TEL: 13. Nov. 92 15: 04 No. 020 P. 01/(
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HOW P J KEATING, MP
LEBANON; AUSTRALIAN OFFICIAL REPRESENTATION
I met yesterday a delegation of Australian-Lebanese
community leaders to discuss the issue of Australian
official representation in Beirut and related questions
concerning immigration and consular services. The
delegation presented a petition urging the Government to reopen
the Australian Embassy in Beirut.
in response, I said that the Australian Government welcomed
the improved situation in the * Lebanon, but explained there
were still concerns about the s afety of diplomatic._ personnel
in Beirut. In current circumstances, the cost of providing
adequate protection for Australian diplomatic personnel
would be prohibitive.
I assured the community leaders that the Australian
Government would continue to monitor the Situation
carefully, and would re-establish an E mbAssy in Beirut as
soon as conditions allowed. As demonstration of the
Government's intention, a holding lease was being maintained
on the original Embassy premises.
In the meantime, the Government was making efforts to meet
the concerns of the Australian-Lebanese community for better
access in Lebanon to Australian immigration and consular
services. Following his visit to Lebanon in September 1992, the
Minister for Immigration, Local Government and Ethnic
Affairs, Mr Hand, had announced that the Government would
establish in Beirut a locally-staffed special office to
facilitate Immigration and consular services, The purpose
was to reduce the need for applicants to travel outside
Lebanon to nearby Australian diplomatic missions to obtain
these services.
II1' 4 UU.
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I explained to the delegation that, as part of the process
of establishing the special office in Beirut, the Government
was giving high priority to the selection of a panel of
local doctors to remove the need for travel outside Lebanon
for medical examinations.
The Government expects the new arrangements will be in place
in the near future. Taken together, they will mean that the
ov erall need for travel outside Lebanon for immigration
services will be dramatically reduced.
The new arrangements will remove the need for travel outside
Lebanon for routine visa applications. In cases where an
interview with an Australian immigration officer is
required, travel outside Lebanon will still be necessary.
I assured the delegation that the new arrangements should be
regarded as interim measures pending the restoration of
resident Australian representation in Beirut. The
Governent very much hopes that conditions In Lebanon will
soon permit the re-opening of the Australian Embassy.
CANBERRA 13 November 1992