AUSMIN press conference

JULIE BISHOP: Ladies and gentlemen.Today we have welcomed to Sydney and to AUSMIN, Secretaries John Kerry and ChuckHagel, and this is the second AUSMIN meeting that the four principals here haveparticipated in. The United States Alliance is the most important securityrelationship for Australia, and AUSMIN is an annual opportunity for us to takestock of this relationship, and today's discussion was broad in its scope. Wewere frank in our exchanges, and there was a clear instinct for collaborationacross a wide area of endeavour.

There's a desire to share the burden of implementing our mutual vision, ourmutual goal, of regional and global peace and prosperity, security andstability. At a bilateral level, we signed the Force Posture Initiatives, theformal legally binding document about a presence of US Marines in the north ofour country, and we focus particularly on the humanitarian and disaster reliefaspects of having the assistance of the US in our region which is sadly prone tonatural disasters and other tragedies.

At a regional level, we discussed the tensions in the South China Sea.Secretary Kerry and I have just returned from the East Asia Summit and the ASEANRegional Forum where the South China Sea was discussed at length, and we wentover some of those issues. But we also discussed the tensions on the KoreanPeninsula, and our mutual desire to see North Korea denuclearized in averifiable way and return to Six Party Talks.

We discussed the regional architecture and the need for the East Asia Summitto be the premier regional forum. It has the right mandate, the right membershipto discuss matters of regional strategic significance. We talked about theimportance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is where the US rebalancefinds its economic expression, and how important the TPP will be to opening upand liberalizing markets in our region. We discussed the emergence of China andother major powers in our region.

Globally, in the wake of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, wetalked about the situation in Eastern Ukraine, and Russia's intentions, and thebehaviour of Russia in recent months and weeks involving the breach ofsovereignty in Ukraine and elsewhere. We had a long discussion on the MiddleEast and the significant conflicts there, whether it be Syria, Iraq, or in Gaza,and we also talked about Afghanistan and our commitment to Afghanistanpost-2014.

A considerable focus of our discussion was on counterterrorism, and morespecifically on the issue of foreign fighters. People going to fight inconflicts around the world, leaving their countries, going to Syria, Iraq andelsewhere, and becoming radicalized and taking part in extremist terroristactivities is in fact an international problem. It's a concern for Australia;it's a concern for the United States, but it's a topic that's raisedincreasingly in countries in our region and across Europe. It's an internationalproblem, but the barbaric ideology that these extremists embrace is in fact athreat to our way of life, a threat to our values, and we discussed ways that wecan bring this issue to international attention. So a major focus on the issueof foreign fighters.

Overall, it was a most productive and most useful exchange from Australia'spoint of view. We came up with a number of significant initiatives. Thecommuniqué sets out the detail of it, but I want to thank both Secretary Kerryand Secretary Hagel for making the trip down under. We are always delighted tosee you in our part of the world. You have been in Asia and South East Asia onso many occasions, and we always want you to come to Australia and count us inon your discussions. The relationship has never been stronger, and we haveappreciated your commitment and focus on the issues that are of mutual concernand of concern to Australia's national interest.

I will ask the Minister for Defence to say a few words, and then pass over toour American friends.

DAVID JOHNSTON:Well, thank you, Julie, to Secretary Kerry and Secretary Hagel. Firstly, thankyou for the magnanimous, generous and gracious way that you have entered intoour discussions. I must say, I know I speak for Julie, it's an absolute delightto be with you in your busy schedules, to discuss matters that are regionallysignificant, but also in the wider area of world events, the problems we bothare worried about, how best to confront them and how best Australia can help theUnited States in its very excellent leadership, particularly in this region.

Part of that is of course the re-balance, and we're delighted to have 1200,approximately 1200, US marines in Darwin. That, ladies and gentlemen, is goingvery seamlessly, very well, and it is a classic win-win situation. So today'sdiscussions have gone very cordially, very constructively and very frankly, asyou would expect with partners and friends of long standing.

So the re-balance has been, from our point of view, delivering the Marinesinto Darwin, very, very successful. So that our region has of course,benefitted, and I reiterate this to the secretaries, benefitted from thestability of the past 20, 30 years. That stability has been delivered by USleadership, and of course, the booming middle class of South East and East Asiahas been the end dividend of that stability. And so today we have enjoyeddiscussing the challenges that we perceive coming over the horizon in thefuture; matters such as counterterrorism, foreign fighters, which we both as twocountries have to deal with. Can I say that both Secretary Hagel and SecretaryKerry bring an enormous amount of wisdom and wit to our discussions, and I mustsay to you the discussions have been most enjoyable.

