Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise today to raise awareness of the Vietnamese government's abuse of human rights, and I thank the member for Fowler for putting forward the motion with regard to human rights dialogue in Vietnam. I chair the Vietnamese Ministerial Consultative Committee with the member for Fowler. We recently had a meeting in Canberra where we heard from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Carr; the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Mr O'Connor; the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform, Mr Butler and the Minister for Human Services, Senator McLucas. This is a regular issue that has been raised over the last few years.

In Queensland, there are more than 11,000 people whose country of birth was Vietnam. In my electorate, I have nearly 3,000 constituents who were born in Vietnam or who had parents born in Vietnam. This issue has regularly been raised with me, particularly because the Queensland community has been shaped so much by Vietnamese Australians. I am only going to mention this briefly because of time constraints. I do commend the motion put forward by the member for Fowler. As one of the convenors of Amnesty International, I got to take along a petition signed by many people—probably some in this room—to the Vietnamese Embassy to raise some of the concerns put forward by Vietnamese Australians, and all Australians who believe in justice for some of the goings on in Vietnam. I know that we will only change by engaging, and we have lots of opportunities as a nation, and through diplomacy, to make a change in Vietnam. I hope that it comes quickly.

I think it is the role of every Australian tourist who goes to Vietnam to raise this issue. Our economic power as tourists should be used to create change when we go to Vietnam. I know that it is difficult for the Vietnamese Australians because they have family members and contacts, and there can be pressure put to bear. As we have heard from many of the speakers previously, when you can receive 20 years in jail just for raising a legitimate concern, Vietnam is a long, long way from democracy. It will come, but it will only be through the advocacy of countries like Australia.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:45 to 16:00

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