Scott Morrison on the New Zealand tragedy
- Written by Scott Morrison
Good morning, everyone. I'm joined by Foreign Minister Senator Payne. Today is a very difficult day for Australians and was indeed yesterday for our cousins across the Tasman in New Zealand. I have been speaking with Prime Minister Ardern over last night and again this morning, and the news we feared would be very difficult, and it is proving to be so. Yesterday, there were 24 Australians enjoying a wonderful cruise in New Zealand, taking in those sights together, enjoying life, a peaceful time. They were aged between 17 and 72. And they took the option of a tour to White Island which many Australians have done in the past, and indeed I have on an occasion many years ago.
The eruption that took place on that day, we know, based on the reports that we have received from the Prime Minister, we can confirm has taken at least five lives. Of the 24 Australians, we have been able to ascertain overnight and this morning that 13 of those Australians are hospitalised across multiple hospitals in New Zealand. There are 11 Australians that are still unaccounted for, and that we fear of the five deceased persons, that three of those, up to three are Australians, but that is not yet confirmed. I would ask that the media refrain from speculation about the identities of any persons that are still unaccounted for in New Zealand. Our authorities are working closely with the New Zealand authorities to be able to identify all of those people who are currently in hospital, some of them have very serious injuries, and our consular officials and the Foreign Minister will speak to this in a moment, are either there at those places or on their way there, and we would like to be able to deal directly with the families without there being the further anxiety caused by the identification of individuals who are still unaccounted for, or indeed who are hospitalised, so we can deal directly with those families.
But with 11 Australians unaccounted for, three of those are feared to be amongst the five that have already been identified as deceased. This is a very, very hard day for a lot of Australian families whose loved ones have been caught up in this terrible, terrible tragedy. Can I also confirm that after speaking with the New Zealand Prime Minister that the operation has moved into recovery phase. There were four helicopters that were there as part of the recuse operation and assessing the scene, as the Prime Minister confirmed earlier, that were able to take a reconnaissance of the Island at that time and as New Zealand police said last night, there is not considered to be anyone on that island that remains alive. The officials and authorities in New Zealand today are taking advice of the various experts as to when they might be able to go back to the Island to undertake a recovery operation, and they are still working through those details this morning. Can I also note that an AFP forensic DVI assessment team, which will include police from the New South Wales Police force, will be on its way to New Zealand today and are working closely with New Zealand officials.
I want to thank the New Zealand Government and Prime Minister Ardern. I want to thank all of those who risked their lives yesterday, put themselves in harm's way to protect others. These horrible incidents are always accompanied by incredibly selfless acts. And equally I want to thank all of those in the medical teams who are there caring for Australians right now in New Zealand hospitals. Some of those Australians will be a long way away from loved ones and they will be there on their own, and unaware of what has taken place because of the nature of their injuries. So I want to thank Patricia Forsythe our High Commissioner in New Zealand and all of her team that are either there and working through the night and are getting to those Australians to give them every support that they can provide and provide the linkages back to family to keep them informed of what is going on. I also want to thank the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line for their cooperation and their assistance overnight. They have been highly cooperative in seeking to locate all Australians and so we had the details we needed, including passport information and so on, which meant we could ensure that we could track down people as quickly as we can.
But I fear there is worse news to come over the course of perhaps today or over the next few days. This is a terrible tragedy. A time of great innocence and joy interrupted by the horror of that eruption and I would ask again that we refrain from any speculation about individuals at this time so we can ensure that we can contact and deal directly with families to ease what will be a highly anxious and highly upsetting time for them. Marise?
SENATOR THE HON. MARISE PAYNE, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Prime Minister, thank you very much. I want to first of all express our deepest sympathies and thoughts to all of those who are affected and who have family and friends who may be affected by this awful tragedy. As the Prime Minister has said, we have at least 13 Australians in hospital and 11 Australians unaccounted for and we do expect the news on that to be very, very sobering in the coming days. I have been in contact with my counterpart, Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and thank New Zealand very much for the rescue efforts that have been made in extraordinarily difficult circumstances in the last day. The Australians who are hospitalised are located in multiple hospitals around New Zealand, in Waikato, in Christchurch, in Middlemore in Auckland, in Tauranga and in Hutt Valley. All of those hospitals will be visited or have been visited by Australian consular staff from both the High Commission and the Consul-General in Auckland and we will be sending additional consular support for those Australians affected and their families to New Zealand from today. The DFAT officials are working very closely with Royal Caribbean who are, of course, also in direct contact with the families.
