Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister consider making assistance available to the previous Australian victims of overseas terrorism as a way to suitably mark the forthcoming 10th anniversary of the Bali bombing?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition has raised this matter with me privately, and I acknowledge that. Our nation has seen a number of Australians affected by terrorist events, and there is nothing we can do as a government or as a parliament that brings back a lost loved one or ends people's suffering when they have been wounded in such grievous attacks. But as a nation we have cared for people who were caught in the Bali bombings, in 9/11, in Mumbai, in Jakarta and in the many events in which Australians have been hurt by the acts of terrorists. I think as a parliament, in a very bipartisan way, we should recognise that our nation has extended that support. That has included emergency financial assistance, the support of family liaison officers, travel back to Bali—and the government is extending a package of support so people can return for the 10th commemoration of the Bali bombings, lifetime health care, counselling, rehabilitation, money to cover out of pocket expenses and the like, and of course some people were also assisted to attend the trials of the Bali bombers.

We are working together in a bipartisan way to put this kind of ad hoc assistance on a more systematic basis for the future and so there will be a scheme established for Australians should any be hurt in the future by terrorist attacks. I am sure we would all be hoping that no-one ever gets hurt again, but understanding the world in which we live we must prepare for that possibility and in those circumstances an amount of up to $75,000 would be extended to Australians harmed in overseas terrorist acts or the families of those killed.

The Leader of the Opposition has raised with me the question of people who were the subject of the Bali bombings in the past. I indicate to the Leader of the Opposition that I am open to considering unmet needs for any of those individuals, and if the Leader of the Opposition wants to bring some material to me in any way that suits his convenience, or have me speak directly to family members involved, then I am open to that.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, I ask a supplementary question. I thank the Prime Minister for her answer, but why should the victims of future terrorism be entitled to receive up to $75,000 in assistance but not the victims of past terrorism, given the pain and the trauma that they have suffered and continue to suffer?

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition would no doubt recall Howard government decisions about how it would assist victims of terrorism—including 9/11 in 2001 and both of the Bali bombings. I do recall that the Leader of the Opposition was on the spot in Bali for the second round of Bali bombings and was personally there trying to assist some of the victims, so I do understand that this is a matter in which the Leader of the Opposition had direct and personal contact during the days that he was a minister in the Howard government. I presume he is familiar with the way in which the Howard government made its decisions about assistance. That approach was an approach of various categories of assistance. People have been provided with assistance under the Howard government approach. There is now a bipartisan will, I believe, to put that on a systematic basis for the future.

Given people have received ad hoc, if you like, assistance in the past that was not a denominated amount of money but was made up of various kinds of assistance, if the Leader of the Opposition believes that process of assistance, started understandably by the Howard government because the instances happened when Prime Minister Howard was in office, has led to unmet needs then I invite him to advise me and certainly I will consider them.