Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

On 7 February, President Nasheed, who attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth only last October-November, was removed from office. I, on 9 February, telephoned the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, as Australia is currently Chair of the Commonwealth and I therefore, as a result, am Chair of the Commonwealth Foreign Ministers conference. As a result of that, the Commonwealth foreign ministers who make up the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group conducted a teleconference on Saturday evening about what measures to take against what is alleged to have been a fundamental undermining of Commonwealth values in the removal of this democratically elected head of state.

Opposition members interjecting—

Those opposite trivialise the fact that hundreds of people have been arrested, that hundreds of people have been subjected to violence in the streets of the capital city of Male and, on top of that, that we are likely to have seen the forced removal, under threat of armed violence with guns, of a democratically elected head of state. Those opposite regard these matters as being trivial. As foreign minister of Australia I do not regard them as trivial.

As a consequence of the meeting conducted on Saturday evening on the telephone with seven participating foreign ministers around the world, a ministerial delegation of three foreign ministers or their representatives will now be dispatched to Male to establish whether in fact this coup has occurred through violent means and, if so, the necessary course of action would be suspension from the Commonwealth. We take these matters seriously.

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