Speech to the National Press Club

Canberra, 8 November 2005

Hurricanes, Terrorism and Drugs Charges: A day in the life of Australians overseas.

Introduction

I want to talk today about a topic that is very close to my heart as Foreign Minister.

That is, the services my department and its officers provide to help Australians who find themselves in trouble overseas.

Through this support…which we call consular services…our consular officers provide a lifeline to Australians who are away from home.

Whether they are helping Australian victims and survivors of a terrorist bombing…assisting Australians to repatriate the body of a loved one from overseas….or providing comfort and advice for a young Australian in an overseas prison….our consular staff often help Australians through the worst days of their lives.

Many of you will be familiar with television images of the difficulties Australians have faced overseas….the journalists among you many of you will have witnessed these events first hand.

In just the past year we have had the Boxing Day Tsunami, the Wood hostage case, the London bombings, the Bali bombings and Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma.

And these major events all come on top of the daily run of consular cases…such as Australians injured overseas, facing charges overseas, dying overseas, being robbed overseas or simply losing their passports.

Today I am keen to explain what our consular services can do for Australians overseas, and what Australians need to understand we can't do.

In doing this let me be clear that I believe there is no more important role for Government than protecting its citizens - at home and abroad.

Just a fortnight ago, I announced our latest investment towards this end - the introduction of the new biometrically encoded passport, the ePassport.

This will provide Australians with a higher level of confidence than ever before of the security of their identity, and in time it will bring benefits to the traveller through faster airport processing.

Since becoming Minister in 1996 I have made the delivery of consular services a top priority for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

By their nature, of course, consular services are provided in an unpredictable overseas environment where many factors are beyond our control.

Can we prevent Australians suffering misfortune or getting into trouble overseas?

Of course not.

We can advise them how to minimise risk and when Australians do get into trouble, the Government can and does provide every reasonable help and support.

But we cannot and will not meet unreasonable expectations - and I make no apology for that.

Consular services - Case Management and Crisis Response

Ladies and gentlemen,

The demand for the Department's consular services has grown dramatically over recent years, and major consular emergencies have become all too frequent.

Australians now make over 4.7 million overseas trips every year, compared to 3.4 million three years ago.

Almost 900,000 Australians live overseas and more than 160,000 are in East Asia on any one day.

In the last year, the Department assisted over 25,000 Australians in difficulty in over 152 countries.

The department handled over 350,000 public inquiries.

Active consular cases - cases which require intensive handling - have increased 40 percent in the last three years.

Case Management

We have responded to these additional demands in a number of ways.

We are devoting greater resources to managing consular cases in Canberra .

We have a Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra to provide a 24 hour service to Australians overseas and give guidance in real time to our posts.

This immediate response can be critical.

Several years ago an Australian hang glider rang his mother by mobile phone to say that he was stuck on a cliff near Majorca in Spain.

She then contacted the Consular Emergency Centre, who arranged for local emergency services to winch him to safety by helicopter.

On another occasion the Consular Emergency Centre received a call from a desperate Australian in New Zealand who had taken a drug overdose in a suicide attempt.

The consular officer was able to talk to the individual and draw out enough information about their whereabouts to alert local police.

Emergency services were able to get to the person in time and a life was saved.

These days our heads of overseas missions and senior staff are intensively involved in consular work.

Our Ambassadors regularly take charge of our consular responses.

It is their top priority.

When our Women's cycling team was hit by a car in rural Germany this year, our Ambassador to Berlin, Pamela Fayle, drove immediately to take charge of our response at the scene within two hours.

Our Ambassador to Indonesia, David Ritchie, rushed to Bali as soon as the news of the October bombings emerged, to oversee our consular response.

Not only are we dealing with greater numbers of Australians in trouble abroad, but the cases and events are becoming more complex.

We have seen more Australians arrested overseas and more cases involving serious crimes such as drugs or terrorism.