We share inter-operability across so many fronts. We have very large numbersof people embedded in the United States in the US military. We've got 400 peoplestill in Afghanistan working with the Americans and our other ISAF partnersgoing forward.

I want to end on that note by just saying thank you very much for the trust.You know, when we're doing things together in the defence space, trust is areally important part of that, and trust leads to great friendship, and I thinkwe have great friendship, and I thank you both for that.

JOHN KERRY: Well, thankyou very much, Julie. Good afternoon to all of you. Now, let me just - let mebegin by saying that I am really delighted to be here with Secretary Hagel atthe Australia United States ministerial meeting.

This is my first AUSMIN - as we call it - in Australia, and I really want tothank Foreign Minister Bishop and Defence Minister Johnston for theirunbelievably warm welcome over the course of these two days. We had a veryproductive dinner discussion last night just over the way from here, and todaywe both joined together in thanking Governor General Cosgrove for opening up hismagnificent residence to us. It afforded a really superb venue to be able to sithere quietly and be able to really dig in, in very personal ways, to verycomplicated issues, and we thank them for this special venue and specialfriendship that goes with it.

Secretary Hagel and I both want to begin any comments that we make here todaywith an expression of our deepest condolences to the families and the loved onesof the 38 Australians who lost their lives in the Flight 17 - Malaysia AirlinesFlight 17. We both want to affirm to Australia and to the world that weabsolutely demand, as does Australia, justice for this unconscionable crime. Andjust as we stand together on so many issues, from the Asia Pacific, to theMiddle East, to Afghanistan and beyond, we will see this through together.

I have also had the very good fortune to work with our Australian friends formany years - 29 years in the United States Senate, and a number of years aschairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, so when Secretary Hagel and Iserved in Vietnam - slightly different times, but we both served there, we alsofought alongside - side-by-side with our Australian brothers, who were greatsoldiers and great friends. In fact, Australian men and American men and women -men and women on both sides have fought side by side in every major conflictsince World War I and we're proud of the friendship and the trust as MinisterJohnston was just saying that has grown out of this long time relationship.

I was very privileged to join Secretary Hagel and Foreign Minister Bishop andDefence Minister Johnston last year at Arlington National Cemetery where wehonoured this special bond between Australians and the United States, a bondthat can only be forged through the sacrifice of war, which we both understand.So I thank Australia at this moment particularly for stepping up yet again withtheir offer of humanitarian assistance in Iraq at this moment of crisis.

The new Iraqi leadership has a very difficult challenge. It has to regain theconfidence of its citizens by governing inclusively but also by taking steps todemonstrate their resolve and we're going to continue to stand with the Iraqipeople during this time of transition. And though we live in differenthemispheres and at opposite ends of the globe, the United States could ask forno better friend and no closer ally than Australia.

Australia is a vital partner in so many different endeavours. It is vital aswe deepen the US economic engagement throughout the Asia Pacific, as we engagein the rebalance, as both ministers have referred to it, which will bring theUnited States even more to the effort to help create a larger economictransformation in the region and to bring about a rule of law-based structurewhere everybody understand the rules and where it is a race to the top, not tothe bottom.

We also are working hard together to try to complete a critical component ofthat race to the top, which is the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement. Wealso discussed, as has been mentioned by both ministers, difficult regional andglobal security challenges.

We didn't need to struggle to find commonality in our understanding of thefact that we are living in one of the most complicated moments of transformationand transition all across this planet. Instant communications, massive numbersof mobile devices, massive amounts of information moving at lightning speedaround the globe, informing everybody about everything all of the time, and thathas changed politics, and it has changed international relations. It raisesexpectations among people all over the world, and it challenges politics interms of building consensus around decisions.

So we face a lot of these challenges together in today's world, and that iswhy it is so important to have the kind of discussion that we had here today,where we lay out every one of those challenges and try to figure out how do wedo this better, how can we have greater impact, how do we bring more people tothe table in order to effect change. It has enabled both of our countries tostand with the people of Ukraine, support long-term progress in Afghanistan,reduce tensions in the South China Sea, collaborate in the United NationsSecurity Council on everything from Iran to Syria to restricting trade inillicit small arms and weapons and even in our fellow human beings.

Today's session allowed us to consult and coordinate in depth on these issuesand on the challenges that we face in Iraq and Gaza. We also agreed, inconjunction with our discussion about the foreign fighters that Julie raised amoment ago, that we are going to work together to assemble a compendium of thebest practices in the world today regarding those foreign fighters, and weintend to join together in order to bring this to the United Nations meetingnext month and put it on the agenda in a way that will elicit support fromsource countries as well as those countries of concern.

