Stephen Smith (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I wish to update the House on the situation in Zimbabwe. 11 February 2010 was the first anniversary of the swearing in of Mr Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister in Zimbabwe’s Inclusive Government, a significant milestone in Zimbabwe’s recent political history.

This followed on from the 15 September 2008 Global Political Agreement which created the Inclusive Zimbabwe Government under the joint leadership of Robert Mugabe as President and Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.

Australia continues to support Prime Minister Tsvangirai in his view that the Global Political Agreement presents the best prospect of a better future for Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe faced daunting challenges at the time the Inclusive Government was formed. Members will recall the shocking collapse in Zimbabwe’s economy, the squandered opportunities, the dramatic decline in life expectancy, the millions of people who required food aid and the cholera epidemic of 2008 and 2009.

I can advise that, since my last report to the House on 15 September last year, the Inclusive Government has made modest but tangible progress. Sensible financial reforms are being implemented, and schools and health care facilities have been reopened. The introduction of hard currency has largely brought inflation under control. Goods have been returned to the shelves. This has delivered a degree of relief to ordinary Zimbabweans who had suffered so much as their country was brought to the brink of ruin following 30 years’ rule by Mr Mugabe.

Late last year, Australia decided it would consider opportunities for ministerial engagement on a case-by-case basis with those Zimbabwean ministers making a genuine contribution to the country’s social and economic recovery. Consistent with this policy, in London on 28 January I met Zimbabwean Finance Minister, the Hon. Tendai Biti, to discuss ongoing reconstruction efforts in Zimbabwe. Improvements in Zimbabwe’s economy are largely due to the reforms implemented by Finance Minister Biti. Zimbabwe’s hard-fought gains have taken a long time to achieve and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Finance Minister Biti and their Movement for Democratic Change ministerial colleagues are to be congratulated for their resolve.

Further recognition of these reforms came on 19 February this year when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) restored Zimbabwe’s voting rights at the meeting of its executive board in Washington. Australia supported this decision, which recognises the progress made by Zimbabwe in its relationship with the IMF. The decision by the IMF will restore Zimbabwe’s voting rights originally suspended in June 2003. It will enable Zimbabwe to participate in voting on IMF governors’ resolutions and again be represented at the IMF Executive Board by the Executive Director for the Anglo-African constituency. It will allow Zimbabwe to enhance its engagement with the international community and give it more opportunity to seek international assistance for its development goals.

In January this year I visited South Africa and Botswana, two important members of the Southern African Development Community—or SADC—and two important neighbours of Zimbabwe. As the facilitator of the interparty negotiations that led to the current Global Political Agreement, South Africa will continue to play a vital role in encouraging Zimbabwe to choose the path of recovery. I welcome news overnight that President Zuma of South Africa will travel to Harare from 16 to 18 March to meet with the parties to the Global Political Agreement.

South Africa was appointed by SADC to facilitate full implementation of the Global Political Agreement. As a close neighbour and leading SADC member, Botswana also has an important and robust role to play.

I was the first Australian foreign minister to visit South Africa in more than seven years earlier this year and the first Australian foreign minister to visit Botswana and SADC headquarters in Gaborone. During my visit, I discussed Zimbabwe and its progress towards implementation of the Global Political Agreement with my counterparts, South African foreign minister Nkoana-Mashabane and Botswana’s foreign minister, Phandu Skelemani, as well as Botswana’s President Ian Khama and Ambassador Zulu, a member of President Zuma’s troika on Zimbabwe. Prime Minister Rudd and I also discussed the situation in Zimbabwe with President Khama during his recent state visit to Australia.

Australia supports the role of Zimbabwe’s neighbours, through SADC, in overseeing the Global Political Agreement. Australia as well recognises the importance of the African Union in supporting Zimbabwe as it tackles its grave economic, political and social challenges. In my discussions in both Pretoria and Gaborone, my foreign ministerial colleagues and I agreed that Australia and South Africa, and Australia and Botswana, should be in closer dialogue over Zimbabwe. We know that there will be a need for the social and economic rebuilding of Zimbabwe, and Australia wants to work closely with Zimbabwe’s neighbours in that rebuilding process.

