The Federal Government says going to the media about the case of an Australian man kidnapped in Somalia will not help his cause.
On Thursday, the family of Bundaberg photojournalist Nigel Brennan, broke their 11 month silence and spoke to the media about their son who is being held by rebels in Somalia.
Mr Brennan’s mother Heather Brennan and family friend Rebecca Hutchins approached Prime Minister Kevin Rudd while he was in Bundaberg on Thursday.
Mr Rudd then met with the women, where they expressed their frustration at the lack of progress on Mr Brennan’s plight.
However, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has told ABC1′s Lateline program that the Federal Government believes raising the publicity of Mr Brennan’s case will not help.
“I understand very much their frustration and the agony of the mother who hasn’t seen her son for almost a year,” he said.
“Our advice has always been not to go public, not to go to the media.
“[But] in the end it’s a matter for the family. And I’m not going to be critical of what they’ve done.”
‘Preying on publicity’
Mr Smith says the Government’s experience and advice from other governments shows that publicity around such kidnapping cases does not help the cause.
“We have requested and asked the media to be very careful about what they report,” he said.
“We’ve never believed, again off the back of experience and advice of other governments, that a public discussion of these matters in the end will actually help try and achieve a successful outcome.”
“The kidnappers prey on publicity and prey on the families.”
But he says he understands the pain the family is going through that would have led them to their decision.
“They’re making judgements and decisions in the pain and the agony of a son or a brother who has been missing for 11 months,” he said.
“Our hearts go out for them in what is a terrible problem.”
But Mr Smith says “it is up to the family as to whether they follow our advice or not.”
Mr Smith says history has shown that kidnappings like this can drag on for long periods of time and in the end substantial sums of money may need to be paid to ensure release.
He says the Government is working hard across a number of levels to secure the release of Mr Brennan, but he would not go into strategic or tactical details.
Mr Brennan’s brother was able to make contact with him yesterday and while the family says he is in poor health, Mr Smith says the contact “shows proof of life”, which is a good sign.
Nigel Brennan was kidnapped along with Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout last August.
Source: ABC
