To assist and protect, where necessary, the interests of Australians overseas in accordance with international law.
The Department, acting in accordance with the international legal framework of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and following policies and practices laid down over time by successive Governments, seeks to assist and protect Australians who encounter difficulty overseas.
This service is provided by the Consular and Passports Branch in Canberra; the Department’s offices in all State and Territory capitals; by overseas missions managed by the Department, the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, and by Austrade; and at consulates headed by honorary consuls.
The public is given guidance on some of the potential hazards of overseas travel in the widely distributed publication, Hints for Australian Travellers, and through appropriate travel advices on specific countries given to travel agencies and released through the news media. Relevant officers in overseas missions are trained to provide efficient consular services. The role of these officers is supplemented by a network of honorary consuls. The adequacy of this service is judged by the public, and through the volume and nature of representations made to the Department.
During the year honorary consuls were appointed in Bucharest (Romania), Chicago (USA) and Prague (Czech Republic). Australia now has 20 consulates abroad headed by honorary consuls.
The most visible feature of consular work is the provision of welfare support to Australian citizens who encounter practical, including financial, difficulties when they are overseas. In 1993-94, 771 loans for a total of $83 895 were issued. Consular officials provide advice and assistance to Australians who are hospitalised overseas, and those who require medical evacuation. Advice and assistance is also given to the families of those Australians whose whereabouts are unknown, or who die overseas. Some of these cases attract news media publicity-the abduction and murder of Ms Kellie Wilkinson in Cambodia was one such instance.
Public and news media attention also focuses on the wellbeing of Australians held in overseas gaols and the consular support they receive. The circumstances of the 27 Australian men and women in detention in Thailand attracted the greatest interest, although the case of Mr James (Jian Dong) Peng, held without charge for an extended period in China also aroused wide news media interest both in Australia and overseas. In addition to the usual consular support, efforts were made at the highest levels of the Australian Government to ensure that the provisions of Chinese law were being observed in Mr Peng’s case.
In November 1993, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General agreed in principle that Australia could enter into bilateral and multilateral prisoner transfer agreements. The first bilateral agreement is expected to be with Thailand which has more Australian prisoners than any other overseas country.
A limited system of means-tested loans was approved and will be introduced in 1994-95 to assist Australians in overseas prisons where basic health and welfare necessities are not provided.
Neither the Department nor its overseas posts have the power to override the obligation of Australian travellers to abide by the laws of the country in which they happen to be. Australians who wish to pursue legal action overseas are advised to follow the same course that they would in Australia-that is, to seek to engage a suitably qualified local legal adviser. In cases of special hardship or apparent discrimination, consular representations might be made, but the scope for obtaining redress of the kind available under Australian law is often very limited.
The Department again found it necessary to activate its Consular Crisis Centre which enables relatives to register their concern for Australian travellers who might be in a particular disaster area. The centre attended to 3000 calls on the first day (17 January 1994) of the Los Angeles earthquake, with more than 6000 calls being handled over the three days before relatively normal communications were restored. The Department continues to encourage Australians travelling overseas, and staying in one location for an extended period, to register with the nearest Australian mission. Registration enables consular officials to contact relatives quickly should any harm befall the traveller.
Some 150 officers from the Department, overseas posts, Austrade and the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs attended consular training courses in Canberra. Six courses were held, each lasting one week.
In the financial year the Minister received 153 letters concerning consular matters. Most of these were from Members of Parliament seeking information about cases. Only 14 were letters of complaint about the standard of service provided. All complaints are fully investigated by the Department.
All Gulf War-related compensation claims received by the Department were submitted to the UN Compensation Commission prior to the three separate deadlines it had set. Claims received after the deadlines had passed were also submitted to the commission for its consideration and were subsequently accepted. One Australian citizen who submitted a compensation claim for serious personal injury had already received compensation.
Achievement of the sub-program’s objectives was assessed on the basis of public responses, and through the volume and nature of representations made to the Department.