Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise in this House to support this piece of legislation, which is a direct result of the private member's bill put forward by the Leader of the Opposition. The Social Security Amendment (Supporting Australian Victims of Terrorism Overseas) Bill 2011 is designed to support and assist Australian victims of overseas terrorist acts. These are people who have suffered because they have been deliberately targeted by terrorist groups by virtue of being Australian and by virtue of being Westerners. Merely by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, over 300 Australians have lost their lives in the past decade to acts of terrorism in New York, Washington, Bali, London, Jakarta and Mumbai.

The word 'terrorism' has its roots in Latin and it means 'to frighten'. The aim of terrorists is to terrify us into submission. In this aim they have comprehensively failed. But this is what the perpetrators of the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005 had in mind when they killed 202 people in the first Bali bombing, including 88 Australians, in what was the deadliest terrorist act in Indonesian history. A further 240 people were injured in the 2002 attacks. The 2005 Bali terrorist attack claimed the lives of a further 20 people and injured more than 100 others.

It is a tragic reality that Australians are sometimes specifically targeted in overseas terrorist acts. The news last year that Osama bin Laden had been killed did bring a degree of comfort to some victims of terrorist attacks, including Paul Anicich, who was a survivor of the 2005 Bali bombing. Upon hearing the news, Paul said, 'I don't feel joyous about it but I am pleased it's eventuated.' I think that sums up the feeling very well: we do not celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden, but there is a sense that justice has been served by his demise. I hope that that news last year will bring a sense that justice has been served to families of the victims of these atrocities carried out by al-Qaeda and their extended terror network and allies.

The death of bin Laden is a strike at the heart of international terrorism and a great achievement for America in particular, who led the raid, but also for those who have joined the Western allies in what is a long struggle to defeat al-Qaeda, including, of course, Australia and in particular the ADF—and the ADF still remains engaged in Afghanistan, fighting bravely to ensure that that country will not be used as a safe haven to launch terrorist attacks at any time in the future. The world is certainly a better place without Osama bin Laden commanding or inciting acts of terror around the world. While al-Qaeda suffered a serious blow when they lost their leader, they still remain a potent threat and we still need to continue to be vigilant against the atrocities that they commit.

When we talk about victims of terrorism, it is important to remember that we are talking directly not just about those who were killed or severely injured but also about their families and the communities which they belonged to. A tragic example of the effects of terrorist attacks is the Western Australian football club based in Kingsley, just north of my electorate. They lost seven team members and had two other members severely burnt during the 2002 Bali bombings. The team had flown to Bali as an end-of-year celebration for making it into the grand final, and for some it was their first trip overseas. Of the 20 who went, only 13 returned. The Kingsley Amateur Football Club were left devastated at the loss of their sons, brothers, fathers, husbands, family and friends. What unfolded in the following weeks and months was an outpouring of grief and support from the wider Western Australian community. This bill will directly assist victims and their families, like those of the Kingsley football club, to rebuild their lives after the horrifying experience of a terrorist attack.

Another victim of the 2002 bombings was Nicole McLean, who was 24 years old at the time. Nicole was a retail manager from Montrose who had been in Bali for only six hours when the bomb went off. She told her story a year later. It makes for quite harrowing reading:

Everyone else was around the bar area. I was on the dance floor and I was the only person there left alive. The bomb went off and I think it’s done a big circle of the place—like the fireball just went round—then something heavy hit me on the arm. It was probably a plank of wood; who knows? It was hot, on fire, and damn heavy and it hit me on the arm. I went to try to shake it off but the force of it had just sent me flying. I thought ‘what the hell is that?’ I had no idea.

…   …   …

I’ve woken up and seen my arm on the ground. It was still attached—but only by skin—but it was lying in a strange position. I’ve picked it up and held it across me and tried to get up but my leg was damaged and I couldn’t get up so I just had to lie down again. I just thought ‘someone’s going to come and get me’. I didn’t know who it would be but I knew I wasn’t going to die in there.

…   …   …

I got back to Melbourne on the Hercules and I was still dozing on and off and still very blase. I was okay for a week then my body just wanted to finish up, I think. The infection that was in my arm was going into my bloodstream and my temperature went up into the high 40s so they raced me down to ICU and I spent three days on life support.

They told me that the arm would have to come off. I think when it comes to a limb on your body, it’s your life or your arm, there’s no question, it’s got to be your life.

…   …   …

I went back to work after six months. I only work three days a week now. I don’t want to work a full week. I get tired.

I fought for my life for two months. That takes a lot out of you. I do get customers who ask about my arm. Sometimes I just say ‘I was in Bali’.

It is important that victims such as Nicole are able to rebuild their lives and will be eligible for assistance to do so. Terrorism is a crime that is tragically life changing for not only those who are directly attacked but also their families and the wider community.

For Perth mother June Corteen, death struck twice. Her twin daughters, Jane and Jenny, were just outside the Sari Club when a terrorist detonated the bombs that killed those 202 people, including her two daughters, who were 39 years old. Ms Corteen said her daughters were always close. They had grown up together in a small Western Australian town and Jane had two children, Jack and Katie. Her partner, Steve, had taken the children to visit his parents while she and Jenny went to Bali. Ms Corteen said she would always remember the first moments when she heard a radio broadcast about the bombing. Somebody mentioned the hotel where her daughters were staying near the site and she feared the worst. Ms Corteen had to bring dental records and DNA to Bali, then came the emotion of taking her daughters home, knowing their bodies were in coffins in the plane's hull. Ms Corteen said:

They were born together and they died together. If one of them had happened to survive … it would have been terrible for her and it would have been extremely hard for me. It's hard for me now but I'm pleased that they are together.

