Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

notes:

(a)   the actions of the Myanmar military is a direct assault on Myanmar's transition to democracy and the rule of law; and

(b) Australia is a great friend of Myanmar and is deeply concerned for the welfare and wellbeing of the people of Myanmar;

(2) condemns the Myanmar military for:

(a) seizing control of Myanmar; and

(b) the detention of numerous political and civil society leaders in Myanmar; and

(3) calls on the:

(a) Myanmar military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized and release the activists and officials they have detained; and

(b) Government to review Australia's defence cooperation program with Myanmar in light of the Myanmar military's seizure of power and consider additional targeted sanctions as appropriate.

The actions in Myanmar have shocked all of us. We can only do one thing as parliamentarians and as civil leaders, and that is to condemn the actions of the Myanmar military. In my opening statements I would like to note on the record again parts of this motion. It says:

That this House:

notes:

the actions of the Myanmar military is a direct assault on Myanmar's transition to democracy and the rule of law—

It goes on:

condemns the Myanmar military for:

(a) seizing control of Myanmar; and

(b) the detention of numerous political and civil society leaders—

in the country. It then:

calls on the:

Myanmar military to immediately relinquish the power they have seized and release the activists and officials they have detained—

I note government members will be speaking on this motion, and I welcome them to join Labor and other members of this place in this motion. I know that many others wanted to speak today, but with the time allotted for this debate we couldn't have as many speakers as we would like.

Australia is a great friend of Myanmar and is deeply concerned for its welfare and wellbeing. Since announcing and tabling this motion, I've had many people reach out to me. The transition to democracy has not been smooth—granted—but it has been extensive. We can be very proud in this place in the role that Australia and Australian parliamentarians have played and the way in which Myanmar has come along that path.

In 2011 they held their first elections in many years—not a full election. In 2015, it was their first full and free election for many decades. I had the great privilege of being there on that day as one of the international observers selected by this parliament to represent our role in that transition.

Many may forget that the Australian Electoral Commission was involved in helping Myanmar establish their own electoral commission. They attended our 2013 election and worked out very quickly what they did not want to see what happen in Myanmar in 2015. But, as Senator Dean Smith and Senator Scott Ludlam and myself witnessed, so much of what happened on that day mimicked and reflected what happened in Australia. Voting occurred in school halls and in faith based institutions. The school principal or head mistress tended to be the head of the polling division. There were scrutineers involved at all stages. I can remember getting there at six o'clock in the morning and thinking that there is no Australian I would know who would be there at six o'clock ready to vote when polling opened. But, on this day in 2015, they did. There were queues. People were so excited to be able to cast a vote for the first time in decades, and they did. After that time, we saw the transition—a government, a parliament.

I also had the opportunity to visit their parliament in 2019, and I witnessed their parliament in action. Their question time—I have to be frank—is a lot more constructive than our own: MPs, including government MPs, asked their own ministers questions and had slideshow presentations, and their questions would quite often go for a couple of minutes. They asked about issues that mattered to their community. These are just two examples of how far this country has come—how they, as a people, have embraced democracy. I acknowledge the role that civil society has played in Myanmar throughout the decades, particularly in the last three weeks, since the military coup.

Like many Australians, I am concerned about the violence. I am concerned about the detention and I am concerned about the deaths that have occurred. I join many other parliamentarians in this place and parliamentarians all over the world calling for the military to give up the power that they have seized and hand it back to the democratically elected people.

Australia has a role to play. We have done it in the past, and we can do it again today. This motion is one step on that journey. I hope that this is the first of many motions and many opportunities for parliamentarians to come together in this place, and an opportunity for the Australian government to again be a world leader when it comes to Myanmar. Let us join the steps of the United States, of the UK and of Canada and place sanctions on a military who refuse to give back power to the democratically elected people. The people are on the path to democracy, and we should stand with them.

See this speech in context