another test of her leadership.

Do you have a comment or a story idea? Get in touch with the Lateline team by clicking here.

Views: 0

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes