Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I join with the comments just made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the death of Mrs Tsvangirai. All members of the House, I believe, share a deep concern about events in Zimbabwe. All members of the House have seen the extraordinary developments in internal politics in Zimbabwe in recent times. Some years ago the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition and I were in Zimbabwe in the lead-up to parliamentary elections. The violence that we saw on that occasion and that has ensued since then has been meted out, in particular, on members of the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Mr Tsvangirai with great courage, great commitment and great resilience. This extraordinary tragedy involving his wife is something for which I believe all members express not only their sympathy to him but also a deep sense of concern about his welfare and the arduous responsibilities he now faces in seeking to bring some level of normality to the political administration of Zimbabwe. The people of Zimbabwe deserve much better than history has dealt them in the last decade plus.

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: the opposition joins with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister in expressing its deep sympathy to the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, on the tragic death of his wife. We extend our deepest sympathy to the Prime Minister and his family.

As the Prime Minister indicated, Mr Tsvangirai has had an extraordinarily difficult time over many years as the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. After many years struggling against the regime of Robert Mugabe he finally took his place as Prime Minister, and to have this tragedy occur—the death of his wife—was indeed an extraordinary blow. The opposition joins with the government in sending our deepest sympathies to the people of Zimbabwe and the Tsvangirai family.