We stand with Israel and recognise its inherent right to defend itself. We mourn the devastating loss of Israeli and Palestinian life. We mourn with Jewish communities in Australia. And, knowing that more Jews were killed in this attack than in any single day since the Holocaust, we all understand how it brings back that trauma. We mourn with Palestinian communities in Australia who have lost thousands of their kin and who fear for loved ones in the dire humanitarian situation. And we condemn Hamas, a terrorist organisation that does not represent the Palestinian people and undermines the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.
CHAIR: Today’s committee proceedings will commence with representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I welcome Minister Senator the Hon. Penny Wong and the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Adams. Good morning. Do either of you wish to make an opening statement?
Senator Wong: Yes, I think we both have a brief opening statement.
CHAIR: Thank you, Minister. You have the call.
Senator Wong: Thank you, Chair. I thought it would be appropriate to begin by updating the committee on the Australian government’s response to the crisis in the Middle East. I acknowledge the cooperation of the committee in agreeing that our officials who are dealing with that crisis will attend today for a limited period of time. Obviously I don’t consider this statement to be part of that time.
The Australian government has three core responsibilities in this crisis. One is to do all we can to keep Australia unified, to keep our social cohesion, and to make sure, as part of that, that the community feels heard. Senators may have heard my opening statement at Prime Minister and Cabinet estimates on Monday and further discussion on social cohesion in Home Affairs estimates.
There are two core Australian government responsibilities in my portfolio. The first is to support Australians who wish to leave to do so, and I want to thank all from my department, both in Canberra and at our overseas posts. I want to thank the Australian Defence Force and the airlines who have been part of this effort. We have coordinated and assisted more than 600 Australians seeking to leave Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We continue to assist Australians who want to leave Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
We are supporting Australians in the West Bank on departure options, such as transport to Jordan with our international partners, and accommodation. We are in contact with 79 individuals who are seeking to leave Gaza. We are deeply distressed that international efforts to secure civilian passage out of Gaza, efforts Australia has engaged in and is actively supporting, are yet to be successful. DFAT continues to advise do not travel to Lebanon due to the volatile security situation and the risk of the security situation deteriorating further.
These points bring me to the second core Australian government responsibility in my portfolio, and that is to work with other countries who share our goal of containing this conflict, of seeing an enduring peace in the Middle East grounded in a two-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely behind internationally recognised borders. Australia has unequivocally condemned the attacks on Israel by Hamas, targeting and murder of civilians, including women and children, taking of hostages and indiscriminate rocket fire. We continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
We stand with Israel and recognise its inherent right to defend itself. We mourn the devastating loss of Israeli and Palestinian life. We mourn with Jewish communities in Australia. And, knowing that more Jews were killed in this attack than in any single day since the Holocaust, we all understand how it brings back that trauma. We mourn with Palestinian communities in Australia who have lost thousands of their kin and who fear for loved ones in the dire humanitarian situation. And we condemn Hamas, a terrorist organisation that does not represent the Palestinian people and undermines the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire and human suffering is widespread. Australia has consistently called for the protection of civilian life. We have announced now $25 million in humanitarian assistance. We have consistently called for safe, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and safe passage for civilians. There has been some access in recent days, but it is nowhere near enough. We call for humanitarian pauses on hostilities so food, water, medicine and other essential assistance can reach people in desperate need and so civilians can get to safety. And we note that many of our closest partners have now made similar calls.
The way Israel exercises its right to defend itself matters. It matters to civilians throughout the region and it matters to Israel’s ongoing security. Innocent Palestinian civilians should not suffer because of the outrages perpetrated by Hamas. The hopes for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians will recede even further if today’s generations are motivated by grief and resentment resulting from this crisis. This is one of Hamas’s objectives. We cannot let them succeed. Rather, the international community must work together to chart a path out of this crisis towards a political process.
That political process must end in a just and enduring peace in the form of a two-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians can live securely behind internationally recognised borders. These will need to see all sides respect the right of the other to exist, and it must see the removal of the terrorist group Hamas. It must deliver the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for statehood. Advancing the cause for peace, as always, requires leadership, understanding and courage. These are, of course, among the many critical discussions the Prime Minister is having with President Biden in Washington this week.
Understandably, the situation in the Middle East is the focus of much of the public discussion of Australia’s international relations at the moment. But the broader effort also continues in advancing our interests in shaping a region which is stable, peaceful and prosperous, that is respectful of sovereignty and I look forward to discussing how the Albanese government is advancing those interests with the committee today. Thank you, Chair.
