Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

notes the grave and ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in Zimbabwe;

(2)

expresses its concern at the unacceptable delay in the release of official results from the 29 March 2008 presidential election in that country, and records its concern that this delay was part of a ploy by the incumbent Mugabe Government to fraudulently retain power;

(3)

asserts that the democratic choice of the people of Zimbabwe must be respected, and that the second, run-off presidential election, to be held by 31 July 2008, must be free, fair and without intimidation;

(4)

calls on the Zimbabwe Election Commission to invite international election observers to monitor the election including observers from the African Union and the United Nations;

(5)

confirms its commitment to the fundamental democratic requirement of a free and open media, and urges the Zimbabwe Government to allow international media full access to Zimbabwe to report on and properly scrutinise the run-off election;

(6)

condemns the use of violence and other kinds of intimidation or manipulation by election participants in Zimbabwe, including by associates of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front party, in attempts to pervert the democratic process;

(7)

expresses its hope that the election process can be resolved in order that a properly constituted government of Zimbabwe can turn its full attention to addressing the serious problems afflicting its people, including severe food shortages, a spiralling rate of HIV/AIDS infection, high level unemployment, raging inflation and the lack of basic health services;

(8)

welcomes the Australian Government’s humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe which provides humanitarian relief and human rights support for ordinary Zimbabweans; and

(9)

supports the Minister for Foreign Affairs in his efforts on Australia’s behalf in seeking to cooperate with the United Nations, other nations, and relevant non-government organisations to bring a rapid and peaceful resolution to the political impasse in Zimbabwe, and to address the humanitarian crisis in that country.

On 29 March this year, Zimbabweans turned out in their millions to cast their votes in their country’s parliamentary and presidential elections. The majority of Zimbabwean people bravely voted for change. This included its rural population, which has traditionally supported the ruling party. Even these people have experienced enough of the economic and social disaster that confronts them daily. The courage of the people and of the opposition—principally the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai—combined with such factors as the change to the Electoral Act requiring that votes be counted at the polling station with the results publicly posted there, meant that in the aftermath of the election it actually seemed possible that an end to the ruling tyranny might be delivered by democratic means.

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that this would not happen. The Mugabe ZANU-PF regime—a political movement that was once instrumental in ending the oppressive and undemocratic white rule in Rhodesia and that clearly had not anticipated losing the March election, which was by no means free and fair—has responded to the loss of its parliamentary majority and to Mugabe finishing second in the presidential election by determining to thwart the will of the people. Since the 29 March election, the regime has launched a campaign of violence against the leaders and mid-level activists within the opposition and against ordinary people suspected to have voted for the opposition. It has engaged in intimidation and ‘re-education’ of the population ahead of the 27 June run-off presidential election.

Members would have heard of the detention of Morgan Tsvangirai for the fifth time in about 10 days this past weekend and the arrest of the MDC’s secretary-general, Tendai Biti, who has been charged in a Harare court with treason, an offence carrying the death penalty. Mugabe vowed over the weekend to fight to keep Tsvangirai from power and said he is prepared to go to war for it.

I draw members’ attention to a report released only last week by the respected human rights organisation Human Rights Watch. The report is chillingly titled ‘Bullets for Each of You’—state-sponsored violence since Zimbabwe’s March 29 elections. The report’s frontispiece includes a quote from a soldier addressing villagers in Karoi, Mashonaland West. The soldier is reported to have said:

If you vote for MDC in the presidential runoff election, you have seen the bullets, we have enough for each one of you, so beware.

The report cites information from numerous sources to support the contention that a program of anti-democratic violence and coercion has been underway since the March elections and is being guided by the Joint Operations Command in Zimbabwe, which comprises the heads of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, the police, the Central Intelligence Organisation and the prison services. The central role being played by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces within the JOC has led many experienced observers to conclude that the military in Zimbabwe is now effectively running the Mugabe regime. On this count, it is alarming to recall the statement made before the March election by General Constantine Chiwenga, commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. General Chiwenga was quoted in the Standard, a Zimbabwe newspaper, as saying that army would not ‘support or salute sell-outs and agents of the West before, during and after the presidential elections’.