During my visit to South Africa, I announced Australia would provide $6 million worth of assistance to Zimbabwe, in cooperation with South Africa, to support recovery efforts focused on revitalising Zimbabwe’s domestic tax administration and for technical assistance in areas such as water and water sanitation. Australia’s assistance to strengthen the capacity of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority will assist Zimbabwe’s financial stabilisation and economic recovery. The resulting increase in revenue collection will strengthen the Zimbabwean government’s capacity to expand social and capital programs and realise development plans. This is a practical demonstration of Australia’s assistance helping to rebuild the country after years of neglect and misrule.

Australia has been at the forefront of international efforts, both political and humanitarian, to assist Zimbabwe. Australia strongly believes the international community needs to take a flexible and pragmatic approach to assisting Zimbabwe. We have a responsibility to support Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his ministers in their efforts to bring positive change to Zimbabwe. We have a responsibility to bolster the cause of reform.

Following the formation of the Inclusive Government in February 2009, Australia was one of the first countries to deliver what has become known as ‘humanitarian plus’ assistance. In March 2009 I announced that the time had come for Australia to render assistance beyond emergency food and medical supplies; that the need to rebuild Zimbabwe’s social and economic fabric had forced us to look beyond simple emergency relief to longer term measures to help restore capacity in essential services, such as water, education and health care. I announced Australian support for two projects:

• $5 million for cooperation with UNICEF to support Zimbabwe’s local authorities take control of and responsibility for water infrastructure; and
• $5 million working with the United Kingdom Department for International Development, or DFID, to provide incentives to health professionals to rejoin a collapsed health system.

This assistance was provided through reputable international organisations working directly with local authorities to reduce the prospects of this funding being diverted by President Mugabe or his associates. Australia continues to have in place robust implementation and monitoring systems to minimise the risk of funds being misused or misdirected. Since the establishment of the Inclusive Government, Australian assistance has included:

• $5 million through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, which is an Africa-wide initiative that finances private sector activities that will boost Zimbabwe’s rural economy and address the long-term food security needs of the Zimbabwean people;
• $2 million through UNICEF to support Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education in acquiring much-needed material, including textbooks for Zimbabwean schools;
• $5 million in food aid through the World Food Program; and
• $6 million for assistance to build Zimbabwe’s taxation administration and mobilisation of technical expertise in water and sanitation, in cooperation with South Africa, to which I have previously referred.

Further announcements of assistance can be expected in due course.

At some point in the cycle, President Mugabe will move off the stage. At some point in the cycle, Australia looks forward to seeing a full and free and fair election in Zimbabwe. At some point in the cycle, the international community, including Australia, will be asked to assist on the very difficult job of rebuilding Zimbabwe’s economic, social and political fabric. Australia is very keen to play our role.

Zimbabwe’s situation remains fragile, but with support from Australia and other donors the country has taken its first steps towards recovery. Australian aid is helping to rehabilitate basic water infrastructure such as pipes and boreholes, and has supported small-scale farmers through the provision of seeds and fertilisers.

The incidence of cholera is a fraction of what it was a year ago. From August 2008 to January 2009 there had been almost 2,500 deaths from more than 47,000 cases. By January 2010 there had been five deaths from 149 cases in the most recent outbreak. The number of Zimbabweans needing food aid has fallen from nearly seven million in early 2009 to an estimated two million before the next harvest in April this year.

Concerns

Despite Zimbabwe’s modest recent progress, Australia remains deeply concerned that ZANU-PF is not motivated to adhere to its obligations under the Global Political Agreement. Many of its actions are designed not merely to frustrate but to sabotage key aspects of the agreement. For that reason, Australia’s longstanding position on financial and travel sanctions will not change. These sanctions target individuals who have been complicit in the brutality of Zimbabwe’s past and who continue to obstruct economic and social reforms. These sanctions target individuals who have been responsible for, or involved in, acts to undermine the rule of law, corruption, violence and intimidation and restrictive laws and regulations. The sanctions do not affect the broader population in Zimbabwe, and they are not responsible for Zimbabwe’s economic demise. Australia will not remove sanctions which target those individuals who continue to prevent Zimbabwe from moving forward.