CHAIR: Thanks a lot, Minister. Ms Adams, do you have an opening statement?
Ms Adams : Thank you, Chair. Senators, thank you for your indulgence. I’d like to take a few minutes to outline the steps that DFAT has taken, particularly on consular matters, since the horrendous Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October. Under the Australian Government Crisis Management Framework, DFAT leads the whole-of-government response to overseas crises. We’ve been operating in 24/7 shifts and we’ve surged more than 450 staff into crisis related roles, drawing from all parts of the department.
Our assistance to Australians begun on 7 October when DFAT’s consular emergency centre begun to respond to calls from distressed Australians and concerned family and friends. On 8 October, we activated DFAT’s crisis cadre—that’s our group of experts pretrained in all aspects of crisis management. We also stood up the crisis centre. It’s the physical location from where we coordinate a whole-of-government response to the broader consular, strategic and humanitarian issues spilling out of the conflict. And we have convened almost daily interdepartmental emergency task force meetings. We’ve been focused on confirming the safety and security of Australians affected by the crisis and to assist their departure from the conflict zone. I have also been, of course, very focused on the safety of our staff and their families in the region, including our locally engaged staff.
To keep the Australian public informed, we started updating our Smart Traveller advice, pushing this through social media and responding to a growing volume of media inquiries. It was clear that we would need to scale up further our support to Australians and we set in train a global staff surge, including sending staff to key diplomatic missions abroad and major international transport hubs. This included sending almost 40 staff into Israel and surrounding areas. We worked with ministers on evacuation options for affected Australians, communicating with our RAAF colleagues and numerous commercial airlines. Looking back, almost three weeks into this crisis, as at 5 pm yesterday, we had coordinated eight Australian assisted flights from Israel. At least 1,905 Australians, permanent residents and their families registered with DFAT had left Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and we had coordinated and assisted more than 600 of those departures. We have also helped evacuate 259 citizens of other nations, such as Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. We are currently providing consular assistance to 137 Australians and their families, including seven individuals in Israel, 51 in the West Bank and 79 in Gaza.
Large numbers of DFAT staff have handled many thousands of public inquiries around the clock and turned this into information our people on the ground can use to support the consular effort. The Australian government has announced, as the minister has said, $25 million in total, so far, in humanitarian assistance through the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN relief agencies.
Tragically, as the committee knows, one Australian was killed in the attacks. Our thoughts and sympathies are with their family and friends and any other Australian families who have been deeply affected by the impacts of the conflict. I know many Australians are concerned for the safety and security of their loved ones in Gaza. I want to assure you that DFAT are keeping in close contact and are doing what we can assist their departure from the conflict zone. As you know, no foreign nationals have yet been able to leave Gaza other than the small number of hostages released. We’re working with the governments of Israel and Egypt to advocate and prepare, through our embassies, for their eventual departure.
I would also like to assure Australians with families in Lebanon that we are also focused on contingencies there. Our advice is, ‘Do not travel to Lebanon,’ and that those Australians there should leave. While we are preparing for all contingencies, our ability to assist will depend very much on the situation on the ground.
Finally, I would like to thank our partners and staff for this enormous ongoing effort in the service of Australians. We couldn’t have done this without the broader Public Service colleagues, including from Services Australia and Home Affairs. I think the committee heard the testimony of Chief of the Defence Force General Campbell yesterday on the ADF commitment, and I thank him and the Department of Defence for the excellent collaboration, including stationing personnel and aircraft in the region for civilian contingencies.
Staff at posts in Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Beirut and Cairo, among others, have continued to deliver professionally in the most difficult of environments, including our local staff. I would like to thank all those staff who have volunteered to deploy to the region. I’ve been so proud to see many colleagues stand up to do what it takes to get Australians and their families to safety, while supporting the foreign minister and other ministers in their policy roles.
In closing, I too add my thanks to the committee for its understanding on dealing with matters involving officials leading the crisis centre in the next few hours—that means the Middle East officials and consular—and enabling them to get back to this important work that we’re currently engaged in.
CHAIR: Thank you for that, Secretary. I’ll remind senators too, as the secretary mentioned, the officials will be here for about two hours. If there are any other questions, we’ll try and manage that throughout the course of the day. Senator Birmingham, you have the call.