Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

This afternoon and this evening in Dili, in Timor Leste, a council of state has been meeting. A council of state includes the President of Timor Leste, Xanana Gusmao; the Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri; and the foreign minister, Jose Ramos Horta. I am sure that we all hope that they can come to some conclusions and to an agreement about the way ahead for the governance of Timor Leste in this time of some crisis.

It is worth recalling Australia’s involvement in East Tmor since 1999—indeed, our ongoing historical association with the people of Timor Leste primarily as a result of their protecting, harbouring and working with Australian troops in World War II. We should also be mindful that, in May 2004, when the United Nations took a decision to downgrade the number of military and civilian personnel wearing the blue berets, from 3,000 to 700, it took a conscious decision about the future of Timor Leste and the progress of that community. It also took the decision knowing that it had representations from that government to extend the length of the stay for the United Nations and to increase and maintain a higher level of military and police presence.

That was not to be, so the United Nations took a conscious decision to change the way things were. Last Sunday the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said in Guatemala that post conflict countries like East Timor needed more support to avoid descending again into chaos. She said:

Countries emerging from warfare have to receive more support if they are going to cope. The current situation in East Timor signals the need for the recently constituted UN peace building commission.

I say, ‘Hear, hear’ to that. I also want to commend the Australian government for its response to the call from the government of Timor Leste for support. They are our friends, and we should be proud to maintain the strength of our relationship by showing them the support they greatly need. But I think it is too early to talk about failed states. There are many commentators who have written off Timor Leste in the last 36 to 48 hours. Some, who are most notable Australian foreign correspondents, have made quite outrageous assertions about the nature of the Timor Leste government. They ought to sit back and allow the council of state to work with the United Nations, and their friends—Australia and the other nations who are providing forces, Malaysia and New Zealand in the first instance—to come to some reasonable agreement and arrangement as to how to progress things from now on.

We should also recognise that, within a fairly short space of time, there are to be elections in Timor Leste. If, as has been asserted by many, principally from outside the country, there is a lack of confidence in the government, at that election—if, as in Australia, people express their will for a free and democratic process—they will have that opportunity to pass judgment. No doubt, if the judgment that has been asserted by many is determined, we will have a new government in Timor Leste. But what we do need to do is to sit back a bit, take a deep breath and stop the external commentary that has been taking place—including, sadly, from our own Prime Minister. We need to work with these people.

We need to make sure that the government of Timor Leste are a viable government by showing them the support they richly deserve by working with them. By all means, make sure they are accountable, but we should not see, as we have seen in the last little while, a consistent undermining of the government’s attempts to try to maintain some sense of order—a sense of order which we all require and which will be assisted greatly by the presence of Australian troops who, once again, are doing a magnificent job.

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