Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I am very pleased to be able to speak in support of the motion moved by the member for Cook. The member for Cook correctly draws attention to the fact that we shared the honour of being this parliament’s representatives at the General Assembly of the United Nations last year. Amongst the events we both attended was a meeting of concerned ASEAN parliamentarians who spoke about their concerns about human rights abuses in Burma. One of the messages that came through is that there is a degree of politeness within ASEAN and associated countries that has for a long time masked the real concern that exists throughout our region about the kinds of abuses that occur.

Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world and there are gradations of abuses. In our region, Burma is not the only country ruled by a military junta: sadly, Thailand has found itself in a circumstance where a military coup took place and is now run by a military government—at least for the short term, although there have been undertakings to return to civilian rule—and Fiji, too, has military rule. It is not possible to compare either instance with the one that applies in Burma.

Burma has seen some of the worst instances of human rights abuses perpetrated by any of our neighbours. It requires this parliament to continually raise the fact that we know these things to be happening, that we want our government to continue to press the case for human rights reform, that we want Asian and ASEAN nations as fellow neighbours in this region to also press that case and not be too deferential to a member of their own grouping and that we want the United Nations to continue to bring pressure to bear. But, most of all, we want change in Myanmar—or Burma, no matter how it is termed—such that Aung San Suu Kyi is released, such that people can have at least minimum standards of freedom and opportunity and an ability to live a life not subject to the kind of repression that is plainly too evident from all reports that have come from that country since the military takeover in 1990.

There are a large number of political prisoners in Burma. There are allegations of forced labour and very easily substantiated cases of the use of military power against ethnic and religious minorities in that country. There are also reports of intolerance towards religious minorities. All these things come together in a way that distinguishes the case of Myanmar, or Burma, from any of our near neighbours. This is a government that needs not only human rights support but also continual challenges from those who would seek to be its friends, and would wish to be its friends, to say that the way in which it conducts its affairs is unacceptable.

Australia does have a good record in pressing these cases, but I do think we have a greater task in our region. There is an increasing number of parliamentarians from elected parliaments who are prepared to speak out throughout the region. The member for Cook and I met with parliamentarians from the Philippines, Thailand and a number of other neighbouring countries who had bravely spoken out on this issue. It is not as if we are tilling ground which does not have the opportunity to be fertile. But we do have to acknowledge that within ASEAN there is this historical unwillingness to confront the weaknesses and frailties of a member state. We need to give encouragement to speak the truth rather than be deferential and too courteous in an environment where people’s human rights are so violently being abused. I entirely support the terms of the motion proposed by the member for Cook, and I hope it can receive the support of all parliamentarians, without dissent, who speak today.

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