Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In January I was privileged, if that is the word, to go and inspect the refugee camps of the Rohingya crisis in Cox's Bazar. I had a walk around there and saw the very worst and the very best of humanity. We saw people doing whatever they could to help 700,000 refugees who had fled Myanmar and were in tent accommodation—dealing with water, toilets, medicine and accommodation. The monsoon season was coming at that stage. Because the land was denuded to make room for these people, they were very concerned about mudslides. I want to update the House that the monsoon season has now hit. There are some really challenging situations in those camps at the moment. They still have up to 180,000 people who are at risk of death from mudslides. The pressure on sanitation in that makeshift accommodation is huge, particularly for women.

Australians should be proud of Australia's contribution. We are the third biggest contributor to dealing with this crisis in our region. The next challenge will be to create economic zones so that we can integrate the Rohingya in the community there. The Australian government is doing a fair bit and we should be proud of it. There is certainly going to be more to do as the monsoon season impacts those people at this time.