Teresa Gambaro (Petrie, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is quite opportune that I am in the House when the member for Wills is speaking about the member for Herbert. I know that the member for Herbert has been a very hardworking advocate for the people of Townsville, including representing them with regard to the Jezzine Barracks site, and I want to thank him. He was very diligent in his representation and continues to be so. But today I would like to speak about smartraveller.

I have recently been appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, a position I feel very privileged to hold. Each year, a huge number of Australians, including constituents from my electorate of Petrie, travel overseas. We have always had a great yearning to travel overseas, experience other cultures and absorb the lifestyles that many countries have to offer. These days it is almost a rite of passage for young Australians to spend prolonged periods overseas or to visit regularly. But there are risks associated with buying a plane ticket and heading out of your comfort zone. The risks include sickness, accidents, imprisonment and natural disasters. Given the world’s political climate today, there are increased safety issues relating to civil unrest or terrorism.

The federal government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade want to ensure that Australians are well informed and that the decisions they make before they go overseas are based on accurate information about the risks. We provide consular assistance if they run into trouble. Australians make four million trips a year—an absolutely amazing number. Raising awareness about travel advice is an important function of the department. Travellers need a source of up-to-date and reliable information to assist them to minimise the risks they face overseas. With this in mind, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, launched the smartraveller public information campaign on 7 September 2003. It is a key tool of the department’s preventative consular work and the government takes it very seriously. The use of the smartraveller website has steadily increased over the life of the campaign and is now registering more than 44,000 hits per day.

We would like to see the smartraveller website become an integral part of the pre-trip routine of millions of Australians before and during their trips abroad. Being aware of conditions in their planned destinations before and during their overseas trips will help Australians make better informed travel decisions. This is where smartraveller comes into its own as a one-stop shop for vital information, country by country. The smartraveller website and every travel advisory encourages Australians to take out travel insurance and register their presence overseas online with the department. Travel insurance ensures that help is at hand in the event of an unforeseen emergency and can save people from crippling medical expenses. Registering online ensures that the department can contact people in an emergency situation and it reassures worried relatives and friends.

We are currently witnessing protest demonstrations in several Middle Eastern countries. Safety and security overseas can alter dramatically in a very short time. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade responds very quickly to those changes, updating the relevant travel advisories and websites. The department plays a critical role when people are away from their family and friends in a foreign land and feeling at their most vulnerable. For many would-be travellers, the federal government’s smartraveller website is becoming their first port of call before they venture overseas. We would like to see as many Australians as possible using the website and accessing the latest travel advice.

It is a very good idea for Australians to subscribe to smartraveller and receive the free automatic updates of travel advisories. Travel advice can be accessed on an automated smartraveller phone service. The number is 1300 139 281. There are smartraveller kiosks located at Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide airports and at the Sydney and Canberra passport offices. I would like to thank the travel agents who have registered. They play a very important role in this, and we are endeavouring to recruit more travel agents. In essence, the smartraveller website is helping Australians to help themselves and save their families a whole lot of heartache and worry when they are overseas. We want people to be safe and happy when they travel. By logging onto smartraveller they will be doing themselves and their families a favour.