Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Di Natale for his question. In relation to the numbers of Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia who may be in Xinjiang, we are aware of a number of cases where people have travelled to the region. Some of those have Australian connections, such as spouse visas or associations like that. If Australian family members have requested us to, we have made inquiries with Chinese authorities regarding the whereabouts of those individuals. I won't go into further specifics, because there are of course privacy obligations attached to these matters.

It is also important to note that, where we're talking about noncitizens—those who have Australian connections or are permanent residents but are not citizens—there are limits as to what Australia is able to do in terms of the level of consular assistance that we are able to provide to those individuals.