Taxpayers are 'entitled to ask why they should be footing the bill’, says foreign minister, for efforts to secure Russell’s release

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Julie Bishop says she may ask Greenpeace activist Colin Russell to foot the bill for the government assistance provided in Russia, saying it runs into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The foreign minister has defended the government's efforts on behalf of Russell, who says Canberra should have done more to free him from a Russian jail.

Bishop said she was surprised by his complaints, saying the Tasmanian received representation from consular officials in both Murmansk and St Petersburg, as well as from herself and the Australian ambassador.

She hoped Russell "has a regret" about the cost to the taxpayer, adding the money may be recovered.

"That's certainly something I'll look at," she said in Perth on Friday.

"If it has cost the Australian taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars and Greenpeace is threatening to do it again, then I think the Australian taxpayer is entitled to ask why they should be footing the bill."

But Russell said he had no regrets about his actions.

"That's my job. I'm trying to give a future to our kids, our grandkids," he said when he arrived home in Hobart on Thursday night.

The ship's radio operator was one of 30 activists arrested and detained in September when some of the group tried to scale a Russian oil rig operated by Moscow-based energy company Gazprom in the Pechora Sea.

The protesters were accused of hooliganism, but the charges were dropped last week and all were freed after the Russian parliament passed an amnesty law.

Russell complained that Australian authorities could have done more in their representations with their Russian counterparts.

The federal government's efforts were "a little bit too little too late", he told reporters at Hobart international airport.

Bishop said she had personally written to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and twice met with his deputy.

She said the representation afforded Russell was higher "than is often provided".

"We did all that we could given the circumstances," she said.

"It was an attempt by Greenpeace to attract a response from the Russian authorities, and they got that response."

Russell said the Australian government was going to let him go through the Russian legal process.

"But it doesn't exist. If you're accused in Russia, you're guilty," he said.

"I thought ... maybe they should have gone into bat a little bit more for me."

While he plans to return to his job with Greenpeace, he says it might be in a public relations role.

"Maybe I won't be doing some naughty things in Russian waters for a while," he said.