Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Thankfully, five Australians who were unaccounted for in Nepal and Tibet, were found safely overnight. They've made contact with DFAT and consular officials and their family members who are greatly relieved to hear that they're safe and well. Our officials continue to work around the clock to try and locate the 38 Australians who are still, unfortunately, unaccounted for in the devastation area. And we're sending additional staff to the region on top of the 12 who have already been sent to the disaster zone to try and help with the rescue and recovery and the identification, and location of Australians who are missing within the region. Australia continues to provide humanitarian support to the Nepalese government in the form of hygiene kits, food and water, sanitation, and solar lights, and there's a shipment of those Australian goods aboard a C-130 RAAF plane that will land in Kathmandu this afternoon. Obviously, the longer this goes on, the more difficult it becomes for our officials and the relief staff to locate those Australians who are missing, we’re providing regular updates to their family members, some of the family have travelled to Kathmandu to get as close as possible to their loved ones and the consular staff in Kathmandu, are meeting with those Australians providing them with regular updates, and supporting them as much as we can. Our thoughts are with those family members during this very distressing and difficult time, but we're working around the clock and remaining hopeful to try and locate those 38 missing Australians and return them safely back to their families. I'm happy to take some questions.
Journalist: What, direct support, is being provided to the families of the missing Australians at the moment?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, we're providing consular support in the form of information updates. We're also providing advice about counselling and support services, and just being there to talk to their loved ones, and their family members, particularly those who’ve travelled to the region. It's obviously a very, very distressing situation. There's a lot of anxiety amongst those family members. I'm holding regular consultations with the Nepalese and Tibetan communities in Australia. We held a consultation on Friday afternoon. I'll do another one this Friday afternoon. We've been attending vigils with members of the Nepalese community. Australia has a wonderful Nepalese and Tibetan community. That contribute a lot to our country, and at the moment, we're offering as much unity and support to those diaspora communities.
Journalist: Were any of the five who were, have been identified, located among the 11 that were part of that pilgrimage, Isha Foundation pilgrimage that were inside the Tibet immigration centre. Was there any update on those people?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, what I know is that one was found on the Tibetan side, one was located in Nepal, and three were not in the region at all. So that's as much information that we have and that we can release at the moment. Obviously, we need to respect the privacy of the families regarding this, but it's very relieving for those family members to know that their loved ones are now safe, and are on their way back to Australia.
Journalist: Does the government hold concerns as the days go by that those remaining missing Australians will not be found alive?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, unfortunately, there's about a thousand people who've been killed in this disaster, and about 4,000 that remain unaccounted for. Obviously, as the days go on, it becomes much more challenging to locate people alive. But we remain hopeful, and we're putting every effort into locating those Australians who are unaccounted for. Thankfully, Telstra, Optus and, TPG, have provided the Australian Federal Police, with location data regarding their mobile phones, so we know where they were last, before the disaster hit, and the telecommunication system blacked out. We’ll be using that data to try and use that as a source of information, to get officials as close to possible, where that data indicated they last were, to try and relocate them.
Journalist: Did that data play any role in finding these five Aussies most recently.
Assistant Minister: I don't have any information regarding that. It's only just been handed over, uh, to the Australian Federal Police, and they’ll use that vitally important data, to help try and track, uh, where those Australians last were. And obviously, we thank Telstra, Optus, and TPG for providing that vital information.
Journalist: So, to your knowledge, are rescue crews on their way to those locations, if they aren't already?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, the area remains restricted and difficult to access. All of the roads have been wiped out, telecommunications infrastructure, has gone down, even power to the region is not working. So it makes it very difficult for the Australian officials to get close to the region. We offered to the Nepalese government, support in terms of rescue and recovery personnel. They thanked us for that, but said they didn't require those personnel to come from Australia, given that there were 20,000, locally trained experts who are working in that region, to try and locate the Australians and other foreigners, that are missing. What Nepal requested, was the materials that Australia has sent, on the C-17, that's on its way to Kathmandu at the moment, and that's those solar lights, so they can continue to search overnight, because there's no power in the region. The hygiene kits because of the issues associated with it being summer, and the challenges that that brings to keeping things fresh, and ensuring that people could access food and water, in this difficult environment whilst they're searching. So, that's what's requested, and that's what we’ve sent.
Journalist: Just on housing prices, earlier today you said the slowdown from these policies in the budget were part of a suite of reasons driving down house prices. Does the government still stand by Treasury forecasts that those budget measures will reduce house price growth by 2%?
