Just create a user pays system. If you need help you pay for it.
I don't do jetlag.
I got a better idea.
Just abolish the whole "consular assistance" thing altogether. Apart from possibly establishing identity, emergency passports and expatriation during established civil unrest or Acts of God, eliminate the whole 'drawing on consular assistance if in legal trouble etc.'
I really don't see why people overseas should have the protection of their country. Mind you, we barely have access to such protections when we are at home anyway.
Reminds me of the "preamble" which is at the front of Australian passports:
Now that I reflect on that statement, it's actually become clear how much of a naive and moronic anathema that really is.
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An efficient consular service is an absolute necessity for our standing in the world. They don’t just help stupid travellers. They support Australians and their interests in myriad ways. Indeed the posting today about the JetStar incident in China talks about DFAT staff attending and looking after the interests of Australians. Should the pax on board be charged for this? How much would you suggest and why?
Three incidents I know about where people close to me have received consular assistance. I challenge anybody here to suggest there should be charges or that stupidity was involved.
1) Many years ago a friend had a close relation take very ill and needed to be medivacced back to Australia via a third country. Full travel insurance covered the expenses so no problems there, however one of the countries involved was very difficult for outsiders to deal with. Consular staff were of great assistance to ensure all went well.
2) A few years ago a family member suddenly died overseas, again travel insurance covered expenses, but consular assistance ensured that the body was repatriated back to Australia in a timely manner. No way did anybody in the family have the necessary expertise to deal with these complexities nor the ability during our grief.
3) Bangkok November 2008, I flew into the airport occupation by the yellow shirts. The reliefI got talking to a fellow Australian who knew the situation and could advise me was invaluable. I had travel insurance that had already told me I was covered so no problems on my end. The consular staff worked very well with Qantas to get us out in a timely manner.
Finally, high profile incidents like the Bali bombings are where consular staff prove their worth. Coordinating repatriation missions, helping victims get in touch with families etcetera are all essential tasks and not the fault of stupidity. Think about this, would you rather your family receive a phone call from Australian consular staff to tell you what has happened to you and what is being done? Or a call from local (i.e. foreign country) police saying there’s a problem?
Whatever the statistics of the tax take of the previous government, we lived within our means and built up surpluses rather than in tree hugging la-la land...
All this lot can do is blow the budget out of the water, pander to every feel-good interest group then tax everyone and anyone (well not so much their working, down-and-out family holy cows so if your not one of those you can pay twice) to scramble to create paper balanced budgets... The idea that you can't have everything in some tough times, and that you don't go out of your way to screw with business confidence who either through company taxes or the income taxes of their employees pay for plenty of the spending, doesn't seem to occur to them...
Yet “living within your means” doesn’t mean ignoring infrastructure. Whilst there were mistakes made in the stimulus package at least the government of the day did something. The frauds committed by
private companies are slowly being dealt with and monies will be recovered. The NBN is an absolute necessity for our future and once it is built private companies will be lining up to take it over for free (i.e. privatise the profits and socialise the costs and losses). Here in BKK I can get complimentary internet (courtesy of Diamond status) that consistently downloads at >4,000 kilobytes per second at the Hilton Conrad. Can’t even dream of that in Australia at the moment nor would we ever get it if the Liberal party had their way.
[FONT=&]Nor has the current government allowed an organisation such as the Australian Wheat Board to get away with trading with terrorists. Fortunately for them and their mates the Howard government was able to delay and prevent prosecution (or even proper investigation) until the statute of limitations [/FONT] expired; thus letting their mates who traded with Saddam Hussein get away with heinous crimes that should have resulted in major jail sentences. A real scandal that will probably never be properly dealt with to conclusion.
As for spending AUD$25 million to win a seat on the security well done to the Labour government for taking the risk to contribute on the world stage. We need future thinking governments who can see and maybe even influence the big world picture. It is easy to sit back and whinge but an opposition needs to have a policy other than work choices to actually lead.
