PHUKET: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop launched a new strategy for Australia's consular officials today, warning Australian travellers and expat residents to stop expecting the government to bail them out if they get into trouble.
The expectations of globe-tripping Aussie taxpayers are being lowered as the government began a spin session designed to ease the load on the staff at its embassies around the world.
It's certainly true that Aussies in trouble on Phuket with jet-ski scammers, property crooks and motorcycle crashes immediately think that their government, for which their taxes provide revenue, might step in to assist.
They would be seriously mistaken.
On the holiday island, popular with Australian tourists, resident honorary consul Larry Cunningham helped out where he could for years until his retirement in September, 2013.
His replacement remains unconfirmed. Australian tourists in trouble over the past 15 months have been obliged to turn to Region 8 police volunteer Wal Brown in Patong or even, on occasions, to make a telephone call to Phuketwan.
Fly-in consular help does appear occasionally in extreme cases, but for the Australian Government to not have anyone on Phuket available to help Australian tourists for 15 months makes a mockery of the spin from Canberra today.
Overseas envoys are being overworked by idle complaints from Australians who don't understand the system? Not on Phuket.
The need is real here and not being met.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the department's acting secretary, Justin Smith, said there were ''escalating expectations'' from the travelling public over what they thought the government could or would do.
''Sometimes there's a basic ignorance about what consular is and isn't,'' he said.
''Often we're guilty of it as well, we talk about consular assistance and just assume people know what that means but they don't.''
The Bangkok embassy - recently the subject of a myth-building reality television series in Australia - deals with the most requests for assistance, followed by Bali, Manila, Los Angeles and Dubai.
Bali has a fully staffed consulate-general in operation. Phuket, the second most popular island destination for Australians in Southeast Asia, only has police volunteer Wal Brown.
On Phuket, Australians continue to be left to their own means most of the time. The spin coming out of Canberra isn't true - and if it's not true on Phuket, then there are probably other locations in the world where travellers are on their own.
To justify the claim that consuls are overworked, the department listed 20 cases of extreme requests, following the theory that if you can make them laugh, they might believe you.
Twenty weird requests of DFAT:
.. A traveller who was destitute in Europe refused to return to Australia without their pet bird, which could not be returned for quarantine reasons
.. A mother who wanted the embassy in Bangkok to book accommodation and a return ticket to Australia for her son, then provide an embassy driver to take him to the airport
.. A request from an Australian traveller for DFAT to feed her dogs while she was away
.. ''I'm attending a conference overseas with a large group of Australians but I have heard it is a dangerous city. Can the High Commission arrange for a risk assessment and some armored cars. We only need them for a week.''
.. Multiple enquiries to embassies overseas as to the closest pub televising State of Origin games
.. An Australian who had his laptop stolen overseas requested that embassy staff pick him up from the airport, loan him a laptop and provide him with office space for a few days
.. A traveller who asked whether the sand in Egypt would affect her asthma
.. Panicked callers regularly reporting Australian travellers missing overseas, after not hearing from them within the first few hours of arriving in country. Consular officers usually explain that getting through customs and immigration can take time
.. ''Why won't the Australian embassy come and pack my bags for me? I'm an 80 year old architect travelling by myself and too old to pack my own bags''
.. ''I left some items on an aircraft when I changed flights. Can the embassy collect it from the airline lost property?''
.. ''Can the embassy obtain prescription medicine from Australia and send it to me so I can continue my holiday?''
.. Requests for embassies to store luggage, hold mail, provide banking facilities or arrange tours for Australian travellers
.. ''What is the best way to get a pole cat our of your roof?''
.. ''I'm going on a cruise. What will the food be like? Can you drink the water on the ship?''
.. Some travellers evacuated from civil unrest in Egypt on government funded flights questioned why they were not entitled to frequent flyer points. Similarly, some travellers evacuated from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami made seat requests, including for first class
.. A caller to DFAT's Consular Emergency Centre wanted to know the average salary for an expat to expect in Thailand
.. ''Does the embassy know if there are any hotels in Phnom Penh with vacant rooms?''
.. ''Can the embassy tell the local police that I have an excellent driving record in Australia and should not have to pay those outstanding speeding fines?''
.. ''What is the best hotel in Phuket?''
.. ''On my last trip to the Philippines I had some trouble with the law. What is the number of the embassy in Manila so I can call them to get me out of jail when I go back?''
Declaration of Interest: In July next year, Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian face a continuing trial over criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy, citing a 41-word paragraph from a Pulitzer prize-winning Reuters special report on the Rohingya boatpeople. Reuters and other news organisations in Thailand that published the same paragraph have not been charged.
Morison, an Australian, has asked the Australian government to apply for return of his seized passport, so he can return home to visit his 91-year-old father. Earlier this year, the British government asked for and achieved the return of the passport of Briton Andy Hall, who is facing similar charges. The Australian government declines to follow the British precedent.
