Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion which raises some very important issues about the question of our ongoing relationship with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and important human rights issues which have been spoken about by a number of members already. It is clear that there is an ongoing journey towards democracy in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and that it still has an awfully long way to go. It is also clear that many good Vietnamese citizens have suffered at the hands of the authorities for engaging in activities which in a democracy such as ours would be seen as being the normal rights of a citizen. It is clear from some of the examples given by the member for Werriwa, for example, that the circumstances of some of these individuals are quite horrific and in need of further investigation and certainly of international protest.

When we go, though, to the detail of the motion, I do have to pick up on one point for a start. I was a bit disappointed by some of the more partisan political points made by the member for Hughes during the debate. The human rights dialogues we are talking about—and we are now up to round 9—did not all occur in the last four years, and I note that my friend the member for Berowra has nodded accordingly. The fact is that human rights in Vietnam have been an ongoing issue. There have been difficulties with progressing it; there are concerns, and those concerns need to be looked at. But I think we ought to say that there is a process and that it was there under previous governments as well as under this government, and, if there are problems with those processes, they are problems we all have responsibility for. The question really is: where do we go in future?

I note the motion's points about the need for a wider dialogue, and I was particularly interested in some of the comments about the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and what they have heard so far in their inquiry about what changes might be able to be made to ensure that a more open and viable dialogue can be brought forward. I know, from the point of view of having been a minister in a government, that how the circumstances around how you progress human rights issues in an international situation are often quite difficult. In dealing with the authorities in Vietnam on one occasion as a minister I was very pleased with the support that was given the Australian authorities on returning the remains of Vietnam veterans who had been killed during the Vietnam War.

I know that some of the issues that have been raised are incredibly serious. When we look to the question of how we develop a dialogue into the future, when we look to some of the concerns about ensuring that the dialogue is real and takes into account the concerns of expatriate communities who still have loved ones in the home country and when we look at trying to ensure that Vietnam develops into a country that we can all be proud of to call our friend in the international community, there is much more that needs to be done. I certainly support some of the options that have been mentioned around beefing up the human rights dialogue in order to ensure that there is more public support and political involvement. But I also say that engaging in a human rights dialogue is a difficult process, because you raise issues publically while trying also to get movement in a privately, and you really have to look at that over time. As we look to the future, I think there is much more that needs to be done.

On the aid program: I do not think it helps to get political about those sorts of questions. If we wanted to get political, we might talk about what level of aid projects and support there has been over the years and the question of what the budget once was versus what it is now. If we want to go to the question about particular projects and the best way to progress human rights dialogue with a country while supporting aid projects, we also have to understand it is a very multifaceted approach that needs to be taken to ensure that you achieve outcomes. Sometimes aid projects of the nature we have been talking about which are supported by the home country are sometimes the best way to go forward. What we do need to do is to make sure we put pressure on the Vietnamese authorities around the need to continue to progress down a track to a more open, vibrant and eventually democratic society. We need to understand that those who put their lives on the line in support of democratic rights, in support of human rights, need to be supported not only at home but also abroad. I commend those who have brought this motion forward and I commend those who continue to fight for freedom in that country.

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