Doorstop interview with Foreign Minister Stephen Smith
Transcript
Main topic: Australian woman injured in Croatia
3 August 2010
QUESTION: What do you know about the case of this Australian girl in Croatia?
STEPHEN SMITH: Yesterday afternoon, our officials in Croatia heard Croatian media reports that a person had been injured. They understood that person to be an Australian. Last night, our officials contacted the hospital, established that an Australian woman was very seriously injured and had undergone an operation.
This morning, Australian officials contacted the woman’s mother, and our officials will now travel from the Croatian capital to Dubrovnik, to give consular assistance to the woman and her husband, who is travelling with her.
Our understanding is that she has received some very serious bodily injuries. Obviously our concern is that she recovers fully from her injuries, but we will render her husband all the consular assistance that we can and also provide consular assistance to her family in Australia.
QUESTION: So she is from Victoria …?
STEPHEN SMITH: I am not proposing to go through her personal details. She is a young Australian woman who has been very seriously injured. She is being operated on in Croatia. Her husband is travelling with her. We will now send officials to Dubrovnik to render assistance. Of course we are concerned that she recovers fully from her injuries, which happened as a result of a fall and we will give her and her family both here and in Croatia, all the consular assistance that we can
QUESTION: The family is asking whether one of them — the mother or the father — can be flown over there, is that possible…?
STEPHEN SMITH: Whether the family members decide to join her in Croatia, that is a matter for the family. We will send an official to Dubrovnik to render assistance on the ground, including to her husband who is travelling with her and the injured woman. My advice is that she will be in hospital for a number of days, if not weeks. The most important thing is to see if she recovers from her injuries, recovers well, and if she wants to return to Australia obviously we will provide the usual assistance in that return.
QUESTION: The family has requested financial help to transfer her to Milan where there is a specialist surgeon. Is that sort of help possible if that is the doctor’s advice..?
STEPHEN SMITH: Firstly we need to operate on the medical advice that she receives. Whether the family wish to transfer her to another location for further medical treatment, it will in the end be a matter for the family.
In the first instance, we are sending an official to Dubrovnik to render assistance on the ground — to the injured woman and to her husband. And, of course, early this morning our officials were in contact with the family and continue to be in contact with the family.
QUESTION: Sounds like a terrible accident , but is this reminder on safety and being careful…
STEPHEN SMITH: The advice I have, and very unfortunately, was that the woman fell; she was near a cliff and Dubrovnik, as you know, is a very attractive location where sightseeing of this nature is very common. She had a very heavy fall and suffered serious bodily injuries. We want to see her recover from her injuries as quickly as possible.
QUESTION: Thank you.
END
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