Hurricane Wilma Puts Pressure on Aussie Diplomats

Hurricane Wilma has wrecked its fury on the Yucatan peninsula. Around 50 Aussies over there have been still unaccounted for.

Some families of those missing people have been pretty pissed off with both the Foreign Ministry staff in Canberra and Aussie consulate staff over in Mexico. They claimed that those diplomats have been doing buggerall about their missing loved ones. Aussie Foreign Minister stated on TV that Aussies in that area were advised to get out but instead elected to stay behind.

I can imagine how worried the families must be, and I can also very well imagine how they must be harassing the Foreign Ministry staff and Aussie diplomats over in Mexico to ‘do something’.

Equally, I can understand how frustrated the Foreign Ministry staff and diplomats must be feeling – what can you say about people who, despite official advice, stayed back in a area forecast to be hit by a powerful hurricane. And what can you say to those worried family members about how and who in the f**k would take them into the storm ravaged area without killing themselves, assuming they could even secure transport to get there.

But it does show us how and what the Aussies expect of their public servants, frustrating as it may be to those poor officers.