Doorstop - Parliament House

Minister Seselja: To give you a brief update on the situation in Tonga and the ongoing efforts to support the people of Tonga. Before I do, just a brief note on the Solomon Islands. So, the Solomon Islands are experiencing a COVID outbreak at the moment. So, yesterday in response to Solomon Islands Government requests, I wrote to the health minister in the Solomon Islands offering to deploy Australian equipment to assist so that includes 100 oxygen concentrators, eleven COVID country kits, including PPE and medical supplies. Now these will be delivered on two flights, the first of which will be tomorrow and the second on 25 January. In addition, we're seeking to procure, to also send replacement forklift and new incinerator for the National Medical Stores, new gen expert machine and associated testing equipment, mobile cool room for the National Hospital and back up incinerator for waste management at the National Hospital.

Now, this obviously comes on the back of 263,000 doses of vaccines that we've delivered to the Solomon Islands and a number of other areas of support for their health system. So, we obviously wish them well and will provide all sorts of support at this difficult time, so that they can contain that COVID outbreak.

Now, when it comes to the situation in Tonga, I had the opportunity to speak to the High Commissioner Rachael Moore this morning and receive an update. I just want to take the opportunity to thank her and all the staff at the High Commission in Tonga who are doing an extraordinary job in very very difficult circumstances, and really everyone in Tonga has been affected by this disaster and that includes our hard-working staff. So, I wanted to do on behalf of the Australian Government thank her and all of the personnel for that work.

The situation on the ground is obviously still fluid, but a number of important points to make this morning. One is that we've seen C-17 and C-130 flights, humanitarian flights arriving with Australian support for the people of Tonga arriving last night. So that makes three, the number of humanitarian flights that have arrived. Of course, those flights have food and water, they have telecommunications equipment, which is very very important for getting back online and being able to communicate with the world at large. Clean up equipment, medical supplies like PPE, that is very very important and we are, the feedback we are getting and the feedback I got from the High Commissioner today is that the Tongan Government are doing an extraordinary job on the ground and the Defence Force and others doing an extraordinary job in the clean-up and the coordination. Food supplies remain strong, so food is available to be purchased, we are also seeing the deployment of pre-positioned humanitarian supplies that have been in Tonga for these very type of emergencies.

So that type of planning, that type of work that's been done over many many years, obviously has stood the people of Tonga in good stead, and we've been very pleased as part of our aid effort to have those supplies ready to go as these other supplies have been landing. It's not just Australian flights, there is a New Zealand flight today, we have Japanese flights coming to Australia with support, there are, there is a US ship and a UK ship which are on their way, and of course HMAS Adelaide has deployed. HMAS Adelaide offers quite substantial capacity, it has helicopters on board, it has engineers on board, it has a 40-bed hospital, it has generator capacity for electricity, for purification of water. This is a major asset that will be there and will arrive in the next few days. It takes about 5 days to arrive so we anticipate it will be arriving around about Australia Day or just before depending on the weather conditions.

There is a lot of support we are co-ordinating out of JOC [Joint Operations Command] just over the border– just nearby here in the Canberra region, with other countries, other likeminded countries who are providing a lot of support and of course Australia is playing a key leadership role along in particular I think with New Zealand, along with other partners such as France and the United States and the UK as well as our Pacific partners, such as Fiji and PNG, but also Japan as I mentioned who are sending support and many other countries in the region are pledging support.

So, obviously it's a very very difficult time for the people of Tonga and the feedback again I got today is many people displaced. Obviously, families and communities are coming together with that, but more equipment is going to needed. The other feedback from the Tongan Government would be that the support needs to be paced, we need to make sure that the airport and other areas are not overwhelmed with the level of support that is coming. But of course, we will continue to send supplies as they are needed and you know obviously there are many Tongans, many Australians of Tongan decent who are particularly concerned about their loved ones, we are doing all we can to re-establish those communication lines so they can be in touch and again the High Commission has been doing a great job in tracking people down and creating links.

Just to reiterate in terms of casualties there is no update in terms of the three deaths that have been confirmed. That is I guess good news, that we haven't seen mass casualties, but we certainly have seen significant property destruction as a result of what is a significant natural disaster. I'm happy to take your questions.

Journalist: Minister just obviously on the Tongan situation, you said you've spoken to the High Commissioner on the ground. Updates on Australians in Tonga who beyond the DFAT capacity, beyond the DFAT staffing, are you aware of any concerns regarding those Australians they have been able to locate? And the ongoing telecommunications issue, specifically in regards to the damage of the undersea cables run, can you provide an update on where that is at and how long it is expected the communications to be out of order for?