Last month, after five American and two British diplomats were detained, US Ambassador James McGee observed:

We are dealing with a desperate regime here which will do anything to stay in power.

Human Rights Watch reports that victims of the violence in Zimbabwe have heard repeated reference to ‘Operation Where-Did-You-Put-Your-Vote?’ Under this operation, MDC supporters are pulled from their homes in the middle of the night and beaten with logs, whips and bicycle chains. The Human Rights Watch report documents cases of torture and murder, where the bodies of MDC activists have been found with their eyes gouged out and their tongues and lips cut off. Some have had their genitals mutilated. It is also reported that the government now requires people to surrender their identity cards before receiving food aid. ZANU-PF supporters have their cards returned. MDC supporters do not, and so will not be able to vote on 27 June.

As of 27 May, Human Rights Watch had confirmed at least 36 deaths—and I understand this figure has since risen to about 60—and around 2,000 victims of violence and torture. The overwhelming majority of these were MDC activists or supporters, and some have been observers from the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network. Foreign journalists have been banned and there has been a crackdown on local journalists critical of the regime. This, of course, is not new behaviour for the regime. Members will recall that, following the release of footage of a badly beaten Tsvangirai in March 2007 which sparked international outrage, the cameraman who filmed those images, Edward Chikombo, was found dead a few days later.

In the last month, Care International has been ordered to stop operations on the trumped-up charge of interfering in the electoral process. This is a non-government organisation that provides aid to 500,000 people in Zimbabwe. On 2 May, UNICEF condemned ‘increases in violence against children’ and noted, on 21 May, that widespread violence was hindering its relief efforts in Zimbabwe.

As the Chairperson of the UNICEF Parliamentary Association and as someone who has spent most of the last decade working for the United Nations and alongside a range of significant non-government organisations, I am appalled by the way in which aid agencies are being prevented from doing their work in a country whose people so badly need that help. I am afraid that, in such an environment of violence, intimidation and manipulation of food aid, there cannot be a credible run-off election.

I would like to mention the role of South Africa at this point. It is deeply disappointing that South Africa’s President Mbeki has refused to condemn the state-sponsored violence and intimidation ravaging Zimbabwe, even claiming that it is a normal election process in Zimbabwe. However, a recent report by six retired South African generals documenting political violence in Zimbabwe is encouraging and may provide the impetus for a stronger line to be taken by Pretoria. We have also heard some forceful statements from Jacob Zuma, leader of the African National Congress. It is essential now that South Africa as well as other southern African nations play a key role in resolving this political and humanitarian crisis.

This is also the view of the International Crisis Group, which issued a report on 21 May entitled Negotiating Zimbabwe’s transition. In that report, the Crisis Group advocates an expanded Southern African Development Community mediation, including key SADC countries such as Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. This local mediation would be ‘backed by quiet but concerted wider international support’ and, the report says:

… should focus on two immediate alternative objectives: negotiating the establishment of a transitional government headed by Tsvangirai and involving substantial ZANU-PF participation that avoids the need for a run-off; and if that fails, negotiating the conditions for the holding of a free and fair run-off between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.

Time is running out for a negotiated settlement on a transitional government. We are now only 11 days away from the date set for the run-off election, 27 June.

Prime Minister Rudd has called on African nations, particularly the SADC and the African Union nations, to speak with one voice about the importance of democracy and the will of the people prevailing in Zimbabwe. Of course, Australia stands ready to provide human, technical and financial aid to the monitoring of both the electoral process and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, as well as a further $8 million in food aid.

In endorsing the doctrine of a ‘responsibility to protect’ at the 2005 World Summit, world leaders accepted that the concept of state sovereignty implies not only rights but also duties towards citizens of the state to protect them against, inter alia, crimes against humanity. Where the state is unwilling or unable to fulfil its duties, the ‘responsibility to protect’ falls to the international community. I submit that the situation in Zimbabwe may well be an appropriate case for the application of the principle of a ‘responsibility to protect’.

