STATEMENTS

Senator SHARMA (New South Wales) (10:32): The devastating natural disaster that struck Nepal and parts of Tibet on 26 August has left a gaping hole in the hearts of many in Australia and of course many in the region. Lives have been lost, communities have been swept away and a nation has been left broken in many respects. I want to join with my colleagues in expressing my most sincere condolences to the people of Nepal and the people of Tibet for their terrible loss of life and most particularly to the Australian Nepalese community, who have lost many of their families and relatives in this terrible disaster.

This is a disaster in which over 1,300 people so far have been confirmed dead and some 5,000 people are still missing and unaccounted for, including 600 foreign nationals from many nations across the world, because Nepal is a country that has opened its hearts and beauty to so many foreigners who are intrepid and adventurous, including many Australians. Sadly, they have now found themselves in the eye of this disaster.

Thirty-six Australians still remain unaccounted for and, sadly, one death has been confirmed—that of a New South Wales resident. But I know that many of the families whose loved ones have been caught up in this and who are yet to have news are in an incredible state of distress and uncertainty, and I feel for them very deeply. The generosity of the response that has been seen has been remarkable and true to our spirit.

We've seen Australians open not only their hearts but also their wallets to support the Nepalese community. I've been contacted by a number of people in my community desperate to send assistance to the people of Nepal and finding every potential way they can help. I know the Non-Resident Nepali Association, the NRNA, has been helping to coordinate assistance.

As the Minister for Foreign Affairs mentioned, there's been $4.5 million donated already to the Emergency Action Alliance to support these efforts, and I commend the government for their generosity and the promptness of the humanitarian assistance that has been offered. That enjoys bipartisan support—$11 million in disaster relief but, as importantly, the dispatching of experts to help with the disaster assistance response, to help seek and identify those missing and to help with the search and rescue efforts.

I wanted express my support here for Fire and Rescue NSW, for the Queensland Fire Department and for the Australian Defence Force, who've all been involved in this assistance effort—but also for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the many consular and development assistance staff both involved in this effort on the ground in Nepal but also supporting operations back here in Australia.

This natural disaster, the worst Nepal has suffered in well over a decade since the earthquakes in 2015, has left a terrible scar upon the Australian Nepalese community—one of the most generous, vibrant, involved and engaged communities we have in Australia. I joined with other parliamentary colleagues for a vigil in Martin Place just two days after that devastation, and there have been similar vigils held all around the country hosted by the Nepalese community but with many non-Nepali Australians in attendance, showing the level of support that the Nepalese community has.

I have a simple message for the Australian Nepalese community and those Australians whose families have been caught up in this disaster. Firstly, we mourn alongside you in your grief and we share your anxiety, your uncertainty and your suffering. We join your prayers for the safety and location of those of your loved ones who are still missing.

As importantly, we will stand alongside you in the long effort to rebuild Nepal to the country it was, to help these devastated communities to recover, to help heal the wounds from what has been a horrific natural disaster by any measure, and to help the people and the nation of Nepal recover.