David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In the House today the prime ministers of Australia and the United Kingdom spoke of the common bond between our countries based on our shared values. Although these values ranged across a number of areas, Mr Blair specifically talked about how both our countries were open—we welcomed people and we were open to looking at change, to embracing diversity and to seeing the value that could be derived from that.

Here in Australia we so often take for granted the legacy that our democratic Westminster parliamentary system, coupled with a strong Judeo-Christian heritage, has bequeathed to us: equality for men and women, access to and accountability of government, respect for the rule of law, the freedom to receive reward for work and the freedom to choose our faith without fear of persecution or oppression. Despite the fact that in a utopian world everyone would enjoy this, clearly not all people do enjoy this legacy. There are countries where these sentiments are voiced and are perhaps even included in the legal framework underpinning their system of government, but the reality for people on the ground can be quite different.

Without going back to the subject of this motion, we can refer to the current situation in Afghanistan where Mr Abdul Rahman has been apprehended and is facing trial and possible execution for his choice to live out his faith in Jesus Christ as a Christian. According to media reports, it may be that international pressure has moved the government of President Karzai to engineer a reprieve. The response, however, of other leaders in that country, such as Abdul Raulf—who is considered a moderate and who was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban regime—has been to highlight that, even if the government bows to ‘Western pressure’, they will incite the people to rise up and ‘pull him to pieces’, as apostasy is a crime punishable by death under their law.

The incident which prompted this motion today was the dreadful event of 29 October 2005 in Poso, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, where three people were brutally murdered by beheading. They were not criminals, militants or hostages; they were schoolgirls, whose only crime was their choice to live as Christians in a country where freedom of religion is guaranteed by the constitution. The long history of violence in Central Sulawesi has caused the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of tens of thousands of refugees who are fleeing religious persecution. The response of the Indonesian government—which has been to condemn the attacks, to send additional police to investigate the murders and to give their commitment to bringing the perpetrators to account—is most welcome. Welcome also is the possibility of a judicial review by the Indonesian Supreme Court into the effect of the recent ministerial decree concerning the construction of houses of worship, which both moderate Muslim and Christian groups fear will discriminate against minorities, disregard human rights and contravene the Indonesian constitution.

In drawing the attention of the House to these issues, I wish not only to highlight what has happened to these people, to pass on our sympathies to the families concerned and to note to the Indonesian government that we welcome their actions but also to highlight the response of the Australian media to these incidents. The beheading of hostages in Iraq or the arrest of Mr Rahman in Afghanistan have become front-page news. This contrasts greatly with the beheading of these three girls, which it appears was barely newsworthy, only making it to page 16 of the newspaper. Indeed, following that tragedy, two more young women, Ivon and Siti, both 17, have been murdered. They were shot in the head near a church in Poso and, to the best of my knowledge, their murders have not been reported in mainstream Australian media. Why? Are their lives worth less? Have we just started to accept that things like this happen in other places?

The danger for Australia is taking for granted the freedoms, the security and the values that we enjoy, not realising that by ignoring the plight of others, whether here or overseas, we undermine the strength of our own society. It can start by tolerating abuse because ‘it happened overseas’. It can start by tolerating the intolerant in our own country, because to confront them may cause offence. As Mr Blair said, Australia is a great, open country. We welcome people from many nations. As we welcome them and look to uphold our values, we must also speak out against violations, whether overseas or in Australia, to make sure that the values that we hold dear as a country continue to underpin the inclusive and tolerant society that we have.

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