EVACUATION COSTS AUSTRALIAN TAXPAYERS $30 MILLION

The evacuation of 5,000 Australians from Lebanon last year cost the taxpayers $30 million. The Government will recover only a fraction of the money, likely to be in the hundreds of thousands, after deciding not to force evacuees to repay the cost of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the Government will seek reimbursement only from the dual Australian – Lebanese nationals who were permanent residents in Lebanon, and those who had recouped money through insurance.

“We don’t expect to be a great deal certainly not close to the costs to the Government of the evacuation,” DFAT’s Consular division first assistant secretary Rod Smith told a Senate Committee.