James Glenday, Host: Now a new safety campaign is trying to educate young Australians about some of the risks of travelling through parts of our region, including the risk of drink spiking and methanol poisoning. Loved ones of Bianca Jones and Holly Bowles, who died of methanol poisoning, are helping with the push. So is the Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who joins us now. Minister, welcome back to our program. Nice to see you.
Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good to be with you.
Glenday: It's that time of the year, of course, when a lot of students are preparing for or finishing their exams and looking at celebrating afterwards. What's your message to them if they're looking at heading overseas?
Foreign Minister: Our message is come home safely. And that's, when you wave your kids off at the airport, that's what every parent's thought is. And what we want to do is to try and give young Australians more tools to enable them to make choices so they stay safe. And so, we've launched this online resource, TravelSmarts, which enables people to play out real life scenarios so they can look at the sorts of choices you can make to make sure that young people stay safe. And I do want to thank Mark and Michelle Jones, who have been, you know, who obviously suffered a tragedy that no parent should, who have leant into working to keep other young Australians safe.
Glenday: Do Australian diplomats and embassies typically see a surge in demand for help at this time of the year? We only generally hear about these things when something goes horribly wrong.
Foreign Minister: Well obviously when you've got more Australians overseas, there's always more chance just statistically of things happening. But look, I think a lot of young people are making a real effort to understand the risks and to make good choices. And we want to make sure we provide them with the support that enables them to do that. So, we want people to have fun, but we want them to understand the risks, know what to do if something goes wrong and know how they can make the best choices they can to keep themselves safe. Obviously, things like drink spiking, methanol poisoning, these are things we all worry about. And that's why we want to make sure, as we head into Schoolies, that more young Australians understand these risks and how to keep themselves safe.
Glenday: It's a great message. We do hope everyone travels safe. If we can just take you to another issue, Minister, which we've been covering on this program. Can you give us any updates at all on the welfare of Hiep Tran, an Australian human rights activist who's facing terrorism related charges in Vietnam?
Foreign Minister: I can confirm I'm aware of this case and that Australian officials are aware. I can confirm that we have made representations, including from me, in relation to this matter. But I'm not in the position, because of privacy considerations to give you any more information than that.
Glenday: His wife was on our show last week. She essentially says that he was abducted from neighbouring Cambodia and did not attempt to cross the Border and that the charges against him are fabricated. I know you're going to be limited in what you can actually tell us, have you seen any evidence to suggest that he was trying to enter Vietnam or that he was engaged in any sort of terrorism related activities?
Foreign Minister: Well, this is not something I'm going to engage on, I'm afraid. As I said to you, my focus with him, as it has been with every Australian who is in these sorts of positions. You know, I've dealt with quite a lot of people over the period of time I've been Foreign Minister to date. I'm careful what I say publicly. We make representations in the way that we think is most effective for the person concerned.
Glenday: At the risk of annoying you, I am going to persist one more time. Does this broader case send a message to human rights activists that Hanoi or critics of Hanoi are going to be fair game anywhere in that region?
Foreign Minister: Well, that requires that I lean in on some of the facts you've put to me or the assertions you've put to me. You know, we know that different political regimes in the region have very different approaches to individual freedom and political freedom to that Australia takes. I think people are aware of that. When Australians are in positions where they need us, the Government works to represent them as best we can. And that is what we are doing.
Glenday: You met with the Nepali Foreign Minister yesterday. You announced an extra $15 million in support. This flood has dropped out of the headlines, but 34 Australians still remain unaccounted for after that devastating flood. What sort of work’s still taking place to try to find their remains?
Foreign Minister: First, can I express again my sympathy to all the loved ones of the 34 Australians who have not been found. This has been a dreadful time for them. It is a tragic time for these families and for so many Nepalese. We know there's been such loss of life and we've all seen the devastation. I did meet with the Nepali Foreign Minister. I met with him again. I had met with him in New York at the United Nations. I again expressed Australia's condolences and support. We've announced additional funding, which takes our funding to some $26 million since this began. But the thing that I did want to emphasise is, out of their own pockets, Australians have donated some $20 million towards Nepal recovery efforts. It says something about Australians that even in a time when we know there's a cost of living crunch, people have been prepared to donate to this because out of the goodness of their heart and I thank them for that.
Glenday: Yeah, we might bring up a graphic. The ABC is part of that and we'll direct you how you can donate if you're watching at home. Just finally, Minister, there seems to be some mixed messages from your government about credit card fees and the Tax Office. Of course, the Tax Office is operating on its own, but your Ministers have been saying different things. Should they be accepting payment of taxes by card?
Foreign Minister: We'll continue to engage with the ATO on this. They are obviously an independent statutory authority, but we would encourage the continued engagement with small business on this. Let's remember why the government put these reforms in place, though. It's because Australians were paying surcharges when they bought a cup of coffee, bought a toasted sandwich for the kids, those surcharges varied. They weren't consistent and they certainly weren't transparent. So, we do think it's the right thing to do to try and take those surcharges out of many of many families’ everyday living costs. On small business and the ATO, we want them to engage and we’ll continue to engage with the ATO.
Glenday: Can you understand though why small business is a bit upset about this? They say that they're being asked to take the fees of the surcharge and then pass it on to their customers and the tax office is not doing the same.
Foreign Minister: Look, I understand this is a change, even though it's only a small proportion of small business who are using credit cards for their tax bill. I understand that there were small businesses who were doing that and they are understandably wanting to engage with the ATO about this. We would encourage the ATO to engage with them and the Government will keep engaging with the ATO on this.
Glenday: Penny Wong, thanks for your time as always.
Foreign Minister: Good to speak with you.