Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I recently met with representatives of the National Council of Churches in Australia about human rights violations in West Papua. A delegation of 11 church leaders from Australia, the US and Fiji visited West Papua earlier this year to see for themselves the situation in that territory and to offer moral encouragement to a people who have experienced international isolation. In 2014, when Indonesian President Joko Widodo was still a presidential candidate, he declared that there would be a new deal for West Papuans. As President, he declared in May this year that foreign journalists would be welcome to visit West Papua. However, the rules governing media access remain unclear.

The NCCA reports that political prisoners remain in prison and that harassment, torture and extrajudicial killings of West Papuans—including children—by Indonesian security personnel continue. On 29 September, two high school students were shot in Timika. On 8 October, a number of West Papuans, including students, monks and a local journalist, were beaten and arrested while conducting a peaceful demonstration against the Paniai massacre of five teenagers by Indonesian police last December. Much of the killing is allegedly being carried out by the elite unit called Detachment 88 of the Indonesian National Police, which I am informed has been trained and armed by Australia since the Bali and Jakarta terrorist attacks. As the AFP noted, in a response to the ABC's The 7:30 Report, 'Indonesian law does not differentiate between terrorism, separatism and insurgency'. It would extremely concerning if Australia is facilitating serious violations of human rights in West Papua. I call upon the Australian government to investigate, to call for accountability, and to cease any assistance to D88.

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