Earlier today, as you all know, we signed a Force Posture Agreement that willfurther strengthen and deepen the US-Australian defence relationship, and weagreed to expand our trilateral cooperation with Japan. So you can see that wecovered a range of very important issues in the Asia-Pacific region, includingour commitment to the peaceful denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

The United States - I want to make this clear - is absolutely prepared toimprove relations with North Korea, if North Korea will honour its internationalobligations. It's that simple. But make no mistake, we are also prepared toincrease pressure, including through strong sanctions and further isolation, ifNorth Korea chooses the path of confrontation.

So I join Secretary Hagel in thanking Foreign Minister Bishop and DefenceMinister Johnston for very productive discussions over the past day, and we alllook forward to continuing our work together in the years to come in order toaddress these complex challenges.

CHUCK HAGEL: John, thank you. And I, too,appreciate an opportunity to be with Secretary Kerry here for the AUSMINmeetings that we are concluding this afternoon. I want to add my thanks as wellto our hosts, Minister Bishop, Minister Johnston, and also to Governor GeneralCosgrove for his hospitality here at Admiralty House. So, thank you.

On a visit to the United States in 1960, the great Australian Prime Minister,Robert Menzies, said that strength is admirable but only for theresponsibilities it accepts and discharges. America, Australia and this historicalliance has always - always - sought to live up to those responsibilitiesaround the world. Today's agenda for the US-Australia alliance, as you haveheard, spanned issues ranging from the South China Sea to Iraq, where SecretaryKerry and I expressed our appreciation for Australia's offer to contribute tohumanitarian relief operations, and where America is prepared to intensify itssecurity cooperation as Iraq undertakes and makes progress toward politicalreform.

We also addressed the crisis in Ukraine, as has been noted, and Australia'stragic loss of 38 citizens and residents aboard MH17. And, as I have said, asSecretary Kerry has expressed our condolences to the people of Australia andespecially the families of those who were lost in that tragedy. America willcontinue to work with Australia, as we have said clearly and plainly, to providerequested support and assistance.

Today we have reinforced the foundation of our alliance's defence andsecurity cooperation by, as Secretary Kerry noted, signing the US-AustraliaForce Posture Agreement. This long-term agreement on rotational deployment of USmarines in Darwin and American airmen in northern Australia will broaden anddeepen our alliance's contributions to regional security and advance America'songoing strategic rebalance of the Asia-Pacific.

At today's AUSMIN, having just come from New Delhi and having consultedclosely with our Japanese and Korean allies and ASEAN defence ministers, I see anew committed resolve to work together, to work together to build a securitysystem across this Indo-Pacific region, recognising the independent sovereigntyof nations, respecting that sovereignty, but also recognising the commoninterests that we all have for a stable, peaceful, secure world.

The US-Australia alliance is spurring this progress and will remain a bedrockfor a stable and secure order. Along with Secretary Kerry, let me again thankour hosts, Minister Bishop, Minister Johnston and Governor-General Cosgrove, forhosting this year's AUSMIN and what they continue to do as we continue tocollaborate and work together on some of the great issues of our time.

As Secretary Kerry has noted, we live in an immensely complicated world but aworld that is still full of hope and promise if we endeavour to bring resolute,strong leadership, leadership that is committed to these virtues and values andprinciples that we all share, and living up to the highest responsibilities, asPrime Minister Menzies once said. Thank you very much.

JOURNALIST: Laura Jayesfrom Sky News. Secretary Kerry, Secretary Hagel, thank you. Ministers, thankyou. I wanted to first go to Russia, and our Australian Government has talkedabout greater sanctions on Russia, leaving that option open, uranium perhaps.Secretary Kerry, is that a path you would like to see Australia go down? There'salso the question of Vladimir Putin attending the G20 Summit. I wondered if youhave a comment on that. And also as, I guess, a little bit out of that directrealm - China in all of this. We've seen the US and EU impose quite strongsanctions against Russia in the last couple of months, but China has, I think,helped to dilute that in some ways. If you, Secretary Kerry, could address thosequestions also. Minister Bishop as well.

JOHN KERRY: Well, thankyou very much. On the subject of sanctions with respect to Russia, we are veryunderstanding of our friend Australia's deep, deep anger and its need forjustice with respect to what has happened. This is an unconscionable crime on ahuge international order. The findings already, without the full investigationbeing done - and we are pressing for a full investigation because nothing iscomplete until you have a full investigation, but there is no question - andwe've said this publicly previously - that this type of weapon and all theevidence of it was seen on our imagery.

