Thank you Mr Acting Deputy Speaker.
Mr Acting Deputy Speaker I wish to update the House with the latest developments in the search for ill-fated flight MH370. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has advised that objects have been located by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion and I can advise the House that HMAS Success is on scene and is attempting to locate and recover these objects.
The objects were spotted in the search area about 2500 kilometres southwest of Perth at about 2.45pm our time.
The crew on board the Orion reported seeing two objects, the first a grey or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object. These are separate to the objects reported earlier today by a Chinese search aircraft.
I can advise the House that US Navy Poseidon, a second Royal Australian Air Force Orion and a Japanese Orion are also on route to or in the search area. Planes and ships continue to search the area for any sign of the missing aircraft.
I caution again, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that we don’t know whether any of these objects are from MH370. They could be flotsam. Nevertheless we are hopeful that we can recover these objects soon and that they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery.
This is an extraordinary mystery. An absolutely baffling mystery. But as I’ve said before, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, let me reiterate to this House we owe it to the families of those on board, we owe it to the loved ones on board, we owe it to all the people who are concerned about the fate of this aircraft to do whatever we reasonably can to find anything that is out there, to test it and to see what we can learn about what so far is one of the great mysteries of our time.
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