With a more diverse, mobile, multicultural society, we increasingly face complicated international child custody issues and cases of dual nationals arrested in their homelands on charges ranging from minor misdemeanours to terrorism.

The full extent of the challenges we face assisting people is not always evident from media reporting.

Often we have to avoid publicity.

Megaphone diplomacy does not generally have the desired effect.

And parochial media reporting can be profoundly unhelpful to the interests of the individuals concerned.

Often, working carefully and with determination behind the scenes gets a better result.

It has worked for two Australians granted clemency in Vietnam in recent years.

It often delivers better treatment for Australians in prison or more rigorous investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against Australians.

Despite the sometimes tragic and often overwhelming challenges we face - we have many remarkable successes.

For example, an Australian was rescued by a fishing vessel late last year after an amazing six weeks floating in a dinghy in the Pacific.

Not well known is that a consular officer in my Department coordinated a campaign to publicise the case with shipping throughout the South-West Pacific so that vessels would be on the look-out for the man.

Even weeks after this Australian had gone missing and despite the odds, our officer just didn't give up.

Last year, our Consul-General in a South-East Asian post was instrumental in returning a four year old boy to his Australian mother, after he had been taken overseas illegally by his father after the relationship broke down.

And who could forget the absolute joy that all Australians shared when, after weeks as a hostage in Iraq, and after a complex and extensive consular effort, Douglas Wood was released and returned to Australia in reasonable shape and fine voice.

These are just a few examples.

Every year consular officials help thousands of Australians in all kinds of difficulty overseas.

Our consular staff are often a critical point of first contact for Australians who find themselves victims of crime overseas, providing advice and comfort to them.

They often do much more than this.

They arrange for medical care for Australians injured overseas and visit them in hospital.

They assist with medical evacuations and the repatriation of remains following deaths overseas.

They give emergency loans to travellers who have been robbed.

Each year they help many Australian travellers who suffer from mental illness to get proper medical treatment and return to Australia.

Consular staff make thousands of visits each year to Australians in jails overseas - bringing comfort and a familiar face in what can be a very distressing environment.

At present there are 228 Australians facing charges in 60 countries.

On top of that there are 175 convicted Australians serving custodial sentences in 47 countries

About half of the Australians in jail overseas are serving sentences for drug-related offences.

On their prison visits, our consular officers seek to protect prisoners' welfare and ensure they have adequate healthcare and food.

The visits can involve days of travel to remote parts of remote countries to visit jailed Australians who might have felt they were forgotten.

These staff are utterly dedicated.

They need to be.

The assistance they provide is often the only hope these Australians and their families have.

It is indeed true that our consular staff help Australians through their times of greatest crisis.

And for every criticism that is reported in the media we get many, many more messages of thanks from Australians grateful for the assistance of a consular officer in a time of need.

Crisis Response - Learning the Lessons

Large scale emergencies - whether terrorist bombings or natural disasters - have become a grim and all too frequent feature of our consular activities.

Our crisis response systems have become increasingly agile and sophisticated.

Any terrorist act or natural disaster requires an immediate response to ascertain whether Australians have been affected and provide what consular assistance we can.

In the case of a terrorist act, consular officers overseas have had to attend the scene of bombings, visit hospitals and morgues as well as work with overseas governments to ensure the best possible outcome for Australians.

I am sad to say that 110 Australians have been killed as a result of terrorist acts overseas since September 11.

In the case of natural disasters, consular officers have had to find ways of providing services when local infrastructure like transport and communication may no longer function.

While we can never anticipate fully the next crisis, what we can do is rigorously review and follow up the lessons learnt from each disaster to ensure we are as prepared as possible.

Our response to the terrorist bombings in Bali last month illustrates how quickly we respond.

The DFAT Crisis Centre and our consular hotline were activated within two hours of news of the bombing.

The inter-departmental Emergency Task Force held its first meeting at 1 am.

