Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to the bill. I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

Terrorism is a crime that has a unique and dramatic impact on the lives of its victims.

It is a crime directed not at individuals, but at the state.

However, it is individuals who suffer.

Presently in every Australian state and territory victims of crime, including terrorism, are eligible for financial assistance under criminal injuries schemes.

However, there is no comprehensive scheme that covers Australian victims of terrorism that occurs overseas.

In the past decade Australians have been killed and injured in terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Bali, London, Jakarta and Mumbai.

Terrorism is an unpredictable and stateless phenomenon.

It can strike almost anybody, in any place and at any time.

It is a sad reality that Australians are sometimes targeted in overseas terrorist acts.

Other times, they are merely caught up in attacks launched indiscriminately at 'Westerners'.

In either case, these individuals fall victim to attacks with a political or ideological motive, rather than a personal one.

In this context, it is only fair that the burden of the attack be borne in part by the state, and not the individual victim.

It is important to acknowledge the collective responsibility of the Australian community to help individuals recover from overseas terrorist events.

The Australian government has assisted Australian victims of terrorism in the past, providing them with medical and evacuation support, consular assistance and assisting with funeral costs and other expenses, on an ex gratia basis.

The value of that assistance to date exceeds $12 million.

Accordingly, the government does not propose to apply the scheme to individuals who have already been supported.

There is, however, more that can be done to ease the suffering and provide support to Australian victims in the longer term.

It is in this context that the government today commends the bill to the Senate.

Like the private senator's bill currently before the Senate, the purpose of this bill is to provide financial support of up to $75,000 to Australians affected by terrorism while overseas.

The bill achieves this through the 'Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment.'

The payment will provide financial assistance of up to $75,000 for individuals injured in an overseas terrorist event and to the close family member or members of an individual killed as a direct result of a terrorism event overseas.

Eligibility under the scheme provided for by the bill requires the Prime Minister to declare an overseas terrorism event in the first instance.

Once an overseas terrorism event has been declared, set eligibility criteria will apply, primarily that an applicant is an Australian resident and did not contribute to the terrorism event.

The bill provides for the determination of principles, which will provide guidance on the factors that may be considered when determining a claim, including:

The scheme will also provide that victims who receive the payment will not have to repay Medicare, and will not adversely affect a person's entitlement to damages or compensation under any Commonwealth law.

This is also consistent with current victims of crime compensation schemes.

Payments under the scheme will also be exempt from income tax.

The bill recognises that the decision maker may require a longer period than the standard statutory period of 13 weeks to determine claims, particularly where there are large numbers of victims.

The ability to provide payments of up to $75,000 to victims of overseas terrorism acknowledges not only that injuries resulting from terrorism events can be very serious, but that they can have a lasting effect, requiring ongoing support and treatment.

On 22 March 2012, the Senate jointly referred the provisions of this bill and a private senator's bill to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee.

The committee tabled its report, containing seven recommendations, on 10 May 2012.

The government supports six of the seven recommendations, and has revised the explanatory memorandum to address recommendations 2, 3 and 5.

The revised explanatory memorandum provides greater guidance about how the Prime Minister will determine whether a specific terrorist act should be covered by the scheme.

It also clarifies that the bill enables extension of the scheme to cover Commonwealth employees working overseas who do not meet the residency test.

Finally, it provides some clarification on how payments under the scheme will interact with other payments.

To implement recommendation 6, the government is exploring options for the establishment of a central contact point for Australians affected by terrorist acts.

The government does not support recommendation 5, which would double the maximum payment for primary victims.

Concluding Remarks

That Australians should be injured or killed in a terrorist act is a horrible thought to contemplate.

But it has happened and—unfortunately—it could happen again.

Terrorism is a crime with many victims.

It devastates not just those directly impacted, but their families as well.

It is a crime designed to strike at the heart of all we hold dear in a free and democratic society.

But we are determined that terrorism will not affect how we go about our lives.

The government supports the rights of Australians to continue to explore the world, continue to discover new places and represent us abroad, secure in the knowledge that the Australian community, and its parliament, will continue to support them, their families and the Australian way of life.

I commend this bill.