There is compelling evidence that the Mugabe regime has abandoned its responsibility for the people of Zimbabwe and is sacrificing the welfare of its citizens to achieve its own political survival. As the International Crisis Group has said:

If Mugabe wins the run-off through fraud and/or violence and intimidation, his government should be declared illegitimate … and appropriate regional and wider international actions should be taken to deal with what would clearly be a rogue regime.

This motion expresses the sincere hope that sanity will prevail despite all present indications to the contrary and that we will see in the near future a new and properly-constituted democratic government in Zimbabwe, a government that can turn its full attention to addressing the serious problems afflicting its people. Australia is ready to play a constructive role in supporting a southern African solution to this crisis and in helping to rebuild Zimbabwe’s ravaged economy and infrastructure, its long-term health, the dignity of its people and its future in a post-Mugabe world.

Janelle Saffin (Page, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I commend the member for Fremantle for bringing the motion on Zimbabwe before the House and I endorse her remarks completely. This is not the first time this matter has been debated by this parliament and it will not be the last. Zimbabwe, under Mugabe, has been sinking into the abyss for almost three decades. The subject matter of this motion is also too common: Zimbabwe, the Congo, Darfur, Kosovo, Iraq, Burma—the list goes on. Sadly, what shocks me about these situations is no longer that these regimes exist but that in the 21st century we continue to tolerate them, elevating the rights of the state above those of individual human beings.

A few weeks ago I spoke of the need to give real meaning to the doctrine of a ‘responsibility to protect’ in relation to Darfur and Burma; tonight I renew that call for Zimbabwe. However, in our post-Iraq world, I wonder whether we have lost our resolve. Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has recently concluded, in the wake of the Iraq war, that ‘the concept of humanitarian intervention has lost momentum’. Recently, the Prime Minister also said that we must learn the lessons of our involvement in Iraq. But does this mean that the world must once again turn inwards?

The Robert Mugabes of this world are counting on it, and they have been heartened by the season of post-Iraq revisionism that has been taking place. Now is not the time to lessen our resolve, nor to be verballed into a post-Iraq recant on actions that brought to an end the despotic and brutal regime of Saddam Hussein.

In 1999 the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair set out his new doctrine of international community to the Economic Club of Chicago. In making his case, he drew attention to the serious threat to our international community of ‘two dangerous and ruthless men—Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic’. He said:

Both have been prepared to wage vicious campaigns against sections of their own community … both have brought calamity on their own peoples.

He also said:

Twenty years ago we would not have been fighting in Kosovo. We would have turned our backs on it.

However, as he said:

We are all internationalists now … We cannot turn our backs on conflicts and the violation of human rights within other countries if we want still to be secure.

Tony Blair was right then and he is right now. In Kosovo, this doctrine succeeded, and has been seen to succeed, despite the fact that the legality of that intervention still remains unclear. By contrast, in Iraq, despite the fact that Saddam Hussein is dead and the people of Iraq are now fighting to create their own democratic future, the perception is very different. In urging Europe and the world to hold its course on Kosovo, Mr Blair said:

If NATO fails in Kosovo, the next dictator to be threatened with military force may well not believe our resolve to carry the threat through.

For those now engaging in post-Iraq revisionism, let them take care not to create similar doubt in the minds of the Robert Mugabes of this world about our international resolve.

Tyranny in Zimbabwe is not new. For too long the human rights of those who live in Zimbabwe have taken second place to the rights of sovereign states. The country that was once the breadbasket of Africa is now a basket case. The promise of independence and a new beginning for Zimbabwe in 1980 has become a nightmare. Mugabe, who had once been described by Desmond Tutu as ‘one of the bright stars of the African constellation’, is now described by Tutu as a ‘caricature of an African dictator’ who has ‘gone bonkers in a big way’.