We saw the take-off. We saw the trajectory. We saw the hit. We saw thisaeroplane disappear from a radar screen. So there's really no mystery aboutwhere it came from and where these weapons have come from, but we need to havethe complete investigation, obviously, to legitimise whatever steps are going tobe taken as we go down the road, and that's why we're all pressing so hard forthat.

The Foreign Minister of Australia travelled to New York and made an eloquentplea, working with our ambassador and others there. Frans Timmermans, the DutchForeign Minister, spoke eloquently about what had happened, and the world can'tjust sort of move by this and gloss by it. People need to remember this becauseholding people accountable is essential not just to justice for what happenedbut to deterrence and prevention in the future, and we don't want to see thesekinds of things ever repeated again.

So we're open, but we haven't made any decisions. I'm not sure Australia haseither yet. We need to see what's happening. But our hope and prayer - our hopeis that in the next days and weeks, we could find a way for President Poroshenkoand Ukraine to be able to work with the Russians to provide the humanitarianassistance necessary in the east, to facilitate the thoroughness of theinvestigation, to begin to bring the separatists, to the degree that they areUkrainian, into the political process, and for those who are not Ukrainian, theyneed to leave the country.

And there needs to be a process worked out where the supplies stop coming in,both in money and arms and support and people, and Ukraine is allowed to beginto protect its sovereignty and define its future. Our hope is that that canhappen through the diplomatic process, but we've all learned that we need to becautious and strong at the same time in our responses and clear about what isacceptable and what is not acceptable.

With respect to the G20 Summit, no decisions have been made at this point intime. I think a lot of the attitudes about that issue from the various countriesattending can, frankly, be determined and impacted to some degree in whathappens in these next days and weeks. And, finally, with respect to China andwhat is going on, we have said again and again - we just had a strategic andeconomic dialogue in China. Secretary Jack Lew of the Treasury and I were there.We had two days of discussions, and we made it very clear with China that wewelcome the rise of China as a global partner, hopefully, as a powerful economy,as a full, participating, constructive member of the international community.

And we want China to participate in constructive ways, whether it's in theSouth China Sea or with respect to Japan and South Korea, with North Korea, withother issues that we face. We are not seeking conflict and confrontation, andour hope is that China will, likewise, take advantage of the opportunities thatare in front of it to be that cooperative partner. And so there are alwaysdifferences, shades - there are differences with respect to certain issues, andwe've agreed to try to find those things where we could really cooperate.

We're cooperating on Afghanistan. We're cooperating on non-proliferation withrespect to Iran. We've cooperated to get the chemical weapons out of Syria.We're cooperating on counterterrorism. We're cooperating on nuclear weaponry andon the reduction of nuclear arms. So there are plenty of big issues on which wecooperate with Russia even now, every day, and our hope is that on those thingswhere we've obviously had some disagreements with China or with Russia, that wecan both find a diplomatic path forward, because everybody in the worldunderstands the world would be better off if great power nations are findingways to cooperate, not to confront each other.

JULIE BISHOP: If I could putthis question of sanctions in context, MH17 was a commercial aeroplane flying incommercial airspace, carrying 298 civilians. Passenger numbers included 80children. And this plane was shot down, we believe, by a surface-to-air missilejust inside eastern Ukraine. The deaths of so many people, including 38Australian citizens and residents, was shocking, and the implications forinternational aviation are profound.

So after completing our humanitarian mission of removing the remains andpersonal effects from the crash site, we are now focused on the investigationinto how this came to be, how this plane was shot down and who did it, becausethose culpable for creating the circumstances or for actually causing thedowning of this plane must be held to account, and the grief of our citizensdemands answers. They must be held to account, the perpetrators, and brought tojustice.

All the while, when Australian and Dutch teams, unarmed, police, humanitarianteams, were seeking to get to the crash site - all the while, Russia wassupplying more armed personnel, more heavy weaponry over the border into easternUkraine. They didn't cease; they, in fact, increased their efforts. And insteadof listening to international concerns about a ceasefire and the need for ahumanitarian corridor for us to conclude our work, on the very day thatAustralia was holding a national day of mourning to grieve the loss of so manyAustralian lives, Russia chose to impose sanctions on Australia through anembargo on our agricultural exports.

We are rightly focused on the investigation, supporting the Netherlands,Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine as part of an investigation team, but on thequestion of sanctions, we will consider the options available to us. But ourfocus at present is to bring closure to the families who are still grieving overthis barbaric act of shooting down a plane that killed their loved ones.

