Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the past year almost six million people passed through the Brisbane international airport. Related to that, Brisbane is getting its second airport runway. It's under construction right now. That's a reflection, partly, of our city's growing economic strength and prosperity, because it shows those expectations that Brisbane has when it comes to increased trade and tourism from right around the world, but especially from our region in the Asia Pacific. It's also a reflection of our city becoming a new world city, and the greater number of international events we're hosting, and it's a reflection of our increased penchant for travel. In short, Australians, and Brisbanites in particular, are travelling overseas in greater numbers and more often than our parents and grandparents did. Judging by the sheer number of calls that my office gets that are inquiries about consular services, especially over the holiday period like that just gone, it's fair to say our consular services are becoming increasingly important.

Many Aussie tourists probably wouldn't know where our embassies are, stationed in countries right across the world, and wouldn't even think of those sorts of services until they are in desperate need of them. Nonetheless, as the Consular state of play report for the past financial year shows, our consular services do some important work. We're talking about more than 12,000 consular cases of Australians in trouble overseas and 66,000 calls from Australians in trouble overseas to our Consular Emergency Centre here in Canberra. And then there is what I would call the tragic trifecta of about 5,000 cases split three ways, almost evenly: about 1,700 Australians who fell terribly ill and were hospitalised overseas; about 1,600 Australians who were arrested overseas; and then, most tragic of all, about 1,700 Australians who passed away overseas. By tragic example, I note a terrible story broke just hours ago in the news. These numbers are, I suppose, a small reflection of the important work of our consular personnel, often under trying circumstances.

It is also timely to give a reminder of what they can't do. The Australian government does provide that consular assistance wherever it possibly can, but there are limits. While more young Australians, especially, are travelling independently overseas, there is that growing trend of older Australians retiring abroad, particularly where there is a family connection. So we're seeing a surge in cases of people falling ill, especially in the Pacific, which reflects the growing number of cruise passengers that the member for North Sydney spoke about earlier. As he said, many Australians don't think that they need travel insurance when they're on a cruise. They think that the ship's travel doctor will take care of it, or Medicare will cover their expenses. The sad truth is that, in the event of a medical evacuation, lengthy hospital stays or repatriation, it can involve significant additional expenses. It is vital, as the previous speakers have said, for Australian travellers to ensure that they get comprehensive travel insurance before they travel overseas.

The previous speakers also spoke about that recent Insurance Council-DFAT survey of Australian travellers and what it found. It found that about nine in 10 Australians travelling overseas have insurance, but it also found that the vast majority of those travelling Australians have no idea what countries are covered in their insurance, no idea what their coverage is when they, say, ride a motorbike overseas, what their coverage might be for mental health conditions, or what their coverage might be for incidents involving alcohol or drug use. So overseas travellers, young and old, need to put time aside to adequately consider the question of travel insurance and the coverage of the policy that they are considering, no matter where they're going or how long they're going for. We heard that often-repeated principle from the previous two speakers: if you can't afford travel insurance, you can't afford to travel. And I want to reiterate our foreign minister's recently expressed concern that this message needs to get through to that last one in 10 people who are travelling overseas. The Australian government doesn't pay for medical treatment overseas. It doesn't pay for medical evacuations to Australia or any third country, or for repatriation of remains on death overseas. Many insurance policies do exclude mental health conditions. I welcome the work of our foreign affairs minister and DFAT to see that travel insurance providers can address some of those mental health related policy exclusions.

In conclusion, when I speak to constituents in Brisbane about their travel plans, I try to focus on those two priorities: put more thought into your travel insurance and make sure you've got it, and check out the Smartraveller website. On that website, DFAT publishers up-to-date travel advisories for almost every country and travel updates.

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