The economic vandalism of Mugabe’s policies, particularly in relation to land tenure, has created 165,000 per cent annual inflation, 80 per cent unemployment and more than one-third collapse in GDP, and has led to around one-third of their population, including doctors and other professionals essential for Zimbabwe’s future, fleeing the country. Mugabe’s land tenure policies are at the core of Zimbabwe’s destruction. They are the product of a leader who sought to maintain power not by creating a new future for his country and his people but by engaging in the evil and brutal politics of hatred, prejudice and division.

Today, as we read of his actions to deny food aid—as the member for Fremantle was outlining—to his own people in order to cling to power, the historical record shows that this is nothing new for Mugabe. In 1984 he used the same tactic against the then supporters of his rival Joshua Nkomo. In an area where 400,000 people were heavily reliant on relief deliveries and food supplies from local stores, Mugabe closed the stores and halted food deliveries. An officer in the notorious 5 Brigade, established by Mugabe, explained the army’s food policy to locals by saying:

First you will eat your chickens, then your goats, then your cattle, then your donkeys. Then you will eat your children and finally you will eat the dissidents.

These same tactics were used almost 20 years later, when the impact of Mugabe’s land raids, combined with drought, left seven million people at risk of starvation. The state controlled Grain Marketing Board blocked distribution of maize supplies, again, to opposition areas. This time his opponents were the supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change. It is therefore no surprise that Mugabe is once again using food aid as a weapon against his own people to serve his own brutal ends. It is also no surprise that the opposition leader has been arrested five times now and that his party secretary is in jail. It is sadly no surprise that the US based Human Rights Watch, as the previous speaker mentioned, has documented 36—and now I understand 60—cases of politically motivated murders and 2,000 victims of a campaign of killings, abductions, beatings and torture. This is the reality the people of Zimbabwe have been living with under Mugabe for decades.

Australia has made the case on Zimbabwe over many years. The Howard government supported their expulsion from the Commonwealth, imposed economic sanctions and travel restrictions, increased humanitarian aid and took the cases of human rights abuses—in partnership with Canada and New Zealand—to the United Nations and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. All of these actions must continue, and I am very confident that they will continue under the new government. Of particular importance is the need to keep pressure on the African Union, and South Africa in particular, to bring about the obvious desired outcome in Zimbabwe.

On June 27 we hope for a different future for Zimbabwe, but we cannot delude ourselves that a simple change in government on its own will bring about a changed future for the people of Zimbabwe. We should remind ourselves that, following the official end of the war in the Congo in 2003, two million people have since died. Of particular relevance is that disputes relating to land tenure have been behind many of these conflicts that have led to deaths in the Congo. As an international community we must turn our minds to the post-Mugabe era and address this situation as we would for a country that is emerging from a sustained and bloody conflict. The Zimbabwean economy has collapsed by more than a third since 1999. This compares to an average decline in GDP in civil wars in African countries of just 15 per cent. We need a plan for a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe, and Australia should be taking a lead role through the Commonwealth and other international forums to make this happen, as has been highlighted by the member for Goldstein.

Key factors that need to be addressed include the following: re-establish as a priority the rule of law by removing the politicisation and corruption endemic in the police force, military, intelligence services and judiciary—where appropriate, this must include the support and deployment of UN and AU forces; bring together donor countries, the World Bank and other international agencies to prioritise Zimbabwe’s economic development needs and to provide support through a national reconstruction fund, not unlike that employed by the US in Iraq; task a team of legal experts to begin work on developing options for land title reform to assist the new government to address perhaps its greatest economic and political challenge; initiate a process for justice and reconciliation based on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission experience in South Africa and as also applied in Rwanda; bring together a major global relief fund with staged contributions that reflect the capacity of the country to absorb such aid; make available the expertise and personnel needed to rapidly increase the institutional capacity to absorb humanitarian aid through a conference of NGOs with donor countries and local officials to identify immediate priorities, such as food relief, as well as putting in place longer term programs on issues such as HIV-AIDS; and seek to engage the resources and support of the Zimbabwean diaspora in the reconstruction effort, including staged resettlement and the infusion of much needed skills and experience.

