Ms LAWRIE - 2002-10-15
Could the Chief Minister please bring the House and Territorians up to date with the latest on the Territory’s response to the tragic bombings in Bali, and any subsequent security measures in the Territory?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is an important question. I gave a reasonably detailed report on the tragic events of the last 48 hours this morning, but there is an update and it is very important that this is shared with this House and Territorians.
There are 20 Australians now confirmed dead in the aftermath of the bombing in Bali although the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade expect that to rise over the next few days. Still unaccounted for are a further 160 Australians in Bali, and we know at this stage that well over 100 Australians have been injured. This is a very significant tragedy for Australians both in terms of the injured and the loss of life.
We know how effectively our hospital has worked to deal with 61 victims of the Bali bombings. I have just returned from visiting staff at the hospital. I said to them, on behalf of this parliament and Territorians, that we are enormously proud of the job they have done. They have worked unstintingly over the last 48 hours and have shown enormous professionalism, medical expertise and dedication. Talking to staff, who have been working so hard, who have dealt with horrific injuries that they have never had to deal with on that scale before, you could see the exhaustion on their faces. Tears very quickly came to the eyes of many with whom I spoke.
The impact of what they have dealt with over the last 48 hours will stay with them for some considerable time. If you listen to the professional advice about how this compares, the number of critically injured people who came into our hospital in such a short timeframe - for example, the first flight brought in 14 critically injured people, and they came through the doors of Accident and Emergency in just 30 minutes. It is assessed that probably no other hospital would have to deal with that kind of number, followed by further arrivals at two hour intervals, nobody else would have had to have dealt with that kind of pressure, that kind of intensity. Yet our hospital staff - and that is from those who worked on the switchboard to those in administration, those who were there as part of teams of up to nine people around each injured person - they did the most extraordinary job.
Compliments are coming from around Australia, compliments are coming from those who watched how they worked, that this was an incredibly expert response, and one that I am sure saved lives here in the Territory. There is no doubt, from when I talked to some of the staff, the things that are going to stay with them are that smell of burning flesh - you can appreciate how devastating an impact that would have - and people who were so horribly injured that they weren’t even moaning, they were just so badly injured.
Some of them had been dressed inappropriately in terms of what had happened to their burns so they had to be given enough morphine to be able to cope with removing those dressings and wrapped in glad wrap. There are a lot of things that the staff at our hospital have had to deal with, and they have done so in the most professional and expert way. When I was there, the only thing I was left to say was: ‘We are enormously proud of you’, and I believe that we all are.
Our thanks as a parliament to all staff, to the volunteers who worked with Police and Emergency Services, to all the community organisations, to the defence forces, and also to our wider community which has also made a great contribution.
With many of the injured now moving to other states, to other hospitals, to other burns units or returning home, there are other issues that we now have to deal with, Madam Speaker.
Bali has very limited facilities in dealing with the number of dead from Saturday night’s bombing, and the Commonwealth is working in conjunction with the Balinese authorities to work out how the dead will be dealt with in terms of identification, where the bodies can be stored until that identification has been done. We, as a Territory, have offered to assist wherever we can. The issue of identification is particularly difficult because of the horrific nature of the impact of the bombings and the subsequent fires. We already have experts in the field of disaster victim identification on the ground in Bali. Offers of assistance have gone from the Territory and every other state, and our police are certainly ready to help wherever they can.
On another related incident of security, and this is one of key concern to Territorians now, we know that we have been on a heightened security alert since 11 September last year. October 12 will add another layer to that, but in terms of the risk that we currently have, it is described as CT Special Risk, Counter Terrorism Special Risk, and we have seen some of the results of that heightened security state at our airports and other facilities. If you put that together with what happened in the last 24 hours with the shooting of a public servant in Adelaide, I would like to inform the House of what the Territory government is doing in response to both of those events.
We are reviewing local security issues, particularly in response to the shooting in Adelaide. At my request, the CEO of my department, Paul Tyrrell, the Commissioner of Public Employment, John Kirwan, and Police Commissioner Paul White have met and discussed the matter of public sector-wide security standards. A small security task group has been established to review current security arrangements in public buildings. While we value the access of Territorians to government buildings in the Territory and don’t want to change that, we need to assess what the risk is. This small security task group will assess the risk to public sector facilities, offices and staff, consider measures in place in other jurisdictions, how we compare with those, identify and recommend any measures considered necessary to address the risks that have been assessed and, in relation to general security issues, Emergency Services in the Territory and the Police Commissioner are continually reviewing the security levels and risk assessment for the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I can tell members of this House that in terms of security, all measures are being assessed. In relation to the shooting of a senior public servant in Adelaide over the last 24 hours, we are reviewing public sector security and that small task force has been put together.
