Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to join in speaking on this motion to celebrate the release of Peter Greste from prison in Egypt. Peter Greste's courage, determination and strength of character have shone through this. To retain his dignity through this experience is something we commend him for. I read that, during this most difficult period of his life, he said he spent time meditating to help him get through what was undoubtedly a harrowing experience.

While we in this country stand here and talk about the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of the media, we have to admit that still remaining on our statues today are laws that can see a journalist dragged before the Australian courts for merely making a statement or a comment that offends or insults. We are in no position to lecture other countries about freedom of speech and freedom of the media while we still have those laws on our statutes. As the previous speaker, the member for Kingsford Smith noted, 'Journalists should not be put on trial for doing their job.' Unfortunately, we have had journalists here in Australia who have been taken before the courts simply for doing their job.

In speaking on this motion, we should use this opportunity to congratulate the regime of el-Sisi, the new Egyptian President, and try and have some understanding of the problems and difficulties that he currently faces. Egypt is a country where something like 26 per cent of the population over 10 years of age are illiterate, they are running a substantial budget deficit and they have high unemployment. All the countries around them have enormous political instability, which feeds into and affects Egypt. If you go through all the challenges that Egypt has, we can only congratulate President el-Sisi; he deserves our support. Australia and the rest of the world should be getting behind the Egyptian nation, giving them the support that they need to get through these difficult times.

We have seen in the Middle East, over recent years, a great naivety about democracy. There seems to be a misguided understanding that you can simply implant democracy in a country and that the country will go overnight from being almost a totalitarian dictatorship to a full democracy while maintaining the rights and liberties of minorities. This is a greatly naive idea. We see today the complete chaos in Syria, in Libya and in Iraq. These countries need time to develop their democracy, to allow their institutions to develop roots. It is not something you can just force on these countries and expect them to provide full democratic rights for their whole population—not when they face all these internal problems. You cannot expect that to happen overnight.

In speaking about Egypt and the problems that they have currently and will have for many years, last week we saw the appalling beheading of 21 Egyptian citizens, 21 Coptic Christians, in Libya. I do not think that many of us have ever seen such depravity or unspeakable evil. In thinking of Peter Greste, the difficulties that Egypt has and the issue of free speech, we should also send our condolences to the families and friends of those Egyptian citizens who were killed in such brutal and horrific circumstances.

I commend this motion to the House. Freedom of speech is an important concept. Democracy is an important concept. But we must work with Egypt, the largest nation in the Middle East, to help them develop that democracy and establish those institutional roots.

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