Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—On behalf of the government, I table the government's response to the report of the Joint Select Committee on the Christmas Island Tragedy. As someone who arrived immediately after the disaster, I know that no-one who was on Christmas Island on that terrible day last December will ever forget the scenes of heartbreak and of lives needlessly cut short. As many as 50 people perished, including children and infants. Forty two survivors were rescued by the courageous men and women aboard ACV Triton and HMAS Pirie and were assisted wherever possible by brave local AFP and Customs personnel and, indeed, by local Christmas Islanders. The weather was about the worst ever experienced by locals. The sight of the boat breaking up and of men, women and children being tossed against rocks, and the grief of families ripped apart, will stay with witnesses forever.

In the immediate aftermath of this tragedy, the Prime Minister invited all sides of the parliament to assist the parliament and the Australian public to understand the facts and to consider whether anything would or could be done differently should a comparable incident arise in the future. On 2 March 2011 the government established the Joint Select Committee on the Christmas Island Tragedy to examine the management of the incident by Commonwealth agencies, including the operational response and the adequacy of subsequent support provided to survivors and others. The work of the joint select committee supplements the review undertaken in the immediate aftermath by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service and the further recommendations of the Christmas Island Emergency Management Committee.

The report of the select committee, which was tabled in the House on 4 July, found that the crew of ACV Triton and HMAS Pirie were professional and courageous and did all they could in the terrible conditions to save as many lives as possible. The committee also acknowledged the heroic actions of the Christmas Islanders who tried to throw lifejackets and other buoyancy devices to survivors. Their sense of helplessness is understandable; however, they should feel proud of their courage. More than that, I am aware of the benefit of their support and the support they rendered, including a woman who thanked a local Islander who had successfully thrown her a life jacket as she was in the sea.

The committee report contained three key and unanimous recommendations to provide ongoing support to the survivors, to provide ongoing support to those involved in the search and rescue and to build a permanent memorial on Christmas Island to those who lost their lives. The government has accepted and acted on the key recommendations and continues to support the survivors and their rescuers. Work on a permanent memorial is well advanced. This tragedy has strengthened the government's resolve to do all we can to deter vulnerable people from taking perilous sea journeys and risking their lives in future. This is why we remain so committed to implementing the best advice provided by experts from our operational law enforcement agencies.

The members of the joint select committee showed great professionalism and diligence in developing a unanimous position on most recommendations and I thank them for that. I thank in particular the chair of that committee, Senator Marshall, the deputy chair, the member for Stirling, all of those who were involved in this very important process and all of those who made submissions to the inquiry.

Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I welcome the government's response to the parliamentary report on the Christmas Island boat tragedy. The events of that December day last year when SIEV221 crashed into the rocks at Christmas Island are of course well-documented and well-known to all Australians. The parliamentary committee, which had representation from both chambers and from all sides of the House—and I appreciate the minister's comments—did work diligently together. I congratulate the chair, Gavin Marshall, who did a good job in his responsibilities in chairing that committee.

The committee found what were reasonably uncontroversial recommendations—namely, that a permanent memorial be established at Christmas Island to commemorate that tragedy, and also that DIAC and relevant contractors employed by DIAC, such as Serco, continue to monitor the wellbeing of the survivors and make sure that they have access to appropriate counselling services.

Finally, the third recommendation was that the Commonwealth agencies continue to monitor the wellbeing of their personnel who were involved in the rescue on the day. They did that rescue in terrible conditions in the most heroic way possible. The third recommendation that the minister has said that the government would agree to is to make sure that those personnel are monitored and given appropriate support to cope with what were obviously very difficult circumstances in the aftermath of those tragic events.

We heard evidence from people who were involved on that day about the terrible effects that it had on them and others on Christmas Island in the wake of that tragedy—not least, in terms of the aftermath, of course, concerned the survivors who were on the boat. Those survivors really do owe their lives to the courage of Australian Navy and Customs personnel and the Australian Federal Police on that day.

There were dreadful conditions on Christmas Island on that day in December, the worst conditions that long-resident locals had seen. It really was what could be considered a 'perfect storm', and the timing of the arrival on the island of that particular vessel could not have been worse. There was certainly no way that any vessels could have been put to sea safely to try to assist those survivors. The people on land, sadly, were rendered very helpless by those conditions even though the boat came very close to landfall. It was really left to both the crew of the Triton and the other naval vessel there to put the RIBs, the small inflatable craft they have, to sea and to do everything they could in what were really incredibly bad conditions to rescue as many people as possible. If they had not taken those actions, if they had not risked their lives—and it is a miracle that nobody was killed or more seriously injured from those vessels—there is no question that every single person, with one exception, would have perished.

So we do congratulate them, and I certainly believe that it is appropriate that they be honoured. I know that those involved in that rescue have been honoured for their service. I would certainly deem it appropriate—and I think the government shares in this view—that every avenue for recognising what they did on that day is looked at. I think that all in the parliament would support that, as is appropriate.

These events are a reminder to everyone in the House that we need to do everything we can to stop people taking that voyage. There is no question that if those weather conditions were repeated there is nothing that any government could do to take remedial action to make sure that those events and this tragedy did not occur again. The committee looked at what was done and of course what could be done in the future, and the truth is that if people continue to make that voyage then the possibility exists that a tragedy like this will re-occur. There is nothing that Christmas Islanders or any government authority can do to make sure that that does not happen. When the weather is that bad, if people are coming down, there is no lifesaving equipment that could be deployed to ensure that this tragedy does not re-occur. It is very important for all members of the House to reflect upon that and, whilst we will do everything we can to make sure that there is not a repeat of these events, there is nothing that the government can do to ensure that that is the case whilst people continue to take this very dangerous voyage.