As far as the G20 is concerned, as Secretary Kerry indicated there's been nodecision. The G20 is an economic forum. There would have to be a consensus viewas to whether or not steps should be taken in relation to President Putin'spresence here in Australia.

On China, I must say that China was extremely supportive of our resolution inthe United Nations Security Council. As you would be aware, it was unanimousresolution. It was supported by all 15 members of the UN Security Council. AndChina has suffered a great loss through the disappearance of Malaysian Airlinesflight MH370 and Australia has done what we can to help in that search effortand I have committed to Prime Minister Wang Yi last weekend that Australia willcontinue to help search for that missing plane. So China grieves with us overthe loss of people aboard airplanes that have crashed or disappeared in suchextraordinary circumstances.

On the question of China's support beyond MH17, Russia's behaviour in recentmonths has been to breach the sovereignty of Ukraine, a neighbour. And this isnot behaviour that China, one would think, would condone. It's behaviour thatChina has pointed out to others would be unacceptable if it were to occur inChina's sphere of the world. So we will continue to consult, discuss, with Chinathe impact of the Russian/Ukrainian tensions, the conflict, the need for aceasefire, the need for humanitarian assistance, and hope that China sees it aswe do: an unacceptable breach of Ukraine's sovereignty and urge Russia to stopthe flow of weapons, stop the flow of armed personnel.

Russia claims to be concerned about a humanitarian situation in Ukraine.Well, the first thing it should do is stop sending weapons and armed personnelto the so-called separatists.

JOURNALIST:…[Inaudible] reporter with Bloomberg News. Questions on Iraq, first to SecretaryHagel. What kind of direct military assistance is the Pentagon prepared to offerthe Kurds and does this include sending heavy weapons to them? And if I couldask Secretary Kerry, could you talk a little bit more about what the UnitedStates is prepared to do once there is a new Iraqi government.

And, both of you, do you share any concern that directly aiding andsupporting the Kurds will potentially encourage them to break away from a unitedIraq in future? And to the Australian officials, the US has said that it willassist and train Iraqi troops to combat ISIL and have you been asked, and areyou prepared, to send any of your troops to train the Iraqi forces? Thank you.

CHUCK HAGEL: The United States Governmentis working with the Iraqi Government - the Iraqi security forces to get militaryequipment to the Peshmerga, that is, Iraqi military equipment. We - our Americanforces through [inaudible] are helping get that equipment to Irbil.

As to your question regarding a breakaway status of the Kurds into anindependent Kurdistan, I think it's important - and we have taken this position.And Secretary Kerry, who has been directly involved in this, may want to amplifyon this point but it's important to note that America's position is a unifiedIraq.

You all know that the Council of Representatives announced today that it hadselected a new Prime Minister - a new Shia Prime Minister. That then completesthe new senior officers that the Council of Representatives have put forth: anew speaker of the Parliament, a new President, a new Prime Minister. That'sgood news.

Now, the next step has to move forward and getting that government ratifiedin place and we look forward to working with that new government.

DAVID JOHNSTON: Well - sorry.

JOHN KERRY: Please.

DAVID JOHNSTON:With respect to the Australian contribution to those people who are in themountains around Irbil, we are going to participate and deliver humanitarianrelief in the nature of being able to drop supplies to them. That is a skill andcapability we have long held probably since East Timor and that's the role thatwe will carry out. We will fit into and be part of the planning of the UnitedStates and other partners who want to assist in that - on that humanitarianbasis, and that's the way we will go forward. Sorry, John.

JOHN KERRY: No, no, no.It's important and I appreciate it. Let me just begin by congratulating DrHaider al-Abadi on his nomination, which now offers him an opportunity to beable to form a government over the next 30 days. And we urge him to form a newcabinet as swiftly as possible and the US does stand ready to fully support anew and inclusive Iraqi Government, particularly in its fight against ISIL.

Now, I'm not going to get into the details today before a new prime ministeris there and a government is there and we've talked to them and we know whatthey think their needs are and how they define the road ahead. But I will tellyou that without any question, we are prepared to consider additional political,economic and security options as Iraq starts to build a new government and verymuch calculated to try to help stabilise the security situation, to expandeconomic development and to strength the democratic institutions.

Those will be the guidelines. We also would note that there are already asignificant group of programs in place under the strategic framework agreement.And we, with a new government in place, would absolutely look to provideadditional options. We would consider those options for sure in an effort tostrengthen [inaudible].