These are horrible things to have happened, Madam Speaker, but we are reviewing security and trying to find that important balance - not to be alarmist, but to make sure that Territorians can go about their jobs, Territorians can live in our community with confidence in the security that we have.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, this is an important question. I gave a reasonably detailed report on the tragic events of the last 48 hours this morning, but there is an update and it is very important that this is shared with this House and Territorians.
There are 20 Australians now confirmed dead in the aftermath of the bombing in Bali although the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade expect that to rise over the next few days. Still unaccounted for are a further 160 Australians in Bali, and we know at this stage that well over 100 Australians have been injured. This is a very significant tragedy for Australians both in terms of the injured and the loss of life.
We know how effectively our hospital has worked to deal with 61 victims of the Bali bombings. I have just returned from visiting staff at the hospital. I said to them, on behalf of this parliament and Territorians, that we are enormously proud of the job they have done. They have worked unstintingly over the last 48 hours and have shown enormous professionalism, medical expertise and dedication. Talking to staff, who have been working so hard, who have dealt with horrific injuries that they have never had to deal with on that scale before, you could see the exhaustion on their faces. Tears very quickly came to the eyes of many with whom I spoke.
The impact of what they have dealt with over the last 48 hours will stay with them for some considerable time. If you listen to the professional advice about how this compares, the number of critically injured people who came into our hospital in such a short timeframe - for example, the first flight brought in 14 critically injured people, and they came through the doors of Accident and Emergency in just 30 minutes. It is assessed that probably no other hospital would have to deal with that kind of number, followed by further arrivals at two hour intervals, nobody else would have had to have dealt with that kind of pressure, that kind of intensity. Yet our hospital staff - and that is from those who worked on the switchboard to those in administration, those who were there as part of teams of up to nine people around each injured person - they did the most extraordinary job.
Compliments are coming from around Australia, compliments are coming from those who watched how they worked, that this was an incredibly expert response, and one that I am sure saved lives here in the Territory. There is no doubt, from when I talked to some of the staff, the things that are going to stay with them are that smell of burning flesh - you can appreciate how devastating an impact that would have - and people who were so horribly injured that they weren’t even moaning, they were just so badly injured.
Some of them had been dressed inappropriately in terms of what had happened to their burns so they had to be given enough morphine to be able to cope with removing those dressings and wrapped in glad wrap. There are a lot of things that the staff at our hospital have had to deal with, and they have done so in the most professional and expert way. When I was there, the only thing I was left to say was: ‘We are enormously proud of you’, and I believe that we all are.
Our thanks as a parliament to all staff, to the volunteers who worked with Police and Emergency Services, to all the community organisations, to the defence forces, and also to our wider community which has also made a great contribution.
With many of the injured now moving to other states, to other hospitals, to other burns units or returning home, there are other issues that we now have to deal with, Madam Speaker.
Bali has very limited facilities in dealing with the number of dead from Saturday night’s bombing, and the Commonwealth is working in conjunction with the Balinese authorities to work out how the dead will be dealt with in terms of identification, where the bodies can be stored until that identification has been done. We, as a Territory, have offered to assist wherever we can. The issue of identification is particularly difficult because of the horrific nature of the impact of the bombings and the subsequent fires. We already have experts in the field of disaster victim identification on the ground in Bali. Offers of assistance have gone from the Territory and every other state, and our police are certainly ready to help wherever they can.
On another related incident of security, and this is one of key concern to Territorians now, we know that we have been on a heightened security alert since 11 September last year. October 12 will add another layer to that, but in terms of the risk that we currently have, it is described as CT Special Risk, Counter Terrorism Special Risk, and we have seen some of the results of that heightened security state at our airports and other facilities. If you put that together with what happened in the last 24 hours with the shooting of a public servant in Adelaide, I would like to inform the House of what the Territory government is doing in response to both of those events.
We are reviewing local security issues, particularly in response to the shooting in Adelaide. At my request, the CEO of my department, Paul Tyrrell, the Commissioner of Public Employment, John Kirwan, and Police Commissioner Paul White have met and discussed the matter of public sector-wide security standards. A small security task group has been established to review current security arrangements in public buildings. While we value the access of Territorians to government buildings in the Territory and don’t want to change that, we need to assess what the risk is. This small security task group will assess the risk to public sector facilities, offices and staff, consider measures in place in other jurisdictions, how we compare with those, identify and recommend any measures considered necessary to address the risks that have been assessed and, in relation to general security issues, Emergency Services in the Territory and the Police Commissioner are continually reviewing the security levels and risk assessment for the Territory.
Madam Speaker, I can tell members of this House that in terms of security, all measures are being assessed. In relation to the shooting of a senior public servant in Adelaide over the last 24 hours, we are reviewing public sector security and that small task force has been put together.
These are horrible things to have happened, Madam Speaker, but we are reviewing security and trying to find that important balance - not to be alarmist, but to make sure that Territorians can go about their jobs, Territorians can live in our community with confidence in the security that we have.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016