Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. What is the government’s response to the recent earthquake that struck Indonesia?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I thank the honourable member for Forde and I appreciate her interest in this. The Australian government expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the major earthquake that struck Jogjakarta on 27 May. This was an earthquake of 6.2 on the Richter scale and it occurred just off the coast of South Java, about 25 kilometres south of Jogjakarta. The social affairs minister of Indonesia estimates the death toll has now reached nearly 5,000. Injuries are estimated at over 20,000, although that number is continuing to climb. It is estimated that about 100,000 people have been displaced and are in need of shelter. Not surprisingly, the Indonesian President, President Yudhoyono, has declared a three-month state of emergency and he has even gone to the extent of establishing a temporary office in Jogjakarta.

We will provide some funding to Indonesia’s disaster management agency under the Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development, and that funding is improving the response capability of the Indonesians. Yesterday, as I think the House knows, the Prime Minister spoke to President Yudhoyono and offered Australia’s continuing assistance. Within hours of the earthquake, Australia announced $1 million for the Indonesian Red Cross to assess the damage, provide early medical assistance and set up kitchens to feed the victims of the earthquake. On Sunday, as the situation became clearer, the government tripled that figure. So $3 million now will be used to fund the Indonesian Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, the International Federation of the Red Cross, key UN agencies and of course Australian non-government organisations on the ground. The Indonesian President has requested medical assistance in particular, and a medical team, which is funded by AusAID, will be arriving during the course of today. Australia will also send an essential services team and an engineering team to examine the infrastructure needs and to see what specific additional assistance Australia might be able to undertake.

In terms of the consular response, within hours the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade established a 24-hour emergency hotline to take calls from the public, and the embassy established an office in a hotel in Jogjakarta so that we could try to identify whether there were any Australian victims. We had a register of 86 Australians living and working in Jogjakarta, and I understand that all 86 have now been accounted for. We have no reports at all of Australian casualties as a result of the earthquake, but we will continue to monitor the situation.