Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

On Friday morning in Yambali village, west of Mount Hagen in the PNG Highlands, a tragedy of enormous proportions struck Papua New Guinea. I know that I speak on behalf of every member of this House when I say that we stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Papua New Guinea, remembering that it was PNG who came to our aid in our hour of need 4½ years ago, during the Black Summer bushfires. That is what family do. That is what friends do.

It is hard to describe the Highlands of PNG for those who have not seen it. It is a place which is very remote, but it's not isolated. It's not isolated because it is in fact heavily populated, but it is remote because, through large swathes of the Highlands, the principal form of transport infrastructure is walking trails, and the main mode of transport is by foot. It's in this context that this tragedy struck, and so it's very difficult to know exactly what the death toll has been. The International Organization for Migration, having spoken with nearby villagers, estimates the death toll at about 670, but there are other estimates which put that number in the thousands. The truth is we may never know, but what we do know is that, right now, there are thousands of displaced people, and they need our help.

From the moment this news broke, our high commission was working with authorities in Port Moresby. We flew the first representatives of PNG's national disaster committee to the site on a RAAF Spartan and helicopter. The Spartan which is in PNG has been joined by a Hercules. We have a C-17 which is now ferrying supplies between Australia and PNG. In addition to the disaster response experts who are on their way to PNG now, the emphasis is on helping those who are displaced, and so we are working on transporting 750 family-sized shelters to the site. There is more that we are seeking to do, but, to be frank, part of the issue here is about not overwhelming a system which is currently under a lot of stress. But what every Australian should know and, more importantly, every Papua New Guinean should know is that we will do everything within our power in this moment to help Papua New Guinea through this most difficult time.

I will just briefly mention New Caledonia. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen unrest. The origins of this obviously go back decades. The answer to this has been and continues to be ongoing dialogue. We very much welcome the visit of President Macron to Noumea, and we're working with our French neighbours about how we can provide assistance in this context as well. What we have done is provide eight flights over the course of last week or so, on which we've transported about 500 people to Australia, most of whom are Australian citizens.

These two very different incidents remind us of one central fact: we are members of the Pacific family, and every person in the Pacific should know that, in the darkest hour, Australia will be there.

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