Let me be very clear. We have always wanted an inclusive, participatorygovernment that represents the interests of Shia, Kurd, Sunni, minorities - allIraqis. That's the goal and our hope is that when there is a new government, wewill all of us in the international community be able to work with them in orderto guarantee that outstanding issues that have just stood there, absolutelyfrozen for years now, like the oil revenue law or the constitutional reform -all of these things need to be resolved and that will really determine the roadahead.

Now, with respect to the Kurds, we welcome increased coordination and supportbetween the Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish forces. That is taking placeright now. It's quite unique and we think that's the signal of a growingpotential for cooperation between Baghdad and Irbil.

So, as we've said last week, ISIL has secured certain heavy weaponry and theKurds need additional arms. And what is happening now is through the governmentin Baghdad, some of that assistance is being provided directly to the Kurds. Ithink that raises as many questions about the possibility of greater cooperationas it does with the possibility of further efforts for separation.

What I do know is from my own meetings with President Barzani recently, he isvery committed to this transition in Baghdad, in Iraq, in the government. He iscommitted to trying to be a force for a strong federal government that works forall Iraqis and that's the only subject on the table at this point in time.

JOURNALIST:Secretaries, Ministers, Greg Jennett from the Australian BroadcastingCorporation. This is to any or all of you but perhaps starting with you,Secretary Kerry. Following on from that question on Iraq and noting that youdon't want to get into details but stabilising security is an option that the USis prepared to explore with the Government there, what are the circumstances inwhich the US could look to allies, including Australia, to support security withfurther military commitments?

If you could outline at least the parameters in which you would start thatconversation. And also on homecoming jihadists from the Middle East, what is theshared approach? Practically, what sort of initiatives are we talking about? Isthis things before prosecution, after incarceration, before interrogation? Isthere any example of the types of actions you would like to see the world takejointly?

JOHN KERRY: Well, let melet a couple of my colleagues - I will turn to Julie to address the issue on theforeign fighters because we had a pretty robust discussion, and perhaps evenMinister Johnson and Hagel want to tackle that. So let me just answer the firstpart of the question and they can answer the second. The question is how can welook towards this issue of stabilisation and military assistance and you said,where would the discussion begin? Well, let me tell you in the simplest termswhere the discussion begins. There will be no re-introduction of American combatforces into Iraq. That is the beginning of the discussion.

This is a fight that Iraqis need to join on behalf of Iraq. And our hope is -and the reason President Obama has been so clear about wanting to get thegovernment formation before beginning to tackle ISIL and in the most significantway, excepting the kind of emergency circumstances that have arisen, is becauseif you don't have a government that is inclusive and that works, nothing elsewill work, plain and simply.

So you have to have a government that can begin to be inclusive where theforces of Iraq are not a personal force defined by one particular sect and swornto allegiance to one particular leader but they truly represent Iraq and Iraq'sfuture in a broad-based sense. And I think that everybody understands that isthe direction that we have to go. Now, lots of countries who have an interest instability in the region have already offered different kinds of assistance ofone kind or another but nobody, I think, is looking towards a return to the roadthat we have travelled.

What we are really looking for here is a way to support Iraq, support theirforces with either training or equipment or assistance of one kind or anotherthat can help them to stand on their own two feet and defend their nation.That's the goal, that's where the conversation begins, whoever is the PrimeMinister, and I think everybody is crystal clear about that.

We are convinced that were there a unified effort by Iraqis and particularlyif there is a return to the kind of localised efforts that existed in the Sonsof Anbar or the Iraqi or the Anbar awakening as it's referred to, that therewill be plenty of opportunity here for a push back against ISIL forces, which iswhy the restoration of a unified inclusive government is so critical as astarting point.

I think the President felt that that process was well enough along the waywith the selection of a Speaker, the selection of a President and the clearmovement of people towards a candidate for Prime Minister that he feltcomfortable that the urgency of the situation of protecting the potential peoplemoving towards Irbil or the extraordinary atrocities that were beginning to takeplace with respect to the Yazidis, that it was critical to begin to move in thatregard and that's why he made that decision and I think it was a wise decision.

JULIE BISHOP: Australia haslong joined the international community in calling for a more inclusivegovernment in Iraq and the political instability that we have seen that hasn'taddressed the concerns of the Sunnis, hasn't addressed the concerns ofminorities is, of course, a matter of grave concern so political stability isthe key for Iraq in countering the influence and impact of these extremistgroups including ISIL and that brings me to the issue of foreign fighters.

