Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

What we have witnessed unfolding in Syria over the last few years as a result of the civil war in that country is a human tragedy on a genuinely extraordinary scale. Seven million people are estimated to be internally displaced. Four million people are estimated to have fled Syria; 1.9 million of those are now residing in Turkey; 1.1 million are now in Lebanon, representing one in four people who are in Lebanon today; and 300,000 people have sought to cross the Mediterranean this year, with tragic results. The images we have seen over the last few days, particularly that appalling photo of the lifeless body of Aylan Kurdi, have moved the world in terms of the crisis that is being faced by the Syrian people.

In monetary terms, there are staggering figures as well. Over the last few years we have seen an enormous amount of generosity on the part of the international community to try and meet the needs of what is occurring in Syria, but those needs continue to outstrip what can be provided. At the end of last year the estimated shortfall in the amount of funding was $700 million, and that shortfall continues to grow. In 2013 the operational requirements of the UNHCR were at $5.3 billion, and yet there was a $2.4 billion shortfall on that—nearly 45 per cent of the requirements of the UNHCR then. That figure of 45 per cent continues to grow, and today—this year—it is estimated that the UNHCR's need will be $6.2 billion. The country which is driving this humanitarian need more than any other is Syria. Yet all of that occurs against an international background where we are seeing ongoing humanitarian tragedies in Yemen, the intractable situation in Somalia and northern Nigeria with Boko Haram, in our region in Myanmar, in Ukraine and in Central America.

This situation in respect of Syria is not new. As the shadow foreign affairs minister mentioned last year, she visited both Jordan and Lebanon to see the plight for herself, and I know that the foreign minister has made those visits as well. Earlier this year I was in Jordan at the Zaatari refugee camp, within eyesight of the Syrian border, where I met Syrian refugees and heard their stories about what they had fled and about the situation they were facing. In April this year I met with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, to talk about the need of the UNHCR and how Australia might help. At the ALP's national conference this year, knowing that today the world is facing the greatest humanitarian need it has since the Second World War—with 59 million people displaced—we discussed the belief that it was essential that Australia put forward a program of greater international engagement and greater assistance to this global need. We announced a commitment of $450 million to the UNHCR over a three-year period, which is a transformational commitment for this country to that organisation. We announced the doubling of our humanitarian intake to 27,000 and we announced that Australia, under a Labor government, would play a leadership role within our region. All of this represents the single biggest offering of a potential Australian government to the world's affairs in terms of humanitarian need.

But today we see a crisis unfolding in Syria and a need to act right now. Over the last few days we have seen an outpouring of sentiment—offers of assistance from extraordinary places such as the states. On Monday we made our own announcement about the need to harness that sentiment for Australia to act, and now we have seen the government announce a 12,000 increase in our humanitarian program, which is absolutely welcome. It is a significant offer, but we do need to know the time frame of that. We need to know that that is within one financial year. We also welcome the fact that that will be applied on the basis of need and not with any religious bias, because that has been the bipartisan position of governments over the years. We note the $44 million contribution, and we welcome it, but much more could be provided. What is important is that, given the events of this week and the announcement of today, Australia can now hold its head high in terms of the offers we are making to this humanitarian disaster.

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