Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I remind the minister that North-West Sydney and my electorate of Mitchell are home to a large number of Australians of Filipino ancestry. I ask the minister if she could please update the House on the steps the government has taken to respond to the emergency effort in the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mitchell for his question, asking this on behalf of his electorate and the Filipino community in his electorate. The destruction and devastation caused by Typhoon Haiyan on 8 and 9 November in the Philippines has been immense. About 13 million people are estimated to be affected. About four million people are estimated to be displaced from their homes. The death toll is not final but we know that there have been deaths in the thousands, including two Australians. The Australian government responded rapidly in coordination with NGOs and the Philippine government. In particular, we had emergency stores on the ground within hours of the typhoon. We were able to deploy a medical team within days and funding was provided virtually immediately to the Red Cross, other NGOs and to the United Nations. In total, our assistance comes to some $30 million.

On the ground, Australians are having a significant impact and our medical team set up a 50-bed facility at Tacloban Airport, and in the first 24 hours of arriving they treated 100 patients. The ADF is there and have evacuated about 3½-thousand people—nearly 3,400. They have transported 400 relief workers into the disaster-affected areas. HMAS Tobruk has also arrived, to the great relief of the Philippines' people, as I am informed by their foreign minister, and onboard HMAS Tobruk are 100 personnel who are engaged in repair and reconstruction and recovery work—particularly of schools, as requested by the Filipino government. The Australian public are said to have contributed $9 million, which indicates the generosity of the Australian people, and Australia overall is the fourth-largest donor to the Philippines tragedy after the UK, the US and Japan. We, of course, stand ready to assist whenever we are required. I spoke to foreign minister Del Rosario. He thanked us for our assistance. I will be travelling to the Philippines shortly, to discuss further aid and assistance with the Filipino government.

I want to thank our Ambassador to the Philippines, Bill Tweddell, and the team in Manila, also our consular, humanitarian and crisis-centre team at DFAT. I went down to see them last Thursday and thanked them for the work that they have done. I thank the opposition and the Leader of the Opposition for the bipartisan support in relation to this matter. The Australian government stands ready, as I said, to support the Philippines in however they wish us to support their reconstruction effort. It has been a devastating time for them, but Australia stands with its dear friend the Philippines.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence: I wish to associate the opposition with the remarks of the foreign minister and to say how generous the Australian people have also been at this terrible time and congratulate the members for Chifley, McMahon and Greenway, with the local Philippine community in their electorates, for raising $10,000 for Caritas yesterday.