Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I thank Senator Wong for her question. Can I, at the outset, acknowledge that the situation in Afghanistan is one that is evolving quite rapidly, remains highly volatile and is a dangerous situation. Our highest priority as a government is, indeed, to secure the safe and orderly departure of those Australian citizens still in Afghanistan, their families, Afghan former locally engaged employees, other visa holders and permanent residents and, indeed, the assistance that we are providing as a government to the United States, to New Zealand, to the UK, to Fiji and other nations in relation to helping with their foreign nationals, as we acknowledge and thank many other nations assisting us.

Since 18 August, Australia has supported the evacuation of around 1,000 people from Afghanistan over some 12 flights through our work with the UK and with other nations. We do urge the Taliban to ensure the ability for the safe and orderly departure of people seeking to leave the country.

We join international calls for the Taliban to cease all violence against civilians, to adhere to international humanitarian law and to respect all Afghan's human rights, especially those of women and girls. Our work in relation to helping people to depart Afghanistan has been ongoing for some time. Since 15 April 2021, the Australian government has brought out more than 430 Afghan locally engaged staff and their families to be resettled in Australia under our humanitarian visa policy, an arrangement that's been in place since 2013 and has supported more than 1,900 people to do so during that time.