Assistant Minister: There's no one factor that is contributing to the softening of the housing market. There are a number of issues, particularly the increases in interest rates, and the uncertainty about where the RBA will move next with interest rates. Obviously, the conflict in the Middle East with the effect that that's having on people's cost of living is a huge factor, as, well, we're confident that the Treasury modelling will be verified over the longer term. It's only a couple of months, since the Budget was released. The Treasury modelling is over the forward estimates over the next one to two years. So, it's too early to tell the effect of some of the changes. But we're confident that we’re doing the right thing by the Australian people because for too long housing has been beyond the reach of many young Australians they’ve been locked out of the housing market. Having to compete with investors, when they go to buy their first home to live in. Our tax changes have changed the environment so that first home buyers are no longer competing with investors on existing properties. That's giving them the opportunity to buy a roof over their head and some security for their families, and that's a policy that we're happy to stand by.
Journalist: Just on housing one of WA’s biggest builders [unintelligible] around visa delays [unintelligible] is the government doing enough to get skilled immigrants into the country [unintelligible]
Assistant Minister: We appreciate that we have skilled shortages in a number of industries, including the housing industry. And that's why we are making sure that we've got a migration system that provides the skills that employers need. That does that in a balanced way and any application for a visa to come to Australia goes through a rigorous health check, and character, and criminal record check. You know, we need to make sure that all of those applications stack up and go through those proper processes before a visa can be approved. But we are approving skilled visas for people to come and work in Australia, particularly in rural and regional areas where the problem is more acute. It's about getting the balance right and ensuring that we've got a migration system that delivers the skills Australians need, and continues to ensure that our economy grows sustainably in the future.
Journalist: Some of those workers say they've been waiting up to 14 months for that approval is that too long?
Assistant Minister: Well, there's a high demand for people to apply for visas to come to Australia, and the way that the department processes them is in the order in which they are received, and that involves some back and forth between the applicant and the department to provide the correct information, like a skills accreditation, an English language assessment, which can slow down a visa application. But we make sure that we go through all the proper checks, that all of the requirements for the particular visa are met before a visa is approved. And it's about ensuring that we have the balance, right, getting the skills that Australia needs into the future, but also ensuring that we've got net overseas migration at a sustainable level that ensures that our economy can grow and that Australians continue to provide good living standards.
Journalist: Just ask you about the death of WA man in Bali, Paul Dougan. Has there been any update as to the DFAT’s involvement with that investigation?
Assistant Minister: We'll continue to work with his family and with the official, the Indonesian officials. Obviously, we can't comment for privacy of the family, but our consular staff on the ground, do an excellent job in working with the affected family, with the staff and officials from the Indonesian government. And we'll do everything we can to support that family in this difficult time.
Journalist: Just on the case of Carolina Restrepo and her 12-year-old son, Aidan. They’ve lived in Australia for around a decade. They’re now facing deportation after her husband died, they were on his visa. Is there any update you can provide on that case?
Assistant Minister: Look, we can't go into individual circumstances out of respect for the individuals and their privacy. But I can say that we are aware of that case. It's under active consideration by the minister and a decision will be made very soon.
Journalist: Just to circle back sorry to skilled migration. You mentioned, you know, the department is working as quick as they can, but there are still delays. Is the department well enough equipped to handle the volume of these applications, for such an important industry?
Assistant Minister: Yeah the Home Affairs Department are some of the most skilled and qualified Australians working in the public sector, and they do a fantastic job. And I think that that's evident in the fact that Australia's prosperity was built on the contribution of migrants, and we’ve had a very ordered and sustainable migration system over the years because of the great work of those officials. But at the end of the day, they need to make sure that the requirements of the visa are met before it can be approved, and we get a lot of applications for visas that are incomplete. where someone doesn't provide their English language certificate. They don't provide their skills accreditation. They might not have provided their health check. And those officials will go back to the applicant, and make sure that all that information is supplied, before the visa can be approved, and that slows down many visa applications. But we work through them as quickly as we possibly can, ensuring that the checks are made, and then the visa is approved.
Journalist: Do you know how many skilled migrant visa applications are currently being processed?
Assistant Minster: Well, we process them in accordance with the law and in accordance with the ministerial directions. We have a permanent migration program of 185,000 migrants, per year to Australia, about 130 of those, are skilled migration applications. And we generally meet those numbers each year. We certainly have over the course of the last couple of years. So we process them in the order in which they are received, according to the law and according to the ministerial directions.