An Emergency Response Team was on the first plane to Bali at 9am.

We arranged the emergency medical evacuation of the most seriously injured within twenty-four hours, and the evacuation of other injured within thirty-six.

And it is a source of great pride to me as an Australian to see the way other Australians - holidaymakers and local residents alike - come forward to volunteer their help in any way they can.

I also want to pay tribute to Qantas, whose support for our emergency consular responses has always been immediate and professional.

Public Expectations

So, we are doing more than ever to assist Australians overseas, and we are continuously improving our crisis management systems.

But it is important for all Australians to understand that there are also legal and practical limits to what we can do for travellers overseas.

People need to have realistic expectations.

One thing the Australian Government cannot do is decide for Australians where they go and how they behave when they get there.

Australians are intrepid travellers and are going in ever greater numbers to out-of-the-way, sometimes dangerous places.

These are personal choices which the government respects.

We do not want to become a nanny state.

We will always do what we can to try to locate missing relatives overseas.

But we are not omnipresent.

We are not big brother.

We can not track people's movements.

Sometimes people don't understand these limitations.

One family asked us to use satellite imagery to track their son's movements after leaving a backpacker hostel.

Another family listed as missing following Hurricane Katrina was eventually found in a casino in Las Vegas.

A hotel employee in Cancun had been back at work for three days after Hurricane Wilma while his mother was demanding the government do more to find him.

Individuals have a responsibility to keep their families informed of their welfare and whereabouts overseas.

Australians don't expect the government to do that for them when they are in Australia, and they shouldn't when they are overseas.

In a way we have become a victim of our own success.

With people now more aware of our efforts…they expect us to perform miracles.

At times it seems people believe we are like the Thunderbirds…with teams of Australian heroes ready to take off in rocketships to pluck Australians to safety from any situation, any place on the planet, anytime.

Sadly…but understandably…this is not the case.

There are other limits to what we can do.

We can't arrange visas or work permits… we're not a bank or a travel agent…we can't give legal advice or investigate crimes.

We can't regulate the standards of service provided by tourism operators or childcare providers… and we cannot change the legal system of another country or demand special treatment from the local authorities.

The Australian Government cannot intervene in legal cases in other countries… just as the Government cannot intervene in court processes in Australia… and just as we would not tolerate special treatment for foreign nationals in Australian courts.

Where we have compelling evidence that an Australian is not receiving fair treatment under local judicial process…

… that is, according to the standards expected under local legal processes, not Australian standards…

… we will make representations to have this redressed.

When Australians leave Australian shores, they not only leave behind our laws, but also the medical services and emergency services provided here.

We cannot act as a rescue service.

Hurricane Katrina was a case in point… it would have been practically and legally impossible for Australia to arrange a military-style rescue mission in US territory - despite some suggestions that we do so.

Again, there are some exceptional circumstances, where we may arrange special charter flights, medical evacuations or use the Australian Defence Force to evacuate Australians, as we did in the recent Bali tragedy.

But overwhelmingly, Australians must rely on national authorities and on commercial services.

So the message is that Australians need to be aware of the risks they may face overseas.

They need to inform themselves about the countries they are planning travel to, they need to take responsibility for their own safety and they should always ensure they have travel insurance.

Avian Influenza

A very current example of the type of issue that requires both a consular response from my Department and a sensible approach from travellers is Avian flu.

My department first issued a consular travel bulletin on avian flu in January 2004.

This bulletin has been kept under review since then, and updated as necessary on the basis of advice from health authorities about the risk factors facing Australians and the precautionary steps they can take to minimise their exposure to those risks.

We don't want people to be alarmed.

But we do want them to be prepared.

There is understandably a high level of community concern about the risks associated with avian flu.

Large numbers of Australians live in and travel to countries in our immediate region which have recorded cases of human deaths.

So it is all the more important for those Australians to keep themselves informed and consider appropriate medical advice.

