Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to support this motion in relation to South Sudan. It is a community with which I have had a great deal of involvement over a number of years now. In particular, it goes back to 2007 when, as the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, I was charged with the case of George Forbes. George Forbes was an Australian contractor in South Sudan. There was a tragic suicide of another contractor from Eastern Europe. Mr Forbes was set up—and I say this as somebody who is very cautious about overseas legal proceedings; but there was no question that this was a case of suicide—and the local authorities found that, and then there was a random decision to prosecute. Mr Forbes was held in a local prison in desperate circumstances and was facing not just the death penalty but potentially death through illness in horrific prison circumstances prior to that.

We mobilised the Australian ambassador from Cairo at the time, Bob Bowker, who did a tremendous job. He lived in a tent and a mud brick hut in two different parts of South Sudan. He worked with the South Sudanese authorities. We also brought to bear an Australian legal team led by Julian McMahon from Melbourne, a friend of mine from university years who has become an outstanding human rights barrister, among other things, in Melbourne. As well, we brought together a team from Door of Hope. Door of Hope is a Melbourne-based church charity group. They have a particular focus in southern Sudan because at that time southern Sudan was not independent and Door of Hope, led by Bryan Grasby and introduced to me through my great friend Andrew Heard, has long been doing on-the-ground practical work through things such as assisting in providing brick-making facilities and local support. They have built great links, trust and confidence with the southern Sudanese authorities as that country moved towards independence.

What was critical was that at a time when the government, through the Australian ambassador, was doing all it could to get Mr Forbes a release, things became quite dramatic. Mr Forbes's health deteriorated and, had it not been for the intervention through Brian Grasby direct to the general secretary of the southern Sudanese authorities, it would have been almost impossible to have had justice done and Mr Forbes may well have perished in the southern Sudanese jail before he had a chance to face the courts and to be appropriately cleared.

What then occurred was that Brian Grasby rang the general secretary of the southern Sudanese authorities and explained the situation that there was not a question of doubt, but a manifest, clear, absolute injustice and that the life of an Australian was in imminent threat through illness. Mr Forbes was guaranteed release and given time in hospital where he was able to recover. In the meantime the legal proceedings were conducted at a higher court of authority. The submission by Julian McMahon, through local lawyers, on behalf of Mr Forbes was adopted in large part as the reasoning and rationale of the court, which gave a complete clearance—a complete quashing—of the lower court's verdict. Mr Forbes was released with a perfectly clear record and with the finding that there was a manifest injustice, that this was a clear case of suicide and that there was absolutely no relationship to Mr Forbes. So the life of an Australian contractor who had been helping to develop a country which was going through a course of development, attempting to move from the extreme and grinding poverty which had characterised southern Sudan, was saved. For that, I thank both the Australian ambassador at the time, Bob Bowker, and also in particular Brian Grasby; his assistant Michelle; Andrew Heard for the connection, and for all of those involved.

This was a precursor to the path through which southern Sudan has subsequently travelled. It provided a basis for the Australian government, through successive Prime Ministers, to engage with the southern Sudanese authorities. As part of the confidence building program, it was subsequently agreed that the Australian government would assist in judicial training and judicial information, in particular to help the lower courts develop standards, structures and training sufficient that no such case of manifest justice would occur again.

The result, however, has been far more positive than any of us would have hoped at the time. Southern Sudan has been through a process of a plebiscite on national independence. That was overwhelmingly passed by the population. The country has come into being as of 9 July. I appreciate the work of the foreign minister's chief of staff, Philip Green, in facilitating the project put forward by Door of Hope for a brick-making facility to be part of Australia's independence gift. It is real. It is practical. It will help create local jobs as well as create local construction and development. These are the simple and practical things that are good examples of the Australian aid program in action. They certainly beat financial support direct to governments where there is not necessarily control over the funds.

Looking forward, South Sudan has a difficult road to hope. Let us be absolutely clear about that. It is a road which will have to overcome drought and famine within the region. It will have to overcome the problems of potential military conflict with its northern neighbour in terms of the rump of Sudan, which still remains under an authoritarian leader and an authoritarian government with a bent towards sharia law which in the Darfur province to the west of the country has presided over a catastrophic and tragic famine with huge human input in the form of the treatment of the local people. Fortunately, southern Sudan is now independent. It is responsible for its own future. It has that opportunity, but it will not be easy.

On the plus side, however, it has significant oil resources and it appears that there is yet to be a full post-succession arrangement for oil between Juba, the capital of southern Sudan and Khartoum in the remaining rump of what was previously Sudan and comprises the northern Sudanese area now. I understand there are also many mineral resources of great potential. I hope that there is a transparent process of freeing up those resources in a way which guarantees local community development, which does not lead to unbridled environmental impact, which is done through processes that provide long-term stable revenues to the development of the country, and that it avoids any corruption. There needs to be transparency in southern Sudan and I think one important investment from Australia would be to ensure that the processes for future tendering, for future mineral leases, are conducted through as open, transparent and non-corrupt bureaucratic and tendering mechanisms as possible. That would be a fair and reasonable place which would get opposition support if Australia were to dedicate some post-independence resources out of its aid program, as well as in the direct aid. If we can marshal the resources of that country in a way which helps the people then we can truly give southern Sudan a way forward.

I thank Bryan Grasby, Bob Bowker, Andrew Heard and all involved for their long history of supporting this country. (Time expired)

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