Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has urged the government to connect the family of kidnapped Australian Warren Rodwell with private sector experts, in line with a Senate committee's findings.
Mr Rodwell was taken from his home on the southern island of Mindanao in the Philippines on December 5 and has appeared in a video pleading for his family and authorities to raise $2 million for his release.
Senator Brown, who helped broker the release of Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan in Somalia in 2009, said it was important the government connect families of hostages to private consultants.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
One of eight recommendations a Senate committee made in a report tabled in parliament in November last year was for government agencies to alert families to the services provided by consultants and to fully cooperate with the hired parties.
It was vital the family received advice from the government very early on about who had the best expertise to secure Mr Rodwell or any other citizen's release, Senator Brown said.
He said the government should explain the limitations of government assistance to the family, including the policy of refusing to pay a huge ransom.
"(It should) tell the family and give the family the best advice available about who they should contact in the private sector to help work through a kidnapping situation which is going to be different every time and different in each country," he told ABC Radio.
"It's difficult advice because the one thing governments won't do, around the world, is pay massive ransoms for people who are kidnapped in the main."
Senator Brown, who contributed to the ransom of more than $600,000 in Mr Brennan's case, along with other business identities, said the situation was very delicate and he did not want terrorists to get the wrong message.
"I don't think it's a matter of primarily approaching people who may have money," he said.
"That's a very, very difficult thing to do and clearly the onus here is on the government to give good advice and the family to do the best they can to be able to; if necessary find money and sometimes the public may be able to help there.
"But really I wouldn't like to give public advice on how people should best go about that."
COMMENTARY UNHELPFUL: DFAT
The federal government says it would be unhelpful to detail the latest developments in the hunt for Australian man Warren Rodwell, who was kidnapped in the Philippines a month ago.
Mr Rodwell was taken from his home on the southern island of Mindanao on December 5.
Fairfax on Thursday published a video of the 53-year-old pleading for Australian and Philippine authorities to help his family raise the $US2 million ($A1.93 million) ransom being demanded for his release.
It's believed the video was made a week after Mr Rodwell was seized by gunmen and then sent to his Filipina wife as proof that her husband was still alive.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade says its "primary focus" remains Mr Rodwell's welfare.
"Our embassy in the Philippines is working closely with local authorities with support from a whole-of-government taskforce in Canberra," a spokeswoman said in a statement on Thursday.
"It would be unhelpful to comment in detail on developments in the investigation by the Philippine authorities."
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the government is "doing everything it reasonably can" and Labor has the full support of the coalition.
He wouldn't be drawn on the demands made by Mr Rodwell's captors.
"It's a very difficult, delicate, dangerous situation. A human life is in the balance and I think the less public commentary the better," Mr Abbott told reporters in Brisbane.
In the video released on Thursday a distressed-looking Mr Rodwell says his captors are demanding a $US2 million ransom.
"To my family please do whatever to raise the two million US dollars they are asking for my release as soon as possible," he says.
"To the Australian embassy here in the Philippines, this is your constituent appealing for his life and safety.
"If I'm given my last wish, my last wish is to please help me out of here alive please Madame Ambassador."
Philippines army commander Major General Noel Coballes said on Wednesday that Mr Rodwell tried to fight back against his kidnappers when he was first seized and his hand was wounded.
"The victim fought back because he was an ex-serviceman of the Australian Army," Major General Coballes told reporters.
"He was hit in the hand because he resisted." It's not known how severe the wound is.
Major General Coballes said the hunt for Mr Rodwell was continuing in the strife-torn southern Philippines.
"There were several reports ... but we are just trying to find out the exact location of the Australian."
The Australian embassy in Manila says it's working closely with local authorities.
"(But) Philippine authorities are taking the lead on responding to Mr Rodwell's kidnapping," the embassy said in a statement.
Major General Coballes said it was possible Mr Rodwell was being held by the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic extremist group founded in the 1990s with seed money from al-Qaeda.
The group has been blamed for the worst terror attacks in Philippine history and has been known to kidnap foreigners and Christians for ransom.
