Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to join with my colleague the member for Cook in speaking on the report by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade titled Australia’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami. Nearly two years on, it is still very hard to comprehend the sheer scale of destruction and human devastation that the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami left in its wake along much of the Indian Ocean coastline. The tsunami literally wiped out thousands of coastal communities across 12 countries, and it remains one of the worst natural disasters in living memory. Indonesia was the hardest hit, with the majority of casualties occurring in the provinces of Aceh and Northern Sumatra. Other countries directly affected by the tsunami included Sri Lanka, India and many others. The tsunami did not spare Australia either, with 26 Australians killed—the majority of them holidaymakers in Indonesia—and scores more injured.

In the days immediately following the tsunami, relief operations faced the challenge of having to provide food, clean water, temporary shelter and health care to literally hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom had lost everything. One of the key priorities for early relief operations was to prevent the spread of disease and malnutrition. As time has gone on, these relief operations have shifted their focus to longer term reconstruction projects.

To Australia’s great credit, Australian aid agencies and NGOs have played a major role in these relief and reconstruction operations. Their efforts have been reinforced by the overwhelming generosity of ordinary Australians who donated money to help fund such operations. This generosity has made Australia the largest contributor per capita to tsunami aid and reflects the very best of this country.

In May this year the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade conducted a roundtable public hearing that examined Australia’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The hearing gave members a chance to discuss with representatives of the Australian aid community where Australian’s money is being spent and how aid agencies are continuing to deliver assistance to tsunami affected communities.

As the report being tabled today will show, the roundtable hearing was particularly informative for both members and aid agency representatives. During the hearing a number of key issues were discussed regarding effective aid delivery. Members and aid representatives also discussed possible lessons that could be learnt from the tsunami relief operations. Among the issues raised by aid representatives were the enormous challenges faced by relief operations; the reconstruction efforts in tsunami affected areas, given the remoteness of some communities; and the devastation that the tsunami had inflicted on basic infrastructure.

One key issue that aid representatives raised was the enormous strain that is placed on the humanitarian system by major disasters occurring in sequence. Aid representatives emphasised that one possible way to counter this is to ensure that sufficient funds are on stand-by to help strengthen the emergency response capacity of aid agencies in the event of future humanitarian disasters and that more importance needs to be given to further developing and extending the interagency collaboration between government and NGOs that began to occur in response to the tsunami.

The issue of accountability and transparency in relation to the way money is spent was also discussed, including concerns over corruption and the misappropriation of funds. Public concerns over accountability and transparency led to a discussion of the role that the media played in determining public perceptions about whether tsunami response funds were being spent appropriately. Aid representatives were generally disappointed by the media emphasis on the very few negative stories rather than the many positive stories about the tsunami aid effort. An overemphasis on negative stories in the media also does little justice to the extraordinary and often life-saving work carried out by tsunami aid workers in what are often near-impossible conditions. These efforts need to be recognised and more readily embraced by our media.

I want to end by highlighting the importance that aid agency representatives gave to community based development programs that empower local communities rather than entrap them in relationships of dependency. Such programs are vital in helping communities to get back on their feet whilst at the same time preserving their dignity by actively including local community members in decisions about where aid would be most effective. They recognise the key role that women play in getting communities back on their feet and the importance of providing women with appropriate support services.

On that note I would like to pay tribute to a very young constituent of mine, Ms Jay Leigh Hook, aged 16, who was on holiday in Thailand at the time the tsunami hit and was caught up in the horror of what took place. I thank her for the money she raised, when she returned to Australia, to assist a school in Thailand. (Time expired)

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