Laurie Ferguson (Reid, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services) Share this | Hansard source

There are 20 million around the world, but the situation in our region is that we have two very fundamental realities. We have the situation in Sri Lanka with the end of the civil war and the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have now been released but most of whom can have no great faith in their future in Sri Lanka. They cannot be certain that they are not going to be discriminated against. They cannot be certain that they are not going to be subject to extrajudicial murder. As I noted earlier, the situation in Afghanistan is lamentable. That is why the Americans are increasing the number of forces there. That is why there is talk of negotiating with the more moderate elements of the Taliban. That is why there is a debate between NATO and America over the degree to which there can be negotiations with the Taliban. (Time expired)

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