Much more significant progress will be required before the Australian government undertakes any broader review of Australia’s sanctions with respect to Zimbabwe. Australia places the utmost importance on the need for real and demonstrated improvement in economic and political governance. The modest progress made so far is fragile. Zimbabwe will have dim prospects so long as there is no respect for the rule of law, and the security of land tenure cannot be guaranteed.

On 15 February this year the European Union (EU) announced that it would extend restrictive measures on Zimbabwe for another year. These measures cover the supply or sale of arms, as well as travel and financial sanctions. While sanctions have been lifted on some state owned enterprises and on deceased persons, the bulk of the European Union’s restrictive measures remain in place. On 16 February this year the European Union also extended the suspension of financial support, namely, no budgetary support to government. This, however, will not affect humanitarian or other projects designed to support the implementation of the Global Political Agreement or projects in support of the general Zimbabwean population. These decisions were taken by the European Union because of Zimbabwe’s failure to adequately implement the Global Political Agreement, in addition to its failure to respect human rights, democratic principles and the rule of law.

On 1 March this year the United States also extended sanctions against specific members of the Zimbabwean government. Australia agrees with President Obama’s description of the actions of those undermining reform in Zimbabwe as having:

… contributed to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe, to politically motivated violence and intimidation in that country and to political and economic instability in the southern African region.

Like Australia, both the European Union and the United States consider that many more improvements will be required before Zimbabwe’s relations with the international community can be normalised. A united international community must send that strong message to Zimbabwe.

Australia is concerned by a range of developments; some new, some remaining unresolved from my last statement to the House on Zimbabwe in September last year. Australia is alarmed by the recent gazettal of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Regulations. These regulations, introduced unilaterally by ZANU-PF in contravention of the Global Political Agreement, require foreign investors to submit plans by mid-April detailing how they will cede majority stakes in their companies. It is a scheme designed only to benefit ZANU-PF and its cronies. Its effect will be to unravel recent reforms and to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy.

President Mugabe still refuses to reverse his appointments of the Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney-General, which undercut the MDC’s efforts to implement economic reform and ensure an independent judiciary. ZANU-PF has still not addressed the reallocation of provincial governors as called for under the Global Political Agreement. Several MDC MPs have been arrested and are at risk of losing their seats, on what the MDC believes are trumped-up charges. Zimbabwe’s repressive media legislation remains in place. State media continues to be controlled by ZANU-PF as a propaganda tool. Reports of human rights violations continue, as do farm invasions. While the Global Political Agreement stipulates a clear timetable for constitutional reform, progress has slowed to a crawl. As well, there has been no progress on electoral reform.

The Zimbabwean government continues to fall short of the standards expected by the international community in relation to the mining of diamonds. Zimbabwe has been blessed with enormous mineral resources which have the potential to generate enormous wealth and prosperity for its people. But here again corruption, greed and the self-interest of a few have held back the progress of the entire country. In October 2008, the Zimbabwean security forces took control of the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe. Australia has been deeply concerned since that time at the reports of human rights abuses at Marange. Australia is working with other members of the international community to prevent illicit diamonds from Marange being sold internationally and to put an end to the abuses of human rights that have occurred there.

As an active member of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, the international body established to prevent the trade in so-called ‘blood diamonds’, Australia strongly supports the joint work plan that has been agreed with Zimbabwe. This plan not only bans the export of diamonds from Marange unless they have been certified by an independent monitor; it addresses a range of human rights concerns. We urge the Zimbabwean government to cooperate fully with the independent monitor, Mr Chikane, and ensure that the joint work plan is implemented without delay.

