Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. He makes reference specifically to Sri Lanka in his question, and of course a range of measures arise from that in our cooperation with Sri Lanka as a source country for those who are seeking to go to other parts of the world because of the civil disturbances in that country earlier this year—in fact, a very bloody civil war which has seen some 260,000 people internally displaced within that country, 130,000 having gone to India, many thousands having sought to go and successfully gone to France and Germany as well as to Canada and the United States, and so far some 600 or so having come to Australia.

On the question of Sri Lanka, I draw the honourable member’s attention to the fact that as a product of our cooperation with the Sri Lankan government and in consultation with the Sri Lankan authorities, we have been assisted in interrupting people-smuggling ventures between Sri Lanka and Australia and between Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Yesterday I informed the House of the general number of interruptions which have occurred with the Indonesians, the Malaysians and the Sri Lankans. Of course honourable members would be aware of reports that on 23 and 24 November Sri Lankan authorities located and intercepted four people-smuggling ventures off the coast of Sri Lanka that were believed to be headed in this direction.

We will continue to work closely with the Sri Lankan authorities, as all responsible governments of Australia would do. On the question of the conditions within Sri Lanka I would also draw the honourable member’s attention to the work being done by our special representative, John McCarthy, formerly High Commissioner to India, who is working with the Sri Lankan authorities both on people-smuggling cooperation and on internally displaced persons and resettlement and reconstruction. Also, what we have done with the Sri Lankan government, based on the recent visit to Colombo by the Foreign Minister, is to confirm our continued cooperation with the Sri Lankans to assist with their humanitarian and resettlement challenges, including providing more than $35 million in development assistance to Sri Lanka this financial year, $5 million to support the resettlement of internally displaced persons and $2.3 million for de-mining the former conflict areas. This is particularly important given the heavy use of landmines in the area, which is of concern in the resettlement process, and given the number of landmines used in the civil war against the LTTE.

Our continued cooperation with Sri Lanka is important. It is part of a comprehensive response to the global challenge of people-smuggling with the Sri Lankans, with the Malaysians and with the Indonesians and, of course, provides proper support and investment for our customs protection and border security forces who are at work in the air and on the sea at present in dealing with a challenge not just for this country but for the entire region and for the world.

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