SIMON BIRMINGHAM: Australians who ignored calls to leave Lebanon sooner should be made to pony up

Who ya gonna call? No, not Ghostbusters, but the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade consular helpline.

For Australians in trouble overseas, that’s the question and answer that rightly plays out for those in genuine strife.

However, where are the limits on the help available? And where does personal responsibility kick in?

Right now, once again, Australia’s diplomats are engaged in a major exercise repatriating Australians from a conflict or war zone.

Helping Australians leave Lebanon sounds perfectly reasonable. Except, those on the flights that landed back in Australia in recent days chose to ignore longstanding warnings to not be there.

Long ago, back on 19 October 2023, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said: “if you are an Australian in Lebanon, you should consider leaving now.”

Since then, her language has only hardened. “Don’t go” and “leave” have rightly been the constant advice based on the best intelligence of our security agencies.

On other issues to do with the Middle East, Labor’s shifting sands positions have trashed much of what used to be a large degree of bipartisanship. But on travel advice for Lebanon, we have been as one.

From the humble position of Opposition we repeated and amplified the Government’s message to not go to Lebanon, and to leave if you’re there.

“Get out, while you still can,” I said.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, Australian officials from the Prime Minister down repeated and publicised these urgings.

But around 15,000 Australians ignored this advice.

Many are dual citizens. Some have homes, families, jobs or lives in Lebanon. No doubt many love Lebanon like they love Australia.

I respect the free choice of those who choose to stay, as long as they are willing to accept responsibility for their choice.

For too many, they ignored all warnings. But when the missiles started exploding, they were on the phone to DFAT calling for the Australian Government to get them out.

Seriously, despite all the warnings people waited until conflict started, until airlines started cancelling flights and until there was a risk that they couldn’t get out. Then they wanted to leave.

Fortunately for them, Australia has been in this position before. We have evacuated from Lebanon before, as we have from other trouble spots like Afghanistan and Syria, in addition to other natural or medical disasters.

The hardworking consular crisis teams in DFAT swing into action, open the emergency hotline and enact the contingency plans they’ve developed.

On this occasion, Qantas and Qatar Airways both stepped up to provide flights, free of charge, from a hub in Cyprus back to Australia.

This is good, generous corporate citizenship. But for the Albanese Government to extend free seats to all those who choose to take them up sends the wrong signal.

What’s the lesson out of this crisis? Ignore the warnings, wait long enough and not only will the Australian Government help you to get home, but you may even get home for free.

It’s time we got tougher with those who expect the Government to bail them out of trouble, when they could or should have done so themselves.

If we want people to take warnings more seriously in future, they should know that ignoring them carries financial consequences.

Where it’s possible to help people out of trouble without unduly endangering the lives of Australian officials, defence personnel or airline employees, then we should. Even when they’ve been downright neglectful themselves.

But rather than being rewarded with a free ride out of the trouble they chose to stay in, those who could have afforded a commercial flight home should still be paying their own way, including some of the additional costs that come with running such an exceptional operation.

Responsible taxpayers should not be subsidising the evacuation of those who willingly choose to expose themselves to danger. Nor should we expect Qantas shareholders (often the superannuation savings of Australians) to do so.

Every day of every year DFAT consular staff help Australians deal with the most difficult or tragic of circumstances. People die overseas, get sick or face difficulties through no fault of their own. A rare few face horrific instances of arbitrary detention by governments like those in China, Iran or Myanmar.

Then there are those much less worthy, where consular staff are also confronted with many Australians who are just bloody idiots. People who break local laws, flout local customs, ignore travel warnings and get themselves into hot water.

All of these people, worthy and not so worthy, are downright fortunate to be Australians, where our governments do what they can to help.

Yet they need to know that Australia cannot change local laws, or protect them from local dangers. And where their stupidity or free choice has got them into trouble, they should know that there’s no free ride home either.

Simon Birmingham is the shadow foreign affairs minister