Our task as an international community in Zimbabwe is great. It has been made greater by our obfuscation over almost three decades. It is our hope that work will be able to commence on June 27. If our hope is denied, then let us finally act as an international community to value the human rights of those living in Zimbabwe higher than the rights of a despotic regime to sovereign statehood. If our hope is realised, then let us write a new chapter in the doctrine of international community which creates a new future for Zimbabwe and sends a message to both the despots and those who suffer at their hands that in this new world things will change.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Fremantle and Cook for their remarks—particularly the member for Fremantle for introducing to the House this desperately sad and tragic motion on Zimbabwe. I am reminded by the member for Pearce that this House has discussed Zimbabwe and the tragic situation there five times previously. This afternoon I received from the Catholic aid agency Caritas their usual glossy publication, and it has a few paragraphs that are worth reading:

POST-ELECTION VIOLENCE AND disruption has taken a heavy toll. Brutal images of people burnt, beaten and abused by Mugabe’s goons have spread around the world—many too shocking to make it into the mainstream media. With the future stability of what was once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa just decades ago, no result tatters the hopes and futures of the people of Zimbabwe.

Prior to the political stalemate—

of the 29 March elections—

the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe had been deteriorating for over 20 years under the maniacal rule of Robert Mugabe. Average life expectancy has crashed in the last decade—

and the House should hear this statistic—

from 63 years to 34 years.

In one decade, in a whole country, their life expectancy has decreased from 63 years to 34 years.

Over four million people are presently dependent on food aid and inflation is at over 160,000% putting basic foods out of the reach of many Zimbabweans. It is now estimated that … 80% of the country’s population live in extreme poverty, while an additional three million have … left the country in search of work.

Of course, there is also the situation with HIV-AIDS in Zimbabwe as a result of the neglect of the government: 2,200 people are dying every week; 240 children aged below 15 are dying of HIV-AIDS per week in Zimbabwe; and 1,265,000 children are currently orphans in Zimbabwe—over 10 per cent of the total population. The great writer Christopher Hitchens, in the Weekend Australian, had this to say:

THE scale of state-sponsored crime and terror in Zimbabwe has escalated to the point where we are compelled to watch not just the systematic demolition of democracy and human rights in that country but also something not very far removed from slow-motion mass murder a la Burma.

The order from the Mugabe regime that closes down all international aid groups is significant, given the situation I have just described, Mr Hitchens argues, because:

It expresses the ambition for total control by the state and it represents a direct threat—“vote for us or starve”—to the already desperate civilian population—

of that country. He writes:

The organisation CARE … for example, which reaches 500,000 impoverished Zimbabweans, has been ordered to suspend operations.

And there is a little paragraph Mr Hitchens points out, almost buried in the larger report of the atrocities of that regime, that speaks volumes:

“The UN Children’s Fund said Monday that 10,000 children had been displaced by the violence, scores had been beaten and some schools had been taken over by pro-government forces and turned into centres of torture.”

What more can we add to words like that? Mr Hitchens makes the point that, in this desperate situation, perhaps two leaders of world moral authority and integrity—His Holiness the Pope and the great leader of South Africa’s liberation, Nelson Mandela—have an important role. His Holiness the Pope, because Robert Mugabe is a Catholic, should add his voice to the international demands for a free election for the liberation of the people of Zimbabwe from Robert Mugabe’s tyrannical rule. But I want to conclude with Mr Hitchens’s painful appeal to the great Nelson Mandela:

It is the silence of Mandela, much more than anything else, that bruises the soul. It appears to make a mockery of all the brave talk about international standards for human rights, about the need for internationalist solidarity and the brotherhood of man, and all that.

There is perhaps only one person in the world who symbolises that spirit and he has chosen to betray it. Or is it possible, before the grisly travesty of the run-off of June 27—

the election in Zimbabwe—

that the old lion will summon one last powerful growl?

Let us hope, for the tortured people of Zimbabwe, that he does. Nelson Mandela, the world needs you to lead the campaign to liberate the people of Zimbabwe as you liberated your own people.

Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the motion put forward by the member for Fremantle. The opening paragraph of an article by Stephen Bevan in today’s Sydney Morning Herald highlights yet again the concerns raised by the rest of the world for the people of Zimbabwe. He writes:

THE President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has declared that he will go to war if he loses the presidential election in two weeks’ time.

I address the House today to express my concern for the people of Zimbabwe amid the current climate of political turmoil and crumbling civility. This is a country where the life expectancy is only 34 years of age, where over four million people depend on international aid and where over 80 per cent of the population live in extreme poverty. Robert Mugabe has terrorised the people of Zimbabwe for too long, and it is essential that democracy be allowed to have its effect and that his reign end.

I urge the Minister for Foreign Affairs to continue his efforts on Australia’s behalf, and I urge that the Australian government play a more critical role in calling for international assistance for the citizens of Zimbabwe. It is essential that the government elected in Zimbabwe can take action on the problems faced in that nation and start the arduous, hard work that will be required to provide the basic services that the people so desperately deserve. The current situation in Zimbabwe is best summarised by one doctor, who stated:

Put simply, people are dying of AIDS before they can starve to death.

According to Caritas News, 2,200 people die of AIDS every week. Of those, 240 are children aged less than 15 years. Over 10 per cent of the total population are orphans, and nearly 1 million of them are HIV-AIDS orphans. This is a tragedy.

I support the motion to express concern with regard to the inconceivable delay of the release of the official results from the presidential election conducted on 29 March. This assault on democracy was clearly nothing but a last-ditch attempt to starve the people of Zimbabwe of what they deserve—change. It was a gross miscarriage of justice that once again stood in the way of constitutional rule, and yet few were surprised. It is essential that the consequential run-off election not be conducted with the same arrogance and disdain for the rule of law on the part of Mugabe, even though the stories in today’s paper tell a different story. It must be conducted without intimidation.

Reports of violence are all too frequent, with an article in the South African Times reporting over 60 murders of Movement for Democratic Change supporters since the March election alone. Even in today’s age of superefficient international communication, it is a constant battle for Zimbabweans, who are subject to the most appalling censorship in the world. Australia should immediately renew calls for international journalists to be allowed to have access to Zimbabwe and to report their findings without fear of retribution. It is simply unacceptable for a dictatorship of this nature to have any place in the modern world. The people of Zimbabwe deserve better—much better.

Whilst I support the Minister for Foreign Affairs in his endeavours so far, I call upon this government to do more to help in Zimbabwe. Australia should be leading the charge for international pressure in Zimbabwe. I support the shadow minister in his appeal to Mr Rudd to call on the Commonwealth Secretary-General to convene a Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting to influence the African leaders. The only way to secure a fair and true outcome in this run-off election is through the pressure of African leaders and the presence of Commonwealth observers.

Australia needs to provide the people of Zimbabwe all possible assistance in changing their government if that is their desire. The basic rights are outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Presently Zimbabweans are denied the right to protection from arbitrary arrest; the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right to take part in the government of their country; the right to work; the right to a standard of living adequate for health and wellbeing; and, the right to education.

Not only are they being denied these essential rights and freedoms, they are subject to gross mismanagement of the economy, which has resulted in financial chaos. The current inflation rate is at a mind-boggling 160,000 per cent. It is one of the few countries in the world where billionaires cannot afford a loaf of bread. The maladministered treasury continues to print money and government spending is increasing to put upward pressure on the already-skyrocketing figure. Mugabe has failed the people of Zimbabwe by anyone’s standards and the people have had enough.

Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak in support of the motion on Zimbabwe moved by the member for Fremantle and seconded by the member for Cook and to endorse the comments of other speakers in this House. I note, with some pride, that this is a bipartisan position taken by members of this chamber. I especially want to acknowledge the member for Fremantle and her experience and expertise in international human rights, and thank her for bringing this matter to the attention of the House. As I said, I am confident that her concerns are shared not only by all member of this House but also by all members of this parliament. The Australian government have expressed our grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian and political crisis in Zimbabwe. The situation in Zimbabwe has already deteriorated to the point where human rights simply no longer exist in this once-proud nation. Over the weekend Robert Mugabe said that the Opposition Movement for Democratic Change, the MDC, would never rule Zimbabwe and that he was prepared to go to war to prevent them doing so.

