Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a privilege to get up here, support this motion and follow on from all the previous speakers, who have also spoken so eloquently on this private member's business. It is worth reminding the House what this motion is about. It asks:

That this House:

(1) expresses concern at the detention in Egypt of Australian citizen Peter Greste;

(2) notes that:

(a) Mr Greste is detained and currently on trial solely for conducting his role as a journalist and for peacefully expressing his opinion on events in Egypt; and

(b) the imprisonment of Peter Greste is contrary to the right to freedom of speech and expression;

(3) recognises that the Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Attorney-General have all been in contact with their Egyptian counterparts seeking Peter Greste's release; and

(4) notes that the Australian Government:

(a) is offering all possible consular assistance to Peter Greste and his family;

(b) has been working with Egyptian authorities at all appropriate opportunities; and

(c) is making direct and high-level representation to a number of other governments as part of a multi-pronged strategy to raise our ongoing concerns about the case.

Representations have been made by the Australian government on behalf of Peter Greste, and I commend the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, for the job that she has done in advocating for the release of Peter Greste. She has obviously made contact with the new Egyptian foreign minister, but she was also very active in making contact with the previous interim administration. The Prime Minister also has, obviously, over the weekend spoken with Egypt's new President. In a very good development over the weekend, we also saw the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, make a special trip to Cairo. In a very important move, I thought, from a US Secretary of State, he highlighted to the Egyptians in a press conference the need for the Egyptians to uphold press freedom.

This motion here today goes to that very fundamental principle: the importance of upholding press freedom. Our Prime Minister has led the way in highlighting this importance when he said:

… I do want to make this point and make it very strongly: a free press is in everyone's interests.

The Prime Minister also went on to say, this morning or yesterday in a press conference on this matter, that, in his view—and this is a point that he made to the Egyptians—Peter Greste was reporting on, not supporting, the Muslim Brotherhood when he did his reporting. We in the House should always remember the importance of the press in the job that we do. As Thomas Jefferson, the third US President, put it so succinctly:

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

I think that sums up this debate extremely well.

Freedom of the press is integral to democratic government. It goes to the core of having a proper functioning democracy. It is the surest way of maintaining trust between a government and its people. Without a strong press, no government can be adequately scrutinised or held to account, and if a government cannot be scrutinised or held to account, the people that put it there will never have true confidence in that government.

This motion here today, which I support, calls for the release of Peter Greste. It is an important motion because it not only highlights what is happening to an Australian citizen in Egypt at the moment but reminds us all of the broader principal here—the fundamental role that the press plays in ensuring that we can have proper, functioning democracies.

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