Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government continues to resettle Afghan nationals in response to the serious situation in Afghanistan and is working in the national interest to keep Australians safe as well?

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. There have now been some very successful flights from Kabul, particularly overnight. We have now helped around about 2,650 people to be evacuated from Kabul since this operation commenced on 18 August. That includes 955 people that were evacuated overnight on five flights. That's extraordinary. It is an absolutely outstanding effort on behalf of those who have been working there, in many cases around the clock, to support Australians, permanent residents and visa holders to be able to evacuate out of Kabul.

We have already brought three plane loads of those evacuees through to Australia. Those flights have landed in Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide. Those people are already in their mandatory 14-day quarantine. They're undergoing exactly the same process as anyone else who comes into this country and undertaking 14 days of quarantine. After that, we will be looking to resettle these people into the community as soon as we possibly can. So every effort is being taken to make sure that we are keeping Australians safe and secure by bringing these people into the country and putting them through hotel quarantine and then moving them to resettle within our community.

Our people on the ground in Kabul are working around the clock and they are supported by people right here in Australia. We understand how extreme the situation is in Kabul, and it is deteriorating hour by hour, but we are still there and we are continuing to do all that we can to make sure that we are able to evacuate as many people as we possibly can. We're making sure that we are conducting the checks that are needed to support these people as they fly out of Kabul to safety.

I think it's important for Australians to be reminded that our diligence has been demonstrated over many, many years when it comes to our national security, and that should give them the confidence that we can be open and welcome people from all nations. We do have a very rich tapestry here in Australia. Many cultures, in fact, have made Australia home. It makes us who we are. We can certainly be very proud—all of us here and everyone right across Australia—of the role that we play in the international community. We continue to work with the Afghan community here in Australia. We will look at how many people we can bring as soon as we possibly can under our humanitarian program and support those people to settle safely here in Australia.