Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Some 21 million people have been affected by the floods in Pakistan—a number greater than the combined impact of the tsunami in 2004, the Pakistan earthquake of 2005 and the recent earthquake in Haiti. The floods have left some 10 million people dependent on emergency food deliveries, about eight million people without shelter and, on top of that, some two million children in need of fundamental enduring humanitarian assistance.

Australia, as a friend of Pakistan, a fellow democracy and a fellow member of the Commonwealth, believes that our responsibility was to act and act quickly in support of that country in a time of great need. As a result, Australia was one of the first nations to contribute to the Pakistan global flood appeal. Australia now contributes some $75 million to that appeal. Globally we rank as the No. 5 donor to Pakistan at its time of great and dire humanitarian need.

On 16 September I visited the Australian aid facility—a field hospital at Multan in the southern Punjab. I think all members of this House would be proud of the Australians in the field doing their job. We have a contingent from the Australian Defence Force, a contingent from AusAID and various other medical professionals numbering almost 200. They were in the field very soon after the crisis hit and to date have provided emergency medical treatment to more than 5,000 people. There are 200 or 300 people presenting a day and as the doctors said to me, ‘Saving children’s lives every day against the ravages of diseases such as cerebral malaria, cholera, Nile River disease and others.’

It might also be of interest to the House to know that our aid effort there is being led by a gentleman by the name of Tang Lee. Tang Lee came to this country on a boat as a Vietnamese refugee in the 1970s and now leads Australia’s aid effort in Pakistan. He represents Australia well and does our nation an enormous degree of pride. Pakistan is not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination. According to the World Food Program, we will have some eight million people dependent on emergency food assistance through until July of next year.

Australia’s aid so far is being delivered through international agencies of the United Nations such as the World Food Program, the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, which are all doing fine work, through international agencies, such as the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, and through Australian NGOs, led by World Vision, Caritas, Save the Children and others. They are doing fine work on Australia’s behalf. We must monitor the situation very closely, because there are eight officials who are deeply concerned about a possible outbreak of waterborne diseases. I will be representing Australia at a meeting of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in Brussels in the middle of October. We will consider again the needs of that country in the period ahead. I reiterate to the House: Pakistan is a country of 175 million people, a country which is central to Australia’s security and strategic interests in terms of the international campaign against terrorism and a fellow member of the Commonwealth. Australia is proud to assist.

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