Peter Stefanovic, Host: Joining us live now is the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong. Minister, thanks for your time this morning, can you give us the latest on the number of missing?
Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: As the footage has demonstrated, this is obviously a catastrophic event and we have some 39 Australians who are not accounted for, who we know were in the region. We are urgently working to ascertain their whereabouts and their wellbeing. We are deploying additional officers into Nepal to assist, both with the consular support, that is to help Australians, but also a Rapid Response Team to help with the humanitarian response and the Government has also announced an initial $5 million contribution to respond to this disaster, to be delivered through humanitarian agencies.
Stefanovic: Okay, so we had that jump in the number of missing, as you just pointed out there, 39. Now, was it 34, do we know who those extras are, those five are, or where they were at all?
Foreign Minister: Initially yesterday I indicated there were some 35 Australians who we knew were with a couple of tour groups. Since that time, we've got an additional four Australians who were not with those particular groups, but we have ascertained through other information in the region. We're obviously continuing to take calls from families and friends of anyone who is in the region to make sure we are aware of any Australians who might be there, that work is continuing. I do want to say to the family and friends of the 39 Australians who we know at this stage are not accounted for, our thoughts are with you. This is a very distressing time, just as our thoughts are with the Australian Nepalese and Tibetan communities.
Stefanovic: I remember covering the earthquake in Nepal in 2015, Minister, and there were major difficulties with communication. How much does that complicate the search?
Foreign Minister: Substantially, and I think, if you were there in 2015, you'd know this is a country whose infrastructure is already patchy and now we have a situation, as the report that you went through before demonstrates, a lot of infrastructure has been destroyed. Obviously, communications is more challenging. That's why we're deploying additional personnel into the region but as I said, this is a very difficult situation. I would simply encourage any Australians in the region to please make sure you keep updated on Smartraveller – we will update travel advice as soon as we have any information that's relevant. Please listen to the advice of local authorities and act upon that advice.
Stefanovic: Just back on those teams, the specialist teams, have they landed or are they still on their way?
Foreign Minister: We've already deployed some additional officers, so we've got 20 Australian officers in Kathmandu. We'll have additional consular people on the way and in the next couple of days, within the next 48 hours we'll have an initial Rapid Response Team of three people. They are humanitarian and response people, logistics, communications, planning. I am speaking to the Nepalese Foreign Minister later today and obviously we'll talk through with them any additional assistance that they are seeking from us.
Stefanovic: Okay, you just touched on this, but I mean, I was curious as to what their mission would be in that. How would they fit into the overall response?
Foreign Minister: Yes, that's a good point and these are people who have a lot of experience in humanitarian response. So, the initial deployment is in part to assess where we can assist and where the Nepalese authorities might need more assistance, which Australia might be able to provide, or might be provided from other partners.
Stefanovic: Okay. Minister, can I just ask separately, just because it's in the news today, the Prime Minister has reversed an apparent decision by Tony Burke to reduce our refugee intake. Was Tony Burke put in his place here?
Foreign Minister: Look, we have a very balanced policy. We have very strong border protection arrangements and that's why you have seen no successful boat arrivals under the Government. We also have a refugee intake that's been stable for some years and the Prime Minister has indicated that will continue.
Stefanovic: So, was Tony Burke put in his place, if he wanted it down to under 14,000 and the Prime Minister wants 20,000, it seems like something's going on here.
Foreign Minister: I think, the Government's position hasn't changed. It was the same allocation the day before yesterday and today, that it's a stable allocation and it goes alongside, as I said, strong border protection policies.
Stefanovic: How much friction is there going on behind the scenes of Cabinet at the moment? Because it's not just this change, it was the planned Press Club speech that has been delayed and still hasn't been reestablished. What sort of friction is going on behind the scenes at the moment on this particular policy?
Foreign Minister: I think everybody understands there's a lot of work to do when it comes to resetting migration arrangements. Tony has done a lot of work on that and he's spoken about some of those issues. We have a lot of different types of visa classes. We also have economic and regional considerations we have to take into account, and Tony is working through that very diligently and obviously the Government will make a decision on a range of those matters.
Stefanovic: By keeping the refugee intake at a higher level now, how much does that complicate your plans to reduce net migration?
Foreign Minister: Well, it's not at a higher level, actually, it's at the same level it has been since we came to government.
Stefanovic: I mean, it's higher than 14,000, that's the point I was getting at.
Foreign Minister: I understand, but my point is, actually, we're at no change when it comes to the refugee intake, it's an allocation that's been in place for some time.
Stefanovic: Okay. Foreign Minister Penny Wong on a busy day for you. Appreciate your time as always. Thank you.