The expectations of globe-tripping Aussie taxpayers are being lowered as the government began a spin session designed to ease the load on the staff at its embassies around the world.
It's certainly true that Aussies in trouble on Phuket with jet-ski scammers, property crooks and motorcycle crashes immediately think that their government, for which their taxes provide revenue, might step in to assist.
They would be seriously mistaken.
On the holiday island, popular with Australian tourists, resident honorary consul Larry Cunningham helped out where he could for years until his retirement in September, 2013.
His replacement remains unconfirmed. Australian tourists in trouble over the past 15 months have been obliged to turn to Region 8 police volunteer Wal Brown in Patong or even, on occasions, to make a telephone call to Phuketwan.
Fly-in consular help does appear occasionally in extreme cases, but for the Australian Government to not have anyone on Phuket available to help Australian tourists for 15 months makes a mockery of the spin from Canberra today.
Overseas envoys are being overworked by idle complaints from Australians who don't understand the system? Not on Phuket.
The need is real here and not being met.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the department's acting secretary, Justin Smith, said there were ''escalating expectations'' from the travelling public over what they thought the government could or would do.
''Sometimes there's a basic ignorance about what consular is and isn't,'' he said.
''Often we're guilty of it as well, we talk about consular assistance and just assume people know what that means but they don't.''
The Bangkok embassy - recently the subject of a myth-building reality television series in Australia - deals with the most requests for assistance, followed by Bali, Manila, Los Angeles and Dubai.
Bali has a fully staffed consulate-general in operation. Phuket, the second most popular island destination for Australians in Southeast Asia, only has police volunteer Wal Brown.
On Phuket, Australians continue to be left to their own means most of the time. The spin coming out of Canberra isn't true - and if it's not true on Phuket, then there are probably other locations in the world where travellers are on their own.
To justify the claim that consuls are overworked, the department listed 20 cases of extreme requests, following the theory that if you can make them laugh, they might believe you.
Twenty weird requests of DFAT:
.. A traveller who was destitute in Europe refused to return to Australia without their pet bird, which could not be returned for quarantine reasons
.. A mother who wanted the embassy in Bangkok to book accommodation and a return ticket to Australia for her son, then provide an embassy driver to take him to the airport
.. A request from an Australian traveller for DFAT to feed her dogs while she was away
.. ''I'm attending a conference overseas with a large group of Australians but I have heard it is a dangerous city. Can the High Commission arrange for a risk assessment and some armored cars. We only need them for a week.''
.. Multiple enquiries to embassies overseas as to the closest pub televising State of Origin games
.. An Australian who had his laptop stolen overseas requested that embassy staff pick him up from the airport, loan him a laptop and provide him with office space for a few days
.. A traveller who asked whether the sand in Egypt would affect her asthma
.. Panicked callers regularly reporting Australian travellers missing overseas, after not hearing from them within the first few hours of arriving in country. Consular officers usually explain that getting through customs and immigration can take time
.. ''Why won't the Australian embassy come and pack my bags for me? I'm an 80 year old architect travelling by myself and too old to pack my own bags''
.. ''I left some items on an aircraft when I changed flights. Can the embassy collect it from the airline lost property?''
.. ''Can the embassy obtain prescription medicine from Australia and send it to me so I can continue my holiday?''
.. Requests for embassies to store luggage, hold mail, provide banking facilities or arrange tours for Australian travellers
.. ''What is the best way to get a pole cat our of your roof?''
.. ''I'm going on a cruise. What will the food be like? Can you drink the water on the ship?''
.. Some travellers evacuated from civil unrest in Egypt on government funded flights questioned why they were not entitled to frequent flyer points. Similarly, some travellers evacuated from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami made seat requests, including for first class
.. A caller to DFAT's Consular Emergency Centre wanted to know the average salary for an expat to expect in Thailand
.. ''Does the embassy know if there are any hotels in Phnom Penh with vacant rooms?''
.. ''Can the embassy tell the local police that I have an excellent driving record in Australia and should not have to pay those outstanding speeding fines?''
.. ''What is the best hotel in Phuket?''
.. ''On my last trip to the Philippines I had some trouble with the law. What is the number of the embassy in Manila so I can call them to get me out of jail when I go back?''
Declaration of Interest: In July next year, Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian face a continuing trial over criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy, citing a 41-word paragraph from a Pulitzer prize-winning Reuters special report on the Rohingya boatpeople. Reuters and other news organisations in Thailand that published the same paragraph have not been charged.
Morison, an Australian, has asked the Australian government to apply for return of his seized passport, so he can return home to visit his 91-year-old father. Earlier this year, the British government asked for and achieved the return of the passport of Briton Andy Hall, who is facing similar charges. The Australian government declines to follow the British precedent.
Aussies do not have to worry because French are getting a much more colder welcome for any help when contacting French consulates around the world.
Posted by Whistle-Blower on December 3, 2014 10:48