Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Friday the 13th the small island nation of Vanuatu, and its near neighbours, was flattened by a category 5 cyclone named Pam. The cyclone left a path of destruction behind it and the people of Vanuatu, in particular, have a long gruelling task ahead of them in rebuilding their small island nation.

In Australia we know all too well the devastation that natural disasters can cause. Cyclone Marcia recently damaged over 3,300 homes, 1,000 had structural damage and 350 of them can never be reoccupied. We are currently experiencing other cyclonic weather at the top of the country, across the Northern Territory and in Far North Queensland. But at least in our country we have a huge population of many millions of fellow Australians who are ready to give a hand, and who can.

This is quite different in a very small island nation where people are often subsistence agricultural workers or have only very recently managed to build up their infrastructure for their education, health and transport needs. Australia is deeply concerned for the safety of the people of Vanuatu and its near neighbours as their homes, their infrastructure, their crops and their food supplies have been destroyed.

As soon as we knew of the destruction, Australia sprang into action to deliver important services to help as many people as we could. The sum of $10 million has been given to partners who are on the ground, including the Red Cross and United Nations agencies such as UNICEF. Australia has also provided humanitarian supplies for up to 7,500 people, including water and sanitation, shelter kits and $50,000 for emergency sexual and the reproductive health services for women. At this point, Australia has sent 28 people to Vanuatu as part of the Australian Medical Assistance Team. I have seen them in action in PNG, and I know they are stunning in the work that they do and how they manage. They are providing life-saving medical support for those most in need. We have also sent an Urban Search and Rescue team of 56 people to help with the clean-up and reconstruction. The first priority, of course, is to help the people of the Port Villa hospital community. The hospital had supplies delivered during last week by Australian Defence Force aircraft. Together with New Zealand and our NGOs, we are working hard to help the people of Vanuatu, and so we should.

In my electorate of Murray we too have experienced tragic effects from natural disasters. Although we do not have tropical cyclones we have floods, bushfires and drought. So we know the importance of resilience in tough times, and natural disasters are unfortunately a more common occurrence now throughout the world, so it is imperative that we learn how best to help one another on a scale and in ways never before needed.

When Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu there were Australians visiting the country. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade made contact with them and also those working there. Over 1,700 Australians have been offered consular assistance, in the way that we usually do. I commend our consular support for the excellent work they have undertaken.

It is a miracle that the cyclone's peak winds were up 320 kilometres an hour but so far only 16 people appear to have lost their lives. That is a miracle, given the devastation that was caused. We also acknowledge that there has been enormous damage done to Tuvalu and Kiribati. We have been supplying dollars to help provide support there, and the royal Australian Air Force is providing aerial surveillance to help—as particularly requested by the Solomon Islands.

Australia and Vanuatu have a long and intertwined history, not all of it good. It dates back to the mid-19th century, before Federation. As the convict ships, with cheap or free labour on board, began to slow from the United Kingdom, our farmers, particular those in the sugarcane industry in Queensland, looked to other places for sources of cheap, hardworking labour. They looked to the South Pacific Islands, and the vast majority of the new and often forced and unpaid workers were from Vanuatu. Some were promised good pay, good work and a good life. Occasionally that occurred, but, for most, it was quite different. They were forced into slavery and indenture.

At the end of that period, which fortunately came in 1901 with Federation, more than 39,900 people had come from Vanuatu to work in the cane fields of Queensland. We acknowledge that past, and we acknowledge that that gives us a special sense of needing to support Vanuatu and other nearby South Sea islands in ways that perhaps are special. I commend very much the efforts of all Australians and of our government, which has leapt into action, as it should and as it wants to. I commend are own Minister for Foreign Affairs, who has been on the ground making sure all is well. On behalf of the people of Murray, I commend our actions and give our thoughts and condolences to those who have been badly affected.

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