*Lanka has advanced in a short period:

*Govt deserves credit for defeating terrorism:

Sri Lanka has done well in the past three years - Australia's Foreign Minister

By Manjula Fernando

We are here to encourage Sri Lanka common interest in stopping the people smuggling trade. Sri Lanka has done well in the past three years - Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who arrived in the country to attend the Commonwealth Foreign Minister's meeting held a media briefing at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel on Thursday for the Australian media.

The Sunday Observer, as the only Sri Lankan print media present report below questions raised and answers given by Bishop as to why her country defied calls to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, about allegations that her country was soft on Sri Lanka and the issue of illegal immigrants from Sri Lanka.

Thanking Sri Lanka for hosting this event she said, "The Commonwealth is an extraordinary organisation where the members are committed to a set of values based on democracy, diversity and tolerance, collaboration and human rights."

"We are all not perfect members but nevertheless we support each other in ensuring that we commit to these values."

She met a number of foreign ministers including the British Foreign Secretary William Hague to discuss matters on trade, investment and opportunities for economic growth during her stay in Colombo from Wednesday to Friday. She also promoted Australia's chairmanship for G20 next year.

The Australian Foreign Minister said, "I met with Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The investment opportunities in Sri Lanka are immense, there is potential for Australia to invest in Sri Lanka. Given that Sri Lanka is emerging from a 30 year war on terrorism there is need for infrastructure development where Australian investment will be welcome.'' The two -way trade between Australia and Sri Lanka currently stands at Aus $ 330 million.

Q: What were the topics you discussed when you met Sri Lankan Ministers?

A: I had several meetings with Government ministers. This morning (Thursday) I met with three TNA MPs at the High Commission. They raised several matters and I in turn raised them with the Ministers. I have been encouraging Sri Lanka to continue in the path to reconciliation. They said the Government is committed and believe that through economic growth and development reconciliation will occur more quickly. We have to put it in the context that it was only four years ago when a thirty year war on terrorism came to an end. And in that time significant reconstruction work has taken place.

I travelled to Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Trincomalee. I have seen the level of investment in areas that had seen little investment for 30 years. That provide for job opportunities. A lot has been done and there is a lot more to be done. I encourage the Lankan Government to continue on the path to reconciliation. It will not be easy, it will take time.

Q: Reconciliation necessitates going back in time and investigating what happened in the final stages of the war on terrorism in 2009?

A: I believe the Sri Lankan Government's dealing with the end of war on terrorism. It was a bloody conflict by all accounts.

The LTTE was one of the most notorious terrorist organisations. It was a proscribed organisation and the Sri Lankan government was determined to stamp it out. It deserves credit for having rid this country of a dangerous terrorist outfit.

In that context reconciliation is going to take time. And that means coming to terms with what happened during the war on terrorism, not just the last two weeks.

Q: There are allegations that attending CHOGM is a public relations exercise for Australia, to please the Sri Lankan government, because of the issue of the Boat People. Would you like to comment on that?

A: Attending the CHOGM is not a PR exercise on our part. We are great supporters of the Commonwealth. We think it is an organisation which should be treasured. We have supported it during the whole of its existence. So I reject any suggestion that Australia attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting as being a PR exercise.

There are many countries represented here because we are committed to the Commonwealth. The fact that Sri Lanka has chosen to host the meeting is to their credit and it put themselves on the world stage. There have been detractors, but they were prepared to face it by holding an international event of this stature.

The cooperation we have with the Sri Lankan government on the issue of people smuggling is the kind of cooperation that we want from all countries that are involved in people smuggling.

Q: Why do you make representations about human rights when the Australian Prime Minister praises the Sri Lankan Government?

A: We are not contradicting each other at all. I said the TNA raised issues with me and I raised them with the Ministers. They raised concerns about what was happening in the North. The point the Prime Minister made was absolutely valid.

We are not here to lecture a country publicly to embarrass them. We are here to encourage Sri Lanka and other countries to continue on the path to reconciliation. Sri Lanka is not the only country which has gone through challenging times and I think we should put it in the context that it has been just four years since the cessation of hostilities. Some of my counterparts had raised with me contrasting situations where 20-30 years later countries have advanced nowhere near what Sri Lanka has advanced in the short period since the end of the war on terrorism.

Q: What relationship is there between the position that you are taking and Australia's need for cooperation of the Sri Lanka Government on the asylum issue. What do you say to the suggestion in that question that your government is soft on the SL government because you need their help with asylum seekers?

A: I rejected the suggestion that this was a public relations exercise. I made it quite plain that we would attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting wherever it's held if that country is a member of the Commonwealth and Sri Lanka is an active member of the Commonwealth.

Q: Specifically on the issue of asylum seekers is there any relationship between your attitude to the SL government and your need for cooperation with them?

A: We have a strong level of cooperation between the Sri Lankan government and Australia over the issue of people smuggling and Sri Lanka shares with us the concern that criminals should not profit from human trafficking... that lives would be at risk. We have that common interest in stopping the people smuggling trade.

We have the same desire as we do with Indonesia and Malaysia to stop the people smuggling trade. In the case of Sri Lanka they are Sri Lankan citizens, and so the Sri Lankan Government obviously wants them back, they don't want their citizens putting their lives at risk.

Q: Are you aware of reports that a senior Sri Lankan naval officer had been arrested for his part in people smuggling operations. There are three other Sri Lankan sailors who have been arrested?

A: I am aware of that report I welcome the fact the Sri Lankan government is taking the issue of people smuggling seriously and cracking down on alleged corruption. The fact that they have been arrested indicates that the Sri Lankan government is serious about working in partnership with Australia to crack down on the people smuggling trade.

Q: You discussed with Tamil representatives, there have been concerns about the return of Sri Lankan asylum seekers?

A: No they are very keen to have Tamils in particular to return from Australia to Sri Lanka. I had discussions with the TNA when I visited in January.

I had a meeting with representatives of the TNA at that time as well. They are keen to have the diaspora returned to Sri Lanka to help build this country. It was the message I got in January and this was the same message I got today.

Q: Did you raise any concerns about the detetion of Senator Lee Rhiannon last weekend. She says she sent a letter earlier?

A: Lee Rhiannon requested that a third person note be sent to the Sri Lankan Government, because she intended to travel on her personal passport on a tourist visa and she sought advice we told her that she would have to abide by conditions set out for a tourist visa. But if she was to do anything other than tourist activity it could put her in breach of the tourist visa.

There is always a risk when people travel on a personal passport on a tourist visa that they will be questioned if they are in breach of the tourist visa. I came here as a parliamentarian in January, I travelled on my official parliamentary passport and an official visa. I had no difficulty at all traveling around the country seeing what I wanted to see and meeting who I wanted to meet.

Q: Do you think most of the people from Sri Lanka are economic migrants, looking for better job opportunities in Australia?

A: That is the opinion of the Government. That seems to be the opinion of the TNA representatives I met today as well. I haven't met them to make my own assessment so I would go by the judgment of the Sri Lankan government and others.

But it certainly seems clear that the war on terrorism is over here, that the people who have returned have not been ill treated. The grounds for applying for asylum as far as I am concerned does not apply.

Q: Amnesty International was saying that there was unquestionable grounds for people to believe that they are being persecuted, that the human rights situation is deteriorating in their view. Is it your view that none of these people seeking to get to Australia would qualify for refugee status?

A: That's my understanding.

Q: What are the steps the Australian government has taken to ensure that people are not being mistreated when they are returned?

A: We have our mission here, we make inquiries. I have asked questions from the TNA and the relevant Ministers. And on both occasions, no issue about the treatment of people being returned has been raised.