Minister Seselja: Yeah, so a couple of things. In terms of Australians, Australians as far as we are aware are all safe, we are not aware of any ongoing concerns about the safety of Australians. So that is obviously good news and again the High Commission staff are doing a great job there. When it comes to telecommunications and the undersea cable, in the short term it will be satellite communications that will be key. So, we will be working hard to deliver additional equipment so that people can utilise those additional satellite resources. The undersea cable will take a little bit longer, it will take at least probably a couple of weeks before there is a possibility that that can be fixed.

So, obviously there are great challenges, and we are very mindful of the Tongan Government's strict requirements for people to not be able to come into the country without a significant period of quarantine. Three weeks is the current quarantine arrangement, we respect absolutely the desire of the Tongan Government not to add a COVID crisis to a humanitarian crisis, caused by a tsunami. So, we're working very carefully to make sure but obviously that provides constraints, for instance in the ability to provide personnel who might be able to help, but in my discussions with the High Commissioner today, I understand that that capacity is there in Tonga largely and they should be able to work to recover and repair that cable but obviously time will tell. But obviously there is that frustration of not being able to bring personnel and other equipment as easy into the country.

Journalist: I was going to ask you about the Tongan COVID situation, because they obviously have their restrictions and their 21-day isolation period. How difficult does that make it to get things like aid and facilitate aid into the country?

Minister Seselja: We are able to work with those requirements so what has been happening on the ground is effectively a contactless delivery. So pallets and the like have been delivered at the airport and there is actually a requirement from the Tongan Government that those, that equipment not be moved for 72 hours. So, that's the additional sort of safeguard but aside from I think the feedback that I got, that you know individuals in full protective gear – we're are not talking mask, we are talking the full complete protective gear - that there might be some contact or discussions in that regard. Apart from that, there is no contact at all between the personnel, the Australian personnel who are delivering and of course New Zealand and others who are delivering, and Tongans on the ground. So, those protocols are very very strict and obviously we absolutely follow all of the procedures that we have been asked to follow by the Tongan Government.

Journalist: How concerned is the Government that China could potentially step in here and provide even more support than Australia, as a way of increasing its security status in the Pacific?

Minister Seselja: Well look I don't think that sort of a likely scenario at all, I think we welcome offers of support from anyone including the Chinese Government, but I think if you look at the situation on the ground, if you look at I guess the work that we have done of many many years to be well positioned to provide this kind of support, I think Australia and New Zealand will continue to take a lead and a significant role, but to the extent that other countries would want to offer additional support of course we welcome that because we want to see the people of Tonga in a very difficult time supported, that is happening. That is happening across the board and Australia is playing a really key role in that.

Journalist: On China, to what extent was that $580 million yesterday for PNG ports to counter Chinese investment in the region. We know that, we've seen some port investment from China, I think it was Vanuatu where the idea got floated a few years back. Is this something that we've been keeping a close eye on? And that's why the funds for port?

Minister Seselja: Well look, the $580 million investment in ports in PNG is very important, and I was in PNG last year and I visited a port in PNG and saw some of that infrastructure and saw some of the work that Australia was already doing to support that port's infrastructure. If you've been to PNG you understand that the road links are very difficult. Ports become absolutely critical, as they are anywhere, but perhaps more important in places like PNG because of the isolation and because of the lack of road access in certain areas. So, we certainly see it as very important for PNG. We of course think it's important for the stability and security of the region, that we see these kinds of investments in PNG and will continue to support these types of investments whether it's in ports in PNG, whether it's in hydro power or solar power in places like the Solomon Islands and in PNG and in the region. We are going to continue to invest, port investments are a big part of that.

Journalist: With the Solomon Island outbreak as well, how many Australians are still on the ground in the Solomon Islands? And have we, that COVID outbreak have we contributed to that at all? How did COVID get in the country essentially?

Minister Seselja: No. I have no indication of that whatsoever to that extent. But in terms of those exact numbers, I'm sorry I just don't have those exact numbers. Obviously, we had an initially deployment that was scaled down somewhat before Christmas, but I would have to get back to you on exact numbers right now.

Journalist: Just last thing, so the COVID situation in Tonga, there was a positive case on one the C-17 flights, at least they were able to offload all of that humanitarian aid and what's the kind of risk associated with that positive case to Tonga?

Minister Seselja: Yeah, look obviously that situation I think just goes to the fact that we have very strict protocols in place to make sure that there are a number of layers of protection. Whether that is vaccinations, whether it's testing or indeed making decisions to make sure, that if there is any risk, that flights do not land. So yes my understanding is that all of those supplies have been able to be delivered on subsequent flights, and it's really important we continue to do that. But we take those COVID protocols very very seriously. We obviously respect the fact that Tonga has been very successful in managing COVID and we certainly will do all we can, in delivering humanitarian aid and we are committed to that in making sure we will continue to protect the people of Tonga from COVID.

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