Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. As we've recognised over the last few days, in particular, here in this place, the situation in Afghanistan is deeply concerning. It's concerning for us here in this place, and it is concerning for people right across this nation. Our government has been very focused on the safe departure of Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders, including local Afghan former locally engaged employees. We have worked very swiftly across various departments and agencies; this has been a whole-of-government response to the situation in Afghanistan. We have had many people on the ground and here in Australia, quite frankly, working around the clock, 24/7, to provide the support that is needed to assist those individuals in Afghanistan.

Since 18 August, Australia has evacuated more than 1,600 people from Afghanistan over some 17 flights and we've achieved this by working very closely with the United States and the United Kingdom, amongst other nations. Here, in Australia, we are also working very closely with the Afghan community. We're working with them so that we can identify, particularly, some suitable applicants for the humanitarian program. We are looking to support those people who come from persecuted minorities, who have links to Australia and who have shown a commitment to Australia, sometimes over many, many years. We do have a very strong Afghan community in Australia. We've had that community here for many, many years, back from the days when people from that region came to Australia and settled in outback Australia. More recently, we've provided resettlement opportunities to about 8½ thousand Afghan nationals, and that does include 1,900 locally engaged employees and their families who have supported our mission.

One of the things that we've been very focused on with the processing of applications, particularly on the ground in Kabul, is making sure that as many checks are done as possibly can be. I think it's fair to say that this government has always taken national security particularly seriously, and we have been doing all that we can to make sure that the appropriate checks are being put in place to assist with the timely uplift of people from Afghanistan to Australia. We will continue to do that; we will continue to work around the clock in Australia to support that mission, to support the evacuation, so that we can safely bring as many people out of Afghanistan and on their way to Australia. What I can say to the Australian people is that they can have confidence in the Morrison government, that we will be doing all we can to make sure that we repatriate people and bring them here as soon as we possibly can in a safe manner.

See this speech in context