John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

The ADF personnel assigned to vital border protection responsibilities together with their civilian colleagues in other government agencies do an extraordinary job under sometimes very difficult circumstances indeed. The SIEV36 tragedy is among the most extreme of the situations they have confronted. I am very satisfied with and proud of the way the ADF personnel involved in the incident dealt with the rescue in extremely difficult circumstances where they themselves were at great risk and suffered injuries. I am confident that the ADF has taken a thorough and appropriate approach to ensuring that we learn lessons from this incident. Within two months the ADF had completed an internal inquiry, which I tabled in the Senate. The report was completed in June last year and made 59 recommendations going to the policy, procedures and training for boarding operations for SIEVs. (Time expired)