Regrettably this is a long list of concerns and one that underscores the need for continued international pressure on President Mugabe and ZANU-PF. Australia will continue to voice our concerns about these efforts to thwart the reforms that Zimbabweans voted for in the March 2008 general election. We will maintain targeted sanctions, but we will also look to the future. As I have said, at some point in the cycle, President Mugabe will leave the stage, removing the major obstacle to the reforms that Zimbabwe so desperately needs. The international community, including Australia, will then be able to fully assist with the difficult task of rebuilding Zimbabwe’s economic, social and political fabric.

Zimbabwe’s needs are enormous, and we need to prepare the ground now for any future recovery. After decades of neglect, infrastructure has crumbled. There are not enough schools, hospitals or functioning water and sanitation systems. The machinery of government is nearly broken. The private sector has been stunted by years of misrule. The unemployment rate in the formal economy is estimated to be over 90 per cent. Three million people have fled Zimbabwe taking their skills and experience with them. The economy will take years, if not decades, to regain its strength. Australia is committed to working with the international community to tackle these challenges at the right time.

Australia is under no illusions about the political risks in Zimbabwe and the track record of Mr Mugabe and ZANU-PF. Their recent behaviour has only reinforced Australia’s concerns. Zimbabwe’s recent gains, however, must not be wasted. Australia again calls on all parties to adhere to the letter and the spirit of the global political agreement. Constitutional reform must proceed in accordance with the terms of the agreement. This would allow the holding of full free and fair democratic elections.

The people of Zimbabwe deserve a future free of intimidation, free of poverty and free from a rapacious government. Australia will remain deeply engaged in international efforts to prepare the ground for what continues to be a frustratingly slow transition to democracy in Zimbabwe.

I ask leave of the House to move a motion to enable the member for Curtin to speak for 18 minutes.

Leave granted.

I move:

That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the member for Curtin speaking in reply to my ministerial statement for a period not exceeding 18 minutes.

Question agreed to.

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

It is with a heavy heart that I rise to speak to this House again in response to the ministerial statement on the situation in Zimbabwe. After a period of optimism last year when the world hoped that a power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change would bring a stability to Zimbabwe that would lead over time to relative peace and hopefully a degree of prosperity for this nation that has been devastated politically, economically and socially for decades, that optimism is fading fast with the view that the power-sharing arrangement appears to be going nowhere. The situation appears to be rapidly deteriorating with recent reports that the power-sharing pact has indeed broken down, possibly irretrievably.

The so-called unity government is just over 12 months old with 11 February this year being the first anniversary of the swearing in of Morgan Tsvangirai as the Prime Minister in Zimbabwe’s inclusive government. Next month President Robert Mugabe will celebrate 30 years as the leader of the nation, but far from taking any responsibility for his role in the virtual destruction of a nation during his years of untrammelled power, President Mugabe is as defiant and unapologetic as ever. It seems he will never change his spots. In his statement to this House the Minister for Foreign Affairs said that:

At some point in the cycle President Mugabe will move off the stage.

I have some news for the minister: President Mugabe has announced that fresh elections in Zimbabwe could be held as early as next year and, at age 86, President Mugabe says he will stand yet again. There are reports from the capital, Harare, that recent events may lead to an even earlier election, possibly in the next few months. At a recent ZANU-PF congress President Mugabe said that his party was:

… ready and raring to take on the enemy who sought our ruin.

apparently to wild applause. This attitude does not augur well for a unity government.

It was reported yesterday that South African President, Jacob Zuma, who mediated talks between ZANU-PF and MDC after he became President of South Africa in April last year, will be in Zimbabwe today for a three-day visit. A South African mediation team is also in Zimbabwe to resume negotiations between the parties to the global political agreement signed in September 2008. This agreement established the inclusive government and set out the guidelines for the power-sharing agreement. While President Zuma has given his support for the full implementation of the global political agreement, he has been reluctant to criticise President Mugabe for any failure to keep to the terms of the global political agreement. President Zuma made representations to both the British government and the whole European Union to drop the existing sanctions in place against Zimbabwe, including lifting the asset-freezing sanctions and travel bans against the more corrupt members of ZANU-PF. It was reported today on Times LIVE that President Mugabe will only agree to full implementation of the global political agreement if all sanctions against him and his associates are lifted.

