Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are here today debating this private senator’s bill from the Greens, the Migration (Climate Refugees) Amendment Bill 2007, which aims to provide a climate change visa for victims of natural disasters consequent upon climate change. The bill inserts into subsection 5(1) of the Migration Act a list of a variety of natural and other disasters, which it says might result from climate change. These include sea level rise, coastal erosion, desertification, collapsing ecosystems, freshwater contamination and more frequent occurrence of extreme weather events, such as cyclones, tornadoes, flooding and drought, which mean that inhabitants are unable to lead safe or sustainable lives in the immediate environment.

Indeed, all of those things are very serious and dramatic environmental events that would occur anyway, whether or not there was climate change, and which could amount to a disaster in any community. We could add to them the great floods which occur from time to time in our region in countries such as Bangladesh and the tsunamis which have occurred in Indonesia and Aceh within the last four or five years and which occur periodically around both the Indian Ocean Basin and the Pacific Rim. Even the droughts that we have in Australia rather than in other countries are environmental disasters which affect people’s lives.

I suppose the idea of having a special visa for climate change induced disasters begs the question: does this really add anything to Australia’s way of dealing with these kinds of disasters around the world? It is not a question that is easy to answer because these kinds of environmental events occur in any case and Australia, if I might say so, does have a very good record of providing assistance to countries which suffer environmental disasters of various kinds. We are, in fact, a very good global citizen in the way that we do respond to disasters around the world.

We certainly have an excellent record of having jumped in and assisted with local responses very quickly after the problems in Aceh following the tsunami which occurred there. We have not only assisted in the immediate aftermath of disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, fires, drought and so on; we have also assisted with medical services both locally and in evacuating victims to Australian hospitals. More importantly in places such as Aceh, to use that as an example, we have put in long-term plans to restore the communities to the kinds of conditions or better than they were before these disasters occurred.

Australia has a great record of working in cooperation with international and domestic partners to improve disaster preparedness and engage in risk reduction strategies. In fact, around the world, Australia provides something like 150,000 tonnes of food aid every year valued at about $65 million to people in countries subject to frequent environmental crises. These include: Bangladesh, which is very often subject to massive flooding; Indonesia, where the tsunami occurred in Aceh but which suffers also from episodes of very heavy rain during the monsoon season and frequently needs assistance; Sri Lanka, where we have provided assistance; and Africa, in Sudan and Chad, where Australian aid has been very helpful in assisting people who have come through the impacts of droughts which have compromised food supplies.

Australia does provide as I said 150,000 tonnes of food aid every year—half of the tonnage comes directly from Australian farmers and suppliers and the rest is sourced around the world. Australia contributes financially to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and we also support other humanitarian agencies around the world, such as Oxfam and Save the Children. In fact, in global terms, Australia has a very enviable record as a good citizen in supporting people suffering the consequences of environmental disasters.

We support protecting and improving conditions for refugees, finding durable solutions to refugee crises and assisting with the reintegration of refugees in their homelands, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The Australian government provides long-term support to areas that have been struck by disaster or conflict through the support of rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. As I said earlier, this was the case in Aceh, where we are now moving into the phase of the reconstruction and re-establishment of housing, schools and other facilities such as hospitals. Beyond that we do assist in other programs such as mine clearance, mine awareness and victim assistance programs. Of course those are not the subject of this private member’s bill; but they are, nevertheless, indicative of the kind of compassion which Australia exhibits towards people who are the victims of disasters around the world.

The principal department in the Australian government providing relief and assistance in emergencies, such as those which might occur during extreme weather conditions, is AusAID. AusAID is an excellent department that is active from the moment it becomes aware of a disaster. The first priority of AusAID is to assess the situation and gather information to ensure that help is provided to those in need. Once a country has officially requested assistance, AusAID and the Australian government respond quickly. A good example of that was on 2 April this year when there was a major earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale in the north-west of the Solomon Islands. The earthquake prompted a tsunami believed to be between two and 10 metres high which struck the western Solomon Islands and caused quite a lot of damage. It is thought that at least 52 people died and up to 7,000 were made homeless. AusAID moved quickly and provided $3 million for emergency relief and reconstruction assistance to the Solomon Islands. We sent in six medical teams to attend to disaster victims in the affected areas of the Solomons, including the most remote villages and islands. So Australia responded very quickly to that environmental disaster. I suppose from that one can conclude quite reasonably that Australia does play a very important role in attending to the consequences of environmental disasters in our region.

I will now come back to the subject of this debate, which is whether or not a special visa for refugees who are victims of environmental disasters consequent upon climate change would really add anything to our armature of help for the victims of environmental disasters. I have to conclude that the answer is probably no. Australia is already providing aid and support to victims of a wide variety of environmental disasters on a broad scale, and I do not think a special visa of this kind would add anything meaningful at all to the kind of assistance that Australia gives.