Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

He has got his own set of friends, although Deputy President Marshall might be more informed than I am on the Balkanised ways of the Victorian Labor Party. But we are not here today to talk about that issue; that should be for another day. We are here today to talk about Senator Ludlam's MPI. The starting point might be to recall that, 25 years ago, we had the Chernobyl tragedy, which occurred in what was then part of the Soviet Union and is now the state of Ukraine. What we saw in March this year with Japan's Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima reaffirmed the importance of sound nuclear emergency response mechanisms and the highest possible standards of nuclear safety.

I would particularly like to talk today about Australia's initial response to the Japanese disaster. In the immediate wake of the earthquake and tsunami, the Australian government responded extremely quickly to ensure the safety of Australians in Japan as well as to offer assistance to the Japanese government and, more particularly, the people of Japan. The Australian government, on behalf the Australian people, donated $10 million to the Australian Red Cross Japan and Pacific Disaster Appeal and provided very early and extensive support. Part of that support included a 72-person urban search-and-rescue team with two sniffer dogs, which was one of the first overseas teams on the ground in Japan. In addition, a 22-strong Defence team participated in Australia's response. We sent three Royal Australian Air Force C17 aircraft and airlifted a total of over 450 tonnes of cargo over 12 days to support the relief operation in Japan. Two of those RAAF C17 aircraft were also used to transport specialised pumping equipment from Perth to Japan, with Australian technicians who helped to set up the equipment and provide the training for using them to the Japanese technicians. The pumping equipment directly contributed to efforts to stabilise the situation at the Daiichi nuclear power plant.

One hundred and fifty Australia based and locally engaged staff provided consular support, and coordinated information and support with Japanese officials, through our embassy in Tokyo. Australia also deployed consular staff to Sendai as soon as it was possible after the tsunami. We were in fact the first team to be deployed in the area and the last to depart. In total, over 230 Australian officials served in Japan to provide consular services to Australians and to assist Japan with its very difficult recovery efforts.

The crisis centre at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—and I have had some experience with them in recent times—received over 11,000 phone calls over the period of the crisis. The Australian government was able to confirm the safety of 5,239 Australians in Japan, including 417 in the tsunami and quake affected areas of the country. All the Australians of whom DFAT was aware were accounted for and, thankfully, there were no Australian casualties. So often, when these sorts of tragedies overseas occur, Australians are involved; but on this occasion, importantly, there were no Australian casualties suffered.

Australia is taking a very active role in the broader international action on nuclear safety. In terms of the broader implications of the Fukushima accident, the Australian government recognises the importance of the international community working collaboratively to improve nuclear safety through the promotion of best-practice standards. We just heard Senator Faulkner talk about some of these initiatives. They include, firstly, greater international oversight of nuclear safety, including through the bilateral safety agreements with the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and their nuclear safety auditing; secondly, better international coordination of emergency response and consequent management; thirdly, encouraging industry to share in-house safety standard compliance techniques; and, fourthly, cooperation from Australia with, potentially, new nuclear energy market entrants in our region.

There has been a meeting of the IAEA. They hosted a conference on nuclear safety that was held in Vienna in June. I know Senator Mark Bishop, who is in the chamber, has been to Vienna on at least one occasion. At this conference, we outlined several actions the international community could take to address gaps in current—