The Australian media has, this week, published some truly shockingphotographs, I assume they have been verified, of an Australian family in theMiddle East holding up a severed head. A seven-year-old child is involved inthis barbarous display of ideology and they are Australian citizens. So when theGovernment says that there is a real domestic security threat from thephenomenon of foreign fighters, we have evidence that there are a significantnumber of Australian citizens who are taking part in activities in Iraq andparts of Syria - extremist activities, terrorist activities.

Our fear is that they will return home to Australia as hardened home-grownterrorists and seek to continue their work here in Australia. And it's not aconcern just of this country. As I mentioned earlier, at the East Asia Summit anumber of countries raised this issue of foreign fighters leaving countries,going to fight in these conflicts and coming home with a set of skills andexperience as terrorists that truly poses one of the most significant threatsthat we have seen in a very long time.

Our discussion today focused on what we can do to counter this risk.Australia, as the Australian media would be well aware, has announced a seriesof legislative reforms that deal with matters including the burden of proof forpeople's presence in proscribed areas like Mosul. Why Australian citizens wouldbe defying the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade advice to not go to Mosuldemands explanation.

We are looking at issues involving passports and the cancellation, theability to suspend passports so that we can investigate the activities of peoplewithin Australia and deal with them on their return. We know that one of theAustralian citizens involved in these activities in the Middle East in Iraq hadin fact been convicted of terrorist activities in Australia, had served time andthen left Australia under a false identity. We also know that in coming weeksand months a significant number of those convicted of terrorist activities inIndonesia will be released.

Now the question is, have they been de-radicalised in their time in prison?Clearly in the case of the Australian citizen, not, and we hold similar fearsfor those inmates leaving Indonesian jails. So the whole question of what we cando when these people are detained and what we can do if they are prosecuted andfound guilty and spend time in jail, they are matters that we have to look at.The whole question of reaching out to the communities in Australia and gettingcommunities to assist us in fighting this extremist threat is important.

So as we were discussing these issues, Secretary Kerry said this is somethingwe've got to bring to the attention of the international community. It's ashared issue across Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Europe, inPakistan, in Great Britain, and Canada. There are a number of countries acrossthe globe reporting instances of citizens becoming extremist fighters in theMiddle East and so this idea of having a forum, a discussion, at - UNGA LeadersWeek is something that I believe will be well supported because so manycountries are facing this threat and if we can exchange ideas and practices andsuggestions as to how we can deal with it then I think we will have made a greatstep forward and so we certainly will support the United States and work veryhard to ensure that we collectively deal with this growing threat to thesecurity of our nation.

JOHN KERRY: Could I addone thing to that and I apologise but I just want to underscore - this image,perhaps even an iconic photograph that Julie has just referred to, is really oneof the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed ofa seven-year-old child holding a severed head up with pride and with the supportand encouragement of the parent with brothers there.

That child should be in school, that child should be out learning about afuture, that child should be playing with other kids, not holding a severed headand out in the field of combat. This is utterly disgraceful and it underscoresthe degree to which ISIL is, you know, so far beyond the pale with respect toany standard by which we judge even terrorist groups that Al Qaeda shunted themaside. And that's why they represent the threat that they represent. And it's noaccident that every country in the region is opposed to ISIL.

So this threat is so real, an African - the North African President of acountry recently told me that 1800 identified citizens of that country have goneto Syria to fight. Believe it or not, 1100 of them they knew had already beenkilled because their bodies have been returned or they were tallied as killed.But that leaves seven or eight hundred out there that they fear are going toreturn to that country knowing how to fix an IED, knowing how to arm weapons,knowing how to explode a bomb, knowing how to build a suicide vest or somethinglike that.

And this ideology is without one redeeming quality of offering people a jobor health care or an education or anything other than saying: don't live anyother way but the way we tell you. So this is serious business, and weunderstand that and I think the world is beginning to come to grips with thefact, the degree to which this is unacceptable.

And we have a responsibility to take this to the United Nations and to theworld so that all countries involved take measures ahead of time to prevent thereturn of these fighters and the chaos and havoc that could come with that. AndI just wanted to underscore that with Minister Bishop, because we're all joinedtogether in this effort, and that's why we're going to take it to the UnitedNations in the Fall and try to get best practices put together by which allcountries can begin to act together in unison in order to react to it.

JOURNALIST: LeslieWroughton from Reuters. Please excuse me if I don't stand up, I've got too muchequipment going here. Turning back to Iraq, you said that the US was prepared toconsider security, you know, political and economic options as Iraq forms itsnew government. Can you get into more specifics about that? We've heard somevague statements on how you are prepared to support. Does this include furtherairstrikes, you know, to push back ISIS? You know, once the government comes in,how do you secure that stability?