It is clear that President Mugabe was an unwilling participant in the global political agreement, and has used every opportunity to undermine the power-sharing arrangement and block reforms designed to bring Zimbabwe’s economy back from the brink. There has been a four-week strike by public servants in Zimbabwe over pay which has brought state services including schools, hospitals and courts to a standstill. The persecution of supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change continues. MDC members of parliament have been arrested on what are considered spurious charges. President Mugabe has stripped some MDC ministers of their portfolios and unilaterally given them to ZANU-PF members of parliament. The rule of law continues to be ignored. President Mugabe continues to insist that he alone appoints the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the judiciary. The invasion of commercial farms by the Mugabe backed war veterans continues.

One of the most concerning developments is the new Indigenisation and Empowerment Act which came into effect on 1 March. It is a Mugabe inspired law, introduced without reference to Prime Minister Tsvangirai, which effectively nationalises companies in Zimbabwe. The regulations aim to force all businesses with assets over $500,000 and owned by whites or foreigners to transfer majority ownership to black Zimbabweans by 2015 and to submit to the government details of the racial composition of their shareholdings. White Zimbabweans are also banned from running smaller businesses—real estate agencies, advertising agencies and the like. Those in breach of the regulations face up to five years jail. Prime Minister Tsvangirai has declared the law null and void, but as he is treated with such contempt by President Mugabe it is hard to see how his view will prevail. The impact of this new law was described this way in the Economist last week:

The Zimbabwe stock exchange, where shares had been rising fast in the past year, slumped on the news. The country’s businessmen, already struggling to cope with electricity cuts, lack of capital and an acute shortage of manpower skills, are aghast. The ZANU-PF minister responsible for the new law has told foreign banks to start lending money to black Zimbabweans or “ship out”. Foreign investors, whose cash is sorely needed, are thinking again.

It is hard to imagine a more deliberate act designed to adversely affect the foreign direct investment in Zimbabwe that it so desperately needs. It is also little wonder that the Zimbabwean finance minister said on 11 March that Zimbabwe will have to use its own resources to finance its projected budget deficit of US$810 million because foreign donors are not likely to fill that US$810 million gap.

I witnessed firsthand as a Commonwealth observer to the 2000 Zimbabwean parliamentary election and the 2002 Zimbabwean presidential election the way President Mugabe ensures that only his supporters, his family or his cronies benefit from the ironically named land reform measures. There must be real concern that this nationalisation act is yet another action designed to entrench President Mugabe’s hold on power through his support base. President Mugabe’s defence of these laws was that they were intended to ‘correct historical imbalances in the ownership of Zimbabwe’s resources’. That is a defence he has also employed to justify the invasion of white owned farms by the war veterans.

In his statement to this House, the Minister for Foreign Affairs noted that some gains had been made and that there had been some sensible financial reforms and some improvement in basic services. Regrettably, the improving economic position has more to do with the replacement of the Zimbabwean currency than with real economic reform. The hyperinflation of over 200 per cent was only reduced when the worthless Zimbabwean currency was replaced with a basket of other currencies and not by any particular action taken by the government.

I note the minister’s references to the additional aid being provided to Zimbabwe, and I think it is relevant to note that, with respect to the justification for increased aid, the budget statement of 12 May 2009 stated that the Rudd government will:

Support the reintegration of Zimbabwe into the international community by continuing to provide humanitarian support to Zimbabwe through international organisations and NGOs. Australia will also support efforts by the inclusive Government of Zimbabwe to bring sustainable and longer-term improvements to the lives of Zimbabweans.

Nearly 12 months on, this seems to be an unlikely scenario given the continuing presence of President Mugabe and his current stance.

