Luke Grant, Host: Let's get the latest from the Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite, who's on the line. Morning, Minister. Thanks again for your time.
Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Good morning, Luke.
Grant: What can you tell me about the numbers of missing Australians? Are they still where they were yesterday?
Assistant Minister: Unfortunately, the number has risen to 42 today, based on the advice from the Nepalese Tourism Board and our officials on the ground. We haven't given up hope. Our officials are working around the clock to try and locate those missing Australians and hopefully return them home safely to their families. As you mentioned, Cara Severino was located by the Australian Embassy staff. She's now safely back in the Australian Embassy in Kathmandu and we've sent additional staff to the region. Luke, we've now got 12 critical response team officials and rapid response team consular officers, an AFP officer and regional security officers in the region doing everything they can to try and locate those missing Australians.
Grant: Yeah, that's, that's great. And the magnitude of getting to Cara Severino and getting her back to Kathmandu. I spoke to a couple of reporters yesterday who'd moved from Kathmandu. That was at least an hour and a half away where they were, and they really weren't at ground zero, if we can call it that. So, even finding Cara, having Embassy staff do that, I mean, it might sound to, you know, those that aren't paying attention, a simple thing to do, but it's simply not the environment there. It must be so difficult for every Australian trying to help?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, that's right, Luke. I mean, it's a remarkable, remarkable piece of work from our Australian Embassy staff there. The communications to the area are affected, the roads are all blocked. Cara basically had to hike out to the dangerous region and get to the closest road network before she was picked up by the Australian Embassy staff. So, it's one of the, unfortunately few good news stories from this terrible tragedy. But we once again thank those professionally trained and very well qualified Australian critical response team members who were able to work with Cara and her family to locate her and bring her to safety.
Grant: You've spent time with family members and others of some of the missing Australians and to provide support, and I congratulate you on that. That's exactly what we, I think, expect from people in your position. No doubt you'll be doing more of that because it's just tragic. But the longer the time goes, the more grim it looks. I mean, that's just the reality, sadly, isn't it?
Assistant Minister: Yeah, that unfortunately is the reality. The latest figures indicate that a total of 6,633 people have been rescued, including 261 foreigners, which is a remarkable effort and we haven't given up hope, given that those figures rise every day. Yesterday it was 121 foreigners had been rescued. So, it's more than than doubled in the course of 24 hours. A lot of that is to do with the fact that a lot of the telecommunications infrastructure was down. And when these rescue teams actually got into the region, they started finding people, which was fantastic. But as you say, the longer it goes on, the more difficult it becomes. And that's why we're doing everything we can. We're working around the clock. I'll do further consultations with both the Nepalese and Tibetan communities tomorrow to provide them with the latest updates. And we're thinking of them at this difficult time.
Grant: Yeah, absolutely. Good on you. Really appreciate your time. Thanks so much, Minister.
Assistant Minister: My pleasure, Luke.