MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
STATEMENT BY BRUCE DAVIS, DIRECTOR GENERAL
It is with great sadness that I advise that the Australian Federal Police have confirmed Allison Sudradjat, AusAID's Minister Counsellor in Indonesia, as one of the Australians who died on Garuda Flight 200 in Yogyakarta on Wednesday, 7 March 2007.
Allison will be returned to Canberra for burial. I will accompany her family from Jakarta.
Allison was one of our most capable and dedicated officers. During her 18 years with AusAID, her intellectual and practical approach to the challenges of development was truly extraordinary. Allison led Australia's humanitarian response to some of the region's worst disasters in recent years. She was also a bold, passionate advocate for attacking poverty at its roots, working for better schools, better health and better government.
Allison had an extraordinary impact on her colleagues both in Canberra and at the two Australian missions in Indonesia and PNG where she had spent a total of 10 years working to improve the lives of people in those two countries. She was an inspirational leader and people looked to her with great respect, admiration and fondness. We will miss her enormously.
Our loss, however, pales when compared to her family's.
In her family's own words, Allison is dearly loved and missed by her husband, Ris, her children, Jamila, Imran, Zaini and Yasmin, her parents, brother, sister and extended family. Her family has suffered an unbearable loss. Allison was a wonderful daughter, a wonderful sister, a wonderful wife, a wonderful mother. Her family is proud that she spent her life and ultimately gave her life in service to humanity.
Media enquiries: AusAID Public Affairs 0417 680 590