The minister said in a press release of 11 February 2010:

Since the formation of the Inclusive Government, Australia has announced $39 million in assistance to Zimbabwe.

Australia has provided humanitarian assistance to combat disease and improve nutrition, which the coalition supports, particularly given the cholera epidemic that has afflicted Zimbabwe in recent years. In the last year, Australia has gone beyond this aim. According to the AusAID website, in 2009 Australia moved beyond humanitarian assistance to help the inclusive government restore basic services and assist Zimbabwe’s transition to democracy. For example, Australia helped rehabilitate Zimbabwe’s water and sanitation systems and supported agricultural programs to provide sustainable food security.

The Rudd government needs to be very clear and careful about which Zimbabwean government ministries or agencies can be trusted to receive and disburse Australian taxpayer funds effectively and in accord with our expectations for accountability of public funds. The Rudd government must be particularly discerning given that there are deep concerns about this government’s ulterior motives when it comes to increases in aid to nations not within the Asia-Pacific region—in particular, in this case, to win Zimbabwe’s vote for the Prime Minister’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2013-14. In order to win that campaign, the Prime Minister needs Africa’s support, as it commands about a quarter of all the United Nations votes, and it is a fact that many nations in Africa are sympathetic to President Mugabe.

Even if we were to ignore the United Nations Security Council bid as a justification for the sudden jump in engagement with and assistance to Zimbabwe, we are far from alone in our fear that the inclusive government will fail. President Mugabe still controls the security apparatus of the country and can easily take back control, along with aid funding and the assets that it has funded.

In Senate estimates on 22 October last year, an AusAID representative said:

To be honest, it remains a fragile environment in Zimbabwe. The reason donors have to coordinate their efforts closely is to ensure that we moderate them according to the political situation environment in Zimbabwe and that is going to continue to be an ongoing thing, I think, into the future.

Given the fluid and fragile environment and the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe, we should not put in jeopardy Australian aid funding. Australia should provide essential humanitarian aid but not provide any funding that could be regarded as propping up the Mugabe regime, extending its rule at the expense of the true democracy that all Zimbabweans deserve.

On 22 February 2010, European Union ministers stated there had been:

… insufficient progress with regard to the rule of law, respect for human rights, constitutional reforms, power sharing on equal terms, national reconciliation, security sector reform and the protection of investors.

The need for greater effectiveness and the elimination of waste in the aid program have been two themes the coalition has pursued both in government and in opposition. The coalition’s criticisms of the government’s expanded allocation of aid according to the requirement to attract votes for its Security Council bid have been echoed by media commentators and independent think tanks. It was recently reported in the Australian that:

AUSTRALIA is handing up to $12.5 million in additional aid to Africa to enhance ties as well as drum up support for a seat on the UN Security Council.

Jenny Hayward-Jones of the Lowy Institute’s Melanesia program said such a widespread program was ‘a poor use of taxpayers’ money’:

The interest in Africa and Latin America of late is really motivated by Australia’s desire to be elected to the UN Security Council.

The coalition will monitor closely any wasteful, reckless, irresponsible spending by the Rudd government in pursuit of the Prime Minister’s wish for a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council.

It is a widespread view that, as long as President Mugabe remains in power, the situation in Zimbabwe will not improve. Any non-humanitarian aid should be made conditional on President Mugabe fully implementing all terms of the power-sharing agreement. A delegation from the European Union to Zimbabwe has endorsed that approach. Last month the European Union and the United States extended sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The Rudd government must closely monitor whether there is material progress by the inclusive government if it is to provide further non-humanitarian support to Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean people have suffered enough under President Mugabe. Australia should not provide any comfort to President Mugabe that is taken as legitimising the behaviour of his regime. The coalition supports efforts to restore peace and prosperity to the lives of the people of Zimbabwe—people who aspire to live free from fear and threat of violence and who want to emerge from the shadow of oppression and corruption under which Zimbabwe has suffered for decades.