Media reports of Mugabe’s stepped-up rhetoric quote him as saying ‘Should this country be taken by traitors ... it is impossible’ and ‘It shall never happen ... as long as I am alive’. I think this is a stark example of Mugabe’s blatant disregard for the democratic rights of the Zimbabwean people. It makes clear his unwillingness to accept their will at the forthcoming presidential run-off election scheduled for 27 June. The situation is spiralling downwards to its sad, horrific and almost inevitable conclusion. If this downward spiral is allowed to continue, a further generation of Zimbabweans will be lost to this unimaginable tyranny.

In question time today the minister spoke of the Australian government’s grave concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe. He made clear the Australian government’s condemnation of the Mugabe regime’s campaign of violence and fear against the opposition and the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe. It is a deliberate intimidation of opposition leaders and supporters, as well as ordinary Zimbabweans, designed to pervert and obstruct the will of the Zimbabwean people.

We have read about the arrests of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai while campaigning—some five times in the last nine days—and of the fact that the MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti remains in detention accused of treason, and there are confirmed reports of state-sponsored violence against Zimbabwean citizens.

Reading reports from media sources around the world is heart-wrenching. The Guardian newspaper in the UK is reporting that, as of last week, at least 66 opposition supporters had been killed by activists from the ruling ZANU-PF Party in order to intimidate voters before the presidential run-off. The Reuters news agency reported on Friday that the ongoing violence is, of course, damaging Zimbabwe’s children. They report that, according to UNICEF, the Mugabe regime’s ban on international aid organisations has left hundreds of thousands of children without health care or food.

As of this afternoon, the BBC’s news website is reporting that violence against opposition supporters is no longer confined to rural districts and has now spread right to the capital, Harare. Even later this afternoon, there was a terrible report in the Independent newspaper of the UK, by a journalist in Johannesburg, that Mugabe had already secured a comfortable head start of at least 130,000 votes through rigged voting by members of the security forces in this month’s run-off election against the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. He said:

Members of the army, air force and police have been forced to cast ballots in favour of Mr Mugabe at their barracks and stations.

He went on to say:

Although coercive voting of this kind has been attempted before, military sources said it was considerably worse this time, with spouses and children—particularly those living in barracks and police camps—also being forced to fill ballots for Mr Mugabe.

The Zimbabwe government’s suspension of humanitarian NGO activity in Zimbabwe is the greatest as well as the latest affront to human rights. It is an outrage, and many people will suffer as a result.

It is, as the Hon. Senator Faulkner said today, ‘immoral and represents a callous move by the Mugabe regime to use food security as a political weapon against its own people’. I also agree with the Hon. Stephen Smith, Minister for Foreign Affairs, that it is not enough for the United Kingdom, the United States or indeed Australia to act; African Union states must unite against this denial of democracy.

Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think I only have a minute to respond, but I am very pleased to rise to support this motion, which rightly condemns Mugabe’s regime for subverting the electoral process and, furthermore, for compromising the welfare of all Zimbabweans in his own brutal pursuit of holding on to power. I commend the member for Fremantle for bringing this matter forward tonight. The future of Zimbabwe is once again at the crossroads. We are witnessing the destruction of a nation, an escalating crisis and a need for action.

In the interests of time I just want to make one or two major points. We need the African leaders to act as one. We need to see African leaders like Nelson Mandela presenting a strong point of view—taking on, advising and pressuring Mr Mugabe. Other leaders should follow the lead of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and call for the resignation of President Mugabe.

We, as a country, should look to the Commonwealth to convene a special heads of government meeting to put pressure again on the African leaders. One third of the Commonwealth heads of government members are African leaders. Action must be taken and it must be taken now.

Debate interrupted.