And then number two, on Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Rasmussen said todaythere's a high probability of a Russian intervention in Ukraine. What specificsteps, again, are you taking through diplomatic channels to address this? Youtalked about your hopes in the next days and weeks that you could find a way forPresident Poroshenko and Ukraine to be able to work with the Russians. Are youtalking about a new diplomatic effort here? And what are you talking about?Thanks.

JOHN KERRY: Well, let memake it clear with respect to Ukraine, diplomatic efforts have never ceased.It's not a question of a new one; it's a question of ongoing diplomatic efforts.We have never stopped. The President has not stopped, the Vice President,myself, have all been in touch with top leadership in Ukraine, with leadershipof Russia and others.

The President of the United States talked to President Putin a few days ago.I talked to Foreign Minister Lavrov just a couple of days ago. I talked toPresident Poroshenko a few days ago. There are a lot of conversations takingplace. And even now as we stand here, there are efforts being made with ourfriends, with Germany, with the Ukrainians, with Russia, with others to try tosee if there's a way to work out a way forward on the humanitarian delivery withdirect contact with the ICRC. There is direct contact with the Germans andothers in this effort.

And the hope is that through the meetings that will take place this week,there is a way to find a means that is acceptable to deliver humanitarianassistance without the guise of a military delivery in an effort to do soagainst the will and wishes of the country where it is being delivered andagainst the norms of the ICRC, the International Red Cross, and how it wouldreact to that.

So that's the effort that's underway now. It has been a consistent, continueddiplomatic effort to try to find a way forward. But obviously the humanitarianassistance needs to get there, and there are a clear set of meetings scheduledso there's a timeframe within which we think we're operating, which is why Imentioned that.

With respect to Iraq and the stability, I want - I think Chuck Hagel shouldspeak specifically to any of the security components of that, but I would justsay on the economic and political front, the best thing for stability in Iraq isfor an inclusive government to bring the disaffected parties to the table andwork with them in order to make sure there is the kind of sharing of power anddecision-making that people feel confident the government represents all oftheir interests.

And if that begins to happen, then there is a way for both investment, trade,economic, other realities to help sustain and build that kind of stability. Butif you don't have the prerequisite, which President Obama identified at theoutset, of an inclusive working government, there's no chance for any of that.That's why we think the steps taken: the selection of a speaker, the selectionof a President and now a Prime Minister designate who has an opportunity to beable to form a government, are just essential prerequisites to this process ofproviding stability. Do you want to talk to the security?

CHUCK HAGEL: I will just mention a coupleof things. One, as you know, it was the Iraqi Government that requested the USGovernment's assistance with humanitarian delivery on Mount Sinjar, and wecomplied with that request, agreed with that request, we're carrying out thosemissions. It was also the Iraqi Government's request of the United StatesGovernment to assist them in transferring, transporting military equipment toIrbil to help the Peshmerga.

As Secretary Kerry noted and as President Obama has said, as a new governmentbegins, takes shape, we would consider further requests from that newgovernment. But I would just also re-emphasise what Secretary Kerry has alreadynoted, and President Obama has made this very clear. The future of Iraq will bedetermined by the people of Iraq. It will not be determined by a militarysolution. It will require a political solution, and I think Secretary Kerry'scomments about an inclusive, participatory, functioning government is criticallyimportant to the future of Iraq. So we would wait and see what future requeststhat this new government would ask of us and we would consider those based onthose requests.

JULIE BISHOP: Just on Ukraine,Australia welcomes the efforts of the United States to assist in preventativediplomacy between Ukraine and Russia. As I made, I hope, very clear to ViceMinister Morgulov in Naypyidaw over the weekend, yes, there is a humanitariansituation in Ukraine that is serious and it's likely to worsen. But if Russiawere concerned about the humanitarian situation in Ukraine, the first step is tostop the flow of fighters and weapons into eastern Ukraine. And the so-calledseparatists are very professional, very well-armed, with the most sophisticatedof weaponry and equipment. So to cease that flow of personnel and weapons wouldbe a start.

I also hope I made very clear that any intervention by Russia into Ukraineunder the guise of a humanitarian crisis would be seen as the transparentartifice that it is. And Australia would condemn in the strongest possible termsany effort by Russia to enter Ukraine under the guise of carrying out some sortof humanitarian mission. Clearly, that kind of support must come from donorcountries, from the UN, from the International Red Cross and that is ourexpectation.

I think that's it – Brendan? Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.We will now depart and I just want to place on record again our thanks toSecretaries Kerry and Hagel for taking part in this AUSMIN and we look forwardto seeing them next year.