Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge the presence of the mover of this motion, my friend the member for Fairfax, whom I joined in the Hungarian parliament last week for a very moving ceremony to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising of the Hungarian people against the brutal communist regime of Matyas Rakosi. I also acknowledge the presence of the Hungarian Ambassador to Australia and the people in the gallery for the large number of Hungarian refugees who came to this country. Australia, as might be expected in those dark days, show generosity towards accepting refugees. There were about 14,000 Hungarians who came in that wave of immigration, and I think that was part of the reason why the Hungarian parliament thought it was important that there be representatives of Australia at last week’s gathering in Budapest. The member for Fairfax, as the head of the delegation, officially signed some papers with Katalin Szili, the Speaker of the Hungarian parliament and, as he said, we were both present at a very moving ceremony at the cemetery where we laid flowers on the grave of Prime Minister Imry Nagy, so cruelly murdered by the Stalinist thugs who took over Hungary on 4 November.

This is the 50th anniversary of the unsuccessful revolution against the Soviet occupiers. Few countries have had a more traumatic history than Hungary. As I said in the Australian Financial Review, its history through the 1930s as a semi-authoritarian country under Admiral Horthy is well known. The tragedies of the Second World War, particularly the period in 1944 when the Nazi oppression of Hungary grew worse, are also well known. The Red Army liberated Hungary from the Nazis and from the Arrow Cross and then sought to impose its own form of totalitarianism on that country. Just a few days ago I went to one of the best museums I have seen throughout the world, the House of Terror in Andrassy Street in Budapest. At this new museum, Hungary commemorates the evil deeds of both the Arrow Cross and the Hungarian communists—especially the role of the Hungarian secret service. To see the kinds of tortures and depredations that were brought to the Hungarian people was very, very moving. The extreme brutality against members of the church, against all members of civic society and against intellectuals was very well documented. At the commemorative meetings for the 1956 Revolution in the Hungarian parliament, where many international representatives were present, as delegates saw the most dramatic and passionate black and white film which courageous young Hungarian filmmakers had made in the days before the Soviet tanks rolled back into Budapest on 4 November. That film had not been seen in the 50 years since it had been shot, because the young filmmakers had been seeking to show it in Budapest on that very day, 4 November. Of course they were not able to show it in Hungarian movie theatres because the Soviets were back in control of the country.

One of the things that the member for Fairfax raised, which I think now has widespread acceptance, is that the Hungarian Revolution was not betrayed but that many people in the West might have done more. The fierce anti-communist John Foster Dulles—the then American Secretary of State—and President Eisenhower made what many people now would consider very anodyne comments. Perhaps the world was distracted and divided by events in Suez, but I am reminded very much of the theme of that cult American film Three Kings, that it is very unwise to call on and support people to rise up against authoritarian or totalitarian regimes if you are not prepared to follow through and help them. The Hungarian people were very grateful for Australia’s support at the time. Australia was one of the countries appointed by the UN to investigate the reasons for the suppression. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to carry out the UN mandate because of the Hungarian communist regime’s refusal to accept Australia in to investigate the events of 1956. But, after 40 wasted years for Hungary, ultimately the Hungarian people are now free; there has been a democratic government there for 15 years. I think the people of Australia and this parliament are very pleased that we were represented in Hungary last week and that we could celebrate the freedom of Hungarians with a people now free to demonstate their vital role in European history. (Time expired)

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