Julia Irwin (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to support the motion on Vietnam moved by the member for Mitchell. Like all the speakers on this side of the House in this debate, I have the privilege to represent a large community of people of Vietnamese origin in my electorate of Fowler. In my regular contact with various leading members of that community and ordinary individuals, I have come to know of their concerns for the people of their former homeland. When I speak to young Vietnamese Australians, they often express a kind of guilt that they live in a free and democratic country like Australia, while their relatives and friends are subjected to human rights abuses in Vietnam.

The motion notes a number of cases of religious leaders and journalists who have been detained or who have been subjected to severe restrictions in their movements and other forms of harassment. Many of these cases have been raised in this parliament by me and other members before but, as private members of this parliament, our concerns can be dismissed by the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, just as that government can dismiss the voices of human rights advocates in Vietnam. But our voices today are directed to the Australian government and its role in advocating for human rights and democracy in Vietnam. I know that many members of the Vietnamese community in Australia were greatly disappointed that the Prime Minister did not make use of the opportunity of his recent visit to raise with the government of Vietnam the serious concerns for human rights in that country.

While the United States President George Bush and the Prime Minister of Canada spoke out on human rights issues, Australia’s Prime Minister did not raise these issues publicly. This came as a great disappointment to the Vietnamese community of Australia, which had raised its concerns with the Prime Minister at a meeting earlier in November here at Parliament House. At that meeting the Prime Minister told the Vietnamese community in Australia that he would raise Australia’s concerns about human rights abuses during his visit to Vietnam for the APEC conference. As this motion points out, Australia participates in an annual human rights dialogue with Vietnam. The Prime Minister’s failure to raise human rights issues during his visit to Vietnam for APEC sends a clear message to the government of Vietnam that Australia is not serious about human rights in Vietnam. While Australia’s Prime Minister enjoyed the hospitality of his Vietnamese hosts, journalists like Nguyen Khac Toan suffered the hospitality of B14 prison camp in Hang Dong Province. Nguyen Khac Toan, a veteran of the North Vietnamese Army, was imprisoned for 12 years in 2002 for organising petitions by retired military officers calling for democracy, social equality and an end to corruption.

Another political prisoner suffering the hospitality of B14 prison camp is Dr Pham Hong Son, who was detained in 2003 after he distributed an article he titled, ‘Hopeful Signs for Democracy in Vietnam’. I wonder if the Prime Minister saw any hopeful signs for democracy in Vietnam during his visit. Perhaps while enjoying the sights of the largest Buddha in Vietnam our Prime Minister might have spared a thought for the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do. As a leader of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Thich Quang Do is no stranger to Vietnam’s prisons. He last served a sentence from 1995 to 1998 for the so-called offences of ‘sabotaging government policies’ and ‘damaging the interests of the state’. Since 2001 he has been under house arrest. A similar situation is suffered by Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, Vice President of the Mennonite Church.

The Prime Minister appears to have little concern for the fate of those brave souls who have spoken out in support of human rights in Vietnam. While the government of Vietnam tries to silence these advocates of democracy and human rights, Australia’s Prime Minister remains silent. Australia’s relationship with Vietnam should mature. Just as in our relationship with all countries we should not turn a blind eye to human rights abuses simply to achieve trade or other benefits from our relationship, so it should be in our relationship with Vietnam.

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