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

Again, I thank Senator Smith for the question. The government has already supported and facilitated commercial flights for hundreds of Australians to return home safely, including from Uruguay, from Nepal and from Peru. In the case of Peru and Uruguay, most recently we have supported the travel company Chimu Adventures, through underwriting and indemnity, to ensure that the flights could go ahead. We're supporting a further commercial flight by LATAM from Peru tomorrow for passengers out of Lima, Cusco and Iquitos, and also joining up other Australians who were in more remote parts of Peru in terms of arranging transport to assist them to reach that flight.

We have had a very good outcome in Nepal where our ambassador Peter Budd worked closely with authorities in Kathmandu and Nepal Airlines to facilitate a commercial flight that brought over 260 Australians and New Zealanders into Brisbane last week. I thanked my Nepali counterpart personally on Monday for that effort, which included bringing passengers to Kathmandu from places like Bukhara, Pokhara and Chitwan. (Time expired)