I really want to reinforce the Prime Minister's statement around the necessity to protect the privacy of families while these difficult processes of exactly understanding who is where and endeavouring to make identifications goes on. It does not help to speculate at these times, and it is very, very difficult for the families. For those Australians who do have concerns for the welfare of friends and family who they believe may have been in the region, of course, the first thing to do is to endeavour to contact them directly, but in the event that you are unable to do that, and if you do believe that they were on the Royal Caribbean cruise at this time, then it is appropriate to contact Royal Caribbean on their 1800 number which is 1800 754 500, and further if you are unable to make contact in that way and you are sure that your friends or family were on the cruise, you are able to of course contact our Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135. 1300 555 135.
The challenge for the next few days is supporting those Australians who are so badly injured in hospitals across New Zealand, supporting their families and supporting the families of those who remain unaccounted for. We will be working closely with New Zealand authorities and with Royal Caribbean to provide any support that we can, and we will ensure that all assistance is provided to them and to their families. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: So we are aggrieved and we send our love to all those families and to all those individuals in hospitals today and again to our New Zealand friends and cousins and Prime Minister Ardern, we thank you for the great spirit of support that you have been providing to us here and the constant updates that we have been able to receive over this period.
Also today, as we can see here, standing on the lawn in Sydney, there are fires across Australia today, particularly here in New South Wales with a mega fire to our north-west which I had the opportunity to be briefed on on the weekend when I visited Wilberforce and the control centre there. But up in Queensland, in Victoria, in South Australia, there are heatwave conditions here on the east coast today. I would just ask, as always, these fires have been going on for months now, not just weeks, and to continue to follow the instructions of fire authorities in your respective states, to be aware of the information that has been provided. I can reassure everyone that the nationally coordinated effort and the specific state efforts which are leading the response in each of their jurisdictions has been incredibly professionally deployed. The ADF continue to support the efforts of our response by the states and territories. Where I was at Wilberforce on the weekend, there were ADF people involved there, they’re involved in everything from the airlifts, surveillance, they’re involved in clearing areas . They are doing their job, the firefighters are doing their job. We have over 110 - in fact, 111 aircraft that are part of an aerial firefighting fleet which is supported by the Commonwealth and states and territories as part of the nationally coordinated effort. Emergency assistance payments have been running now for some time and I must say I have been incredibly impressed by the coordination, the coordination that has occurred between our states and territories, with great support from those from overseas. We've had firefighters here from New Zealand, from Canada, from the United States, and they will be out there assisting in so many different roles again today.
So I would ask people to take great care and to follow the advice and the warnings that have been provided and to stay safe and to exercise appropriate judgement, particularly with fire conditions being the way they are today. Our thoughts are with all of those who are out there doing their job today. I also want to thank all of the businesses that are supporting our firefighters and other volunteers to be out there today. Your contribution to this effort is as great because you are enabling those firefighters to be out there and volunteers to defend their communities, which is where they want to be, and your support for them is greatly appreciated. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: Just with the injuries that people have in hospitals, what sort of injuries are we seeing?
PRIME MINISTER: At this stage, it is still too early to tell. There are a number, we know, that are in critical conditions. Obviously there are burns issues, quite severe burns issues, and that's why they are in so many different hospitals because they have been taken to the various burns units across New Zealand. But the full details of all of their conditions is not yet known and that's what consular staff are tasked with today and it's why additional staff are going over to New Zealand. I should note also there are two consular staff that have been in the Incident Control Centre in Whakatane from last night and have been directly involved in being able to receive information and again I thank Prime Minister Ardern for the swiftness she ensured that Australian officials were engaged in that process.
JOURNALIST: Just with the other nationalities, how many were residents in Australia?
MINISTER PAYNE: Well, there are a number of other nationalities involved, but these are matters for the identification processes and the location processes of people and I don't think it's possible to speculate at this point.
PRIME MINISTER: The New Zealand Government will speak to any other nationals, but as I said, there were 24 Australians who were there as part of that tour group on that day, which is the majority of the people who were on that island as best as we can determine on that day, particularly there as visitors and their visit turned to horror. Ok. Thank you very much.
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