We are also giving the highest priority to developing contingency plans for providing consular assistance to Australians in the event of a pandemic.

But depending on the scale of any such outbreak, even with the best will in the world, these services may be heavily constrained.

The Government will continue to provide information to Australians on avian flu as the issue develops.

So the best advice I can give now is to monitor the travel advice, talk to your doctor and do your own contingency planning.

Changes to smartraveller travel advice

A little over two years ago, I launched the "smartraveller" campaign, a public information campaign to promote travel advisories and to encourage Australians to refer to them as an integral part of their travel preparations.

The smartraveller campaign has been a great success.

Use of the travel advisory service has increased markedly.

Hits on the travel advice website have almost tripled, and we have had unprecedented cooperation from the travel industry in working with us to promote safe travel messages.

I'd like to recognise here in particular the strong contribution of the Smartraveller Consultative Group.

Chaired by my Parliamentary colleague Bruce Billson it ensures maximum cooperation between the Department and the travel industry.

Four industry members - Glenn Buckingham, David Beirman, Leonie Brennan and Iain Ferguson - have joined us today.

But we are not resting on these successes, and that's why I am announcing today a series of reforms to my Department's travel advice that will make it more accessible and useful to the travelling public.

The changes that I'm announcing today will:

• make travel advice clearer and simpler

• reinforce the point that the Government is not telling Australians what to do, but that decisions about whether, where and when to travel are up to individual Australians

• and underline three simple steps they can take to make sure they're prepared for an unexpected event while they're away.

To take you then through the changes:

• we are introducing a new five level system to help Australians understand the relative levels of risk in different countries

• we are introducing a graphic indicator for each advisory, so that people can see at a glance where the country fits on the scale of relative risk, and a sharper summary of the key points in the advice

• and where we used to advise people to defer non-essential travel to destinations which we judge carry a high level of risk, we will now be advising them to reconsider their need to travel to those places.

This is not because our assessment of the level of risk has changed - that is something we keep under constant review - but to make it clearer that the decision to travel is theirs.

From now on, every travel advice summary will also encourage Australians to take three simple steps to prepare themselves for the unexpected while they're away.

The three steps are to:

• subscribe to the travel advice service; it will cost you nothing and ensure you receive by email any travel advice updates

• register your contact details on the smartraveller website, so our consular staff can contact you in an emergency and reassure worried relatives and friends

• and take out travel insurance. The unforeseen can always happen, and medical costs in particular can be crippling, so it's just not worth stinting on insurance.

We will continue working in close partnership with the travel industry to promote the new format travel advisories and get the message out.

And we will continue to ensure that travel advisories provide the most authoritative, up-to-date advice on terrorist and other security threats overseas.

This is complex work, involving close cooperation between my department, ASIO's National Threat Assessment Centre, our overseas posts and our consular partners.

It involves striking a careful balance between warning Australians about potential threats and ensuring that risk is not overstated, leading to complacency and "warning fatigue".

We pay the closest attention to these judgments because, ultimately, they are about the safety of Australians.

So, I invite you to visit the smartraveller website (www.smartraveller.gov.au) and examine the changes we are making for yourself.

Nearly a third of our 153 travel advisories are presented in the new format.

The rest will be re-released over the coming weeks.

Conclusion

Let me conclude by reiterating that the Government will always make the safety and security of Australians the highest priority.

The reforms to the travel advisory system will deliver an enhanced tool for Australians to use to keep themselves safe.

If Australians find themselves in trouble overseas we will do all we can to assist them…

…but, even with the best will, the best people and the best systems in the world, we cannot work miracles.

We cannot get them released from prison, or launch a rescue mission in another country, or influence a judicial process.

At the end of the day, it is up to individuals to weigh the risks and then take responsibility for their own decisions and actions.

The government will help as best it can: but travellers also need to help themselves stay safe and travel smart.

Thank you

ENDS