The Bali attacks in 2002 and 2005 were not the attacks by al-Qaeda and their allies that claimed the most lives. I am sure every Australian and every member of this House remembers where they were when they heard about the attacks of September 11 in New York. Almost 3,000 people died immediately as a result of those attacks; 372 of them were foreign nationals. Ten Australians lost their lives in those attacks on the World Trade Centre. With their families and friends left devastated on the other side of the world, the opposition believes that this parliament should offer them financial support so they do not have to concern themselves with these matters whilst they are dealing with the burden of grieving. This funding will also assist victims in their rehabilitation process, for both physical and psychological injuries.

Stuart Knox, an Adelaide man who was 29 years old at the time, has shared the story of the loss of his twin brother on September 11. His brother, Andrew Knox, was working as an environmental architect on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Centre's north tower when the first of the hijacked planes struck. The American Airlines jet smashed into the tower just below him, between floors 93 and 99. Stuart was alerted his brother was there and had him on speaker phone for a while as his brother huddled near a ledge saying he could not breathe. Andrew Knox's mobile dropped out after that, but his brother does live with some relief that he apparently died before the tower collapsed. Stuart said of his brother Andrew:

… I guess that, over the 10 years, it has been one of the hardest things, because of the fact that you're looking at the fact that, if a loved one died in a car crash, nobody has filmed it, nobody plays it for you repeatedly. But, for something like September 11, you have images of the … time that your loved one was killed.

September 11 and the Bali attacks were of course only two of several attacks that included the attacks in London in 2005, a series of coordinated attacks targeting civilians using public transport during the morning rush hour. On the morning of 7 July 2005, four Islamic home-grown terrorists detonated four bombs, three in quick succession aboard London Underground trains across the city and later a fourth on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. Fifty-two people were killed in the attacks, including one Australian, and over 700 were injured. Sam Ly was the only Australian killed in those bombings. He was in the UK with his long-term girlfriend on a working holiday, and they were caught up in the bus blast in Tavistock Square. He was a 28-year-old computer worker. His father and nephew flew to London to be at his hospital bedside, but he died a week later on 14 July. Mandy Ha, his girlfriend of nine years, accompanied his body back to Australia. Other victims of the London bombing include Gillian Hicks from South Australia, who had both her legs amputated, and one can understand the profound effect and the difficult impact on her life, and the costly and ongoing medical treatment that would be required, having suffered an injury as horrific as that.

It is vital as a nation that we do offer the victims of terrorism our support. As well as the few examples that I have mentioned above, 300 Australians have been killed in these atrocious attacks. But the attacks would have directly impacted on thousands of Australians who were the families of the people who were directly affected. Their scars, of course, will be both physical and mental.

It is important to note that this bill is a direct result of the important work done by the Leader of the Opposition and, in debating this bill today, I am pleased that it includes the principles that were outlined by the Leader of the Opposition when he first raised this issue in his Assisting the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Bill 2010. The opposition leader's private member's bill aimed to provide additional financial support of up to $75,000 to Australians who are affected by terrorism while they are overseas.

The government's bill adopts this approach and will institute a mechanism through the social security system called the Australian victim of terrorism overseas payment. The payment will provide up to $75,000 to individuals who are injured or to a close family member of a person killed as a result of a terrorist act committed overseas. The payments are similar to those available under state victim-of-crime compensation legislation.

As has been noted in the bill's explanatory memorandum, in particular this bill will enable Australians who are victims of a declared overseas terrorist incident to claim financial support of up to $75,000. It will enable the Prime Minister to declare that a relevant overseas terrorist incident is one to which the scheme applies. It will establish eligibility criteria so that payments can be made to either long-term Australian residents who are victims of a relevant overseas terrorist act or, in the event of the death of a victim, close family members. It will also ensure that victims are not required to repay or deduct Medicare or other benefits from any payment received under the scheme and it will enable the enactment of legislative instruments to provide further guidance on the amount of assistance that each victim or close family member should receive. Whilst, clearly, these measures will never ease the pain of losing a loved one or erase the memories of those who have been the victims of terrorism, they do go some way to providing real and tangible support for those victims.

I want to foreshadow that the Leader of the Opposition will be moving amendments that address the fact that the bill before the parliament is not necessarily retrospective. It could, potentially, leave victims of the Bali bombings and some of the other past terrorist attacks that I have outlined without any financial support. The opposition certainly does not seek to play politics with the issue, but the Leader of the Opposition has written to the Prime Minister and to the Attorney-General to seek some clarity on this. They have, at this stage, refused to extend the application of the bill, and I would urge them to reconsider that decision. The Leader of the Opposition has consistently said in the past that Australians who were killed or severely injured in the second Bali bombing were the Australians who gave him the inspiration to craft this bill in the first place. So he, as I said, will be moving amendments to ensure that they, absolutely and definitely, have access to this compensation. I think that most members of the House would agree that it would be very disappointing if the victims of the two Bali bombings, the two Jakarta bombings, the London bombing and the attacks of September 11 were not able to access the compensation that will be shortly available.

This is a very important issue and it is an important bill. As I said, the opposition does not seek to score political points or gain any political kudos over this. We simply wish that our parliament, our government and our nation acknowledge Australians who have suffered through terrorist acts and that we grant them additional appropriate measures of recognition. This bill is about providing support to our fellow Australians who, through no fault of their own, have suffered at the hands of merciless terrorists who hate us for who we are and what we are. The payments contained within this bill are not large, but they will appropriately recognise Australian victims of terrorism, who I think most would agree are worthy of our support.

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