Senator LUNDY (2:47 PM) —My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer the minister to submissions made to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee published this week. Can the minister confirm that ASIO assessed the threat to Australians to be significantly increased following Osama bin Laden's taped message of 3 October 2001? Can the minister also confirm that the Office of National Assessments briefed the foreign minister on 18 and 19 June 2002 and warned that Bali was an attractive target for Jemaah Islamiah? In light of the mounting evidence that the intelligence agencies were warning of a possible terrorist attack against Australian interests in Indonesia, including Bali, why did the government choose not to upgrade its specific travel warning for Bali before the terrible events of 12 October last year?

Senator ABETZ (Special Minister of State) —Senator Lundy, can I express disappointment on behalf of Senator Kemp that you did not ask him a question. Having dealt with that, Mr President, I understand Senator Lundy represents the Australian Capital Territory. One would have imagined that she might read her daily newspaper, the Canberra Times. If she had read the Canberra Times this morning, she would have seen there was a front-page article in fact answering the very proposition that she put.

Senator Forshaw —You tell us you can't believe what you read in the papers!

Senator ABETZ —I accept Senator Forshaw's interjection; it is one of the few times they have got it right. The situation is that certain advice was offered. Mr Downer asked a specific question. That was part of the Canberra Times front-page story today—that Mr Downer specifically asked, as a result of this advice, `Should a travel advisory be issued?' The answer was no. As a result, it puts the complete lie to the suggestion of Senator Brown that there was some negligence involved, because the foreign minister, having been provided with some advice, then followed through and asked the question that one would expect every foreign minister concerned about his fellow Australians to ask—that is, should a travel advisory be issued? The response was that no, it was not necessary. To suggest that any foreign minister of any persuasion would deliberately not seek that sort of advice and thereby jeopardise their fellow Australians is beyond belief. It is beyond comprehension. That Senator Brown could even think of that proposition reflects on him and his mind-set, and it is very disappointing from the Labor Party that they should be following suit as well in this line of questioning when the answer to the honourable senator's question was there for her on the front page of the Canberra Times this morning.

Senator LUNDY —Mr President, I ask a very specific supplementary question which I would like the minister to answer. Can the minister confirm that as late as 20 September 2002 the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was issuing a bulletin to Australian citizens in Indonesia that said:

In light of the evidence provided this week to the Senate committee, does the minister believe that this travel bulletin was accurate in all respects?

Senator ABETZ (Special Minister of State) —I am aware of some of the submissions that have been put to the Senate inquiry. That is a submission, as I understand it, from one particular person. There may well be other submissions in response to that, to set the context. We have already found that Senator Lundy in her first question today misrepresented the situation by refusing to acknowledge that which was on the front page of her own newspaper. Similarly, I am not willing to accept that what she had just told us in fact represents the totality of the evidence before the committee.