Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party, Deputy Chairman , Coalition Policy Development Committee) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wrongful acts in English Common Law can be subdivided into two general categories known by Latin terms: malum prohibitum and malum in se. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'malum prohibitum' as:

Something which is not intrinsically wicked but which is regarded as wrong because it contravenes a law or regulation.

Tossing an orange peel out of your car window, for example, is littering and illegal, but we all agree it is not an act so vile as to incite a rebellion of our moral sensibilities. By contrast, 'malum in se' translates into English as 'evil in and of itself', an action so inherently depraved that no law is required to deem it or tell us it is an abomination.

This motion calls upon the House to condemn the mother of all mala in se. It calls upon this House to denounce the attack on Malala Yousafzai as a crime so incontestably heinous, so irreducibly vicious, that its perpetrators are consigned to the dark netherworld of barbarism. As we grapple with our detestation of this atrocity, we might wonder how anyone might become so warped as to commit it. We might ponder what foul fires of fanaticism could so incinerate the human soul as to mark a helpless teenage girl out for death. The answer to that question is found within a tragic truth of our time. It is found within the medieval doctrines of Talibanism that seek to bludgeon the world into the heart of a gothic darkness. Central to this totalitarian mindset is the belief that women must be kept subservient, subordinate and illiterate.

But it was an outright refusal to accept the subjugation of her gender that caused Malala to fall afoul of the Taliban. She has been a wonderful advocate for female equality, growing up in the Swat Valley, ground zero of Pakistan's jihadi insurgency. She saw firsthand the violent campaign to terrorise girls schools into closure. But Malala refused to submit to Taliban thuggery. In a televised address before the Peshawar Press Club, she issued a defiant challenge to the barbarians who sought to rob her of the future simply because of who she was. She said:

How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?

Her audience of hard-bitten journalists was awed by the appearance of a young girl, at that point not even in her teens, who combined courage and eloquence in equal measure. The BBC was impressed enough to offer her a column on the network's Urdu website. In January 2009, Malala penned her first piece, describing her intention to defy a Taliban edict that forbade girls from attending school. Relating how her principal advised students to refrain from coming to school in uniform or colourful clothes, she wrote:

I decided to wear my favourite pink dress.

Through that small act of rebellion, Malala placed another stone in that palisade of ideas that defends liberty from the encroachments of tyranny. Needless to say, the Taliban took extreme exception to this adolescent advocate for female freedom. These jihadi barbarians responded through the only language they understand: they placed Malala in the crosshairs of their hit list. In October last year, Taliban assassins finally caught up with Malala as she was doing what she does best—furthering her education. They waylaid her school bus as she was coming home from class and forced their way aboard at gunpoint. Malala was armed with schoolbooks and they, of course, were armed with guns. After identifying her by name, they shot her without mercy, leaving her for dead. But die she did not.

It was touch and go for a while and Malala was flown to the UK for surgery. Happily, as we all know in this place, she is well on the road to recovery. In fact, just last week Malala gave her first televised interview since being attacked last October. She described the myriad notes of benediction received from people across the world, saying:

Because of these prayers, God has given me this new life and this is a second life.

I want to serve the people and I want every girl, every child, to be educated …

A fortnight ago, Malala was nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize by three members of the Norwegian parliament. I cannot think of a more worthy recipient. I applaud this initiative by our Scandinavian colleagues, and I believe the House does well tonight by expressing its words of admiration for Malala Yousafzai. Malala's father, Zia Yousafzai, himself a school principal and advocate for female education, is also worthy of our greatest respect. We should all be humbled by the example of this young hero's bravery and integrity. I know I am, and I know that those speaking on this motion are as well.

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

I would like to thank the honourable member for Casey for bringing this motion before the parliament so that all members, representing everyone, can speak in this House in a way that gives support to Malala Yousufzai, to this one girl, but also supports the rights of girls and women to education and to equality across the world. The honourable member for Casey just thanked the Norwegian parliamentarians for nominating Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize, and we can also do that as well as members of parliament, so that might be something that we can have a conversation about later. She would be a most worthy recipient.

It was on 9 October that Malala was shot by the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehrik-i-Taliban—the TTP, as they are called—while climbing onto a school bus. Can you imagine sending your daughter or your child off to school on a school bus and they are shot by some very, very extreme people? Pakistani media reported that two of Malala's classmates were also injured in the shooting, and I am not sure what happened to them but it would be good to find out.

Malala grew to prominence by writing an online diary on BBC Urdu about her time in the Swat Valley during Taliban rule in the area, which was late 2007 to mid-2009. I note that her father had also been involved in education activism as well, so obviously education was something that her family was committed to. Following the Taliban's displacement from the area, Malala continued to be an activist for education and youth rights in the Swat Valley and in Pakistan. As a result of her efforts, she was one of five nominees for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011 and she also won the inaugural Pakistan National Peace Award in December 2011. After she was shot, she was medically evacuated to the United Kingdom for specialist treatment in Birmingham and her prognosis looked very grave indeed. I think that everybody has been heartened by and is so pleased to see her remarkable recovery.

On 2 February this year Malala successfully underwent major surgery, including a cranial reconstruction aimed at mending parts of her skull with a titanium plate as well as the placement of a cochlear implant designed to restore hearing on her left side. Her injuries were horrific. She will continue her rehabilitation at the family's new temporary home in Birmingham. I understand that her father is now working there and working in their consulate, and they have relocated there. He is education attache at the Pakistan consulate in Birmingham for a period of three years. That means that all of the family are together and they are able to look after each other.

The Pakistan Taliban, or the TTP, have claimed responsibility for the attack, with the spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, saying that Malala was pro-West, she was speaking against the Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol. She was young, but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas. Ehsan went on to say that the attack served as a warning to all youngsters involved in similar activities, and noted that Malala would be targeted again if she survived. The Pakistan Taliban have vowed to target her again. I did notice, in reading some of the commentary on the internet, that it seemed as though they had started to change what they were saying, but the fact is that they took responsibility—they did it. It is just unbelievable.

In a speech to mark the inaugural International Day of the Girl Child on Wednesday, 10 October last year, Prime Minister Julia Gillard expressed her shock at the attack and her admiration for Malala's activism and commitment to girls' rights in education. As I have said, we all expressed our shock. I have never seen anything draw such widespread condemnation so quickly and right across the globe. President Zardari has been reported in Pakistan media as saying that such attacks would not shape the resolve of Pakistan and that the nation would continue to fight against the militants, and that was welcome too. Also, the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, has vowed to bring to justice the Taliban attackers behind Malala's shooting, saying, 'No matter where the terrorists may escape, we will bring them to justice.' But, despite reports of several arrests being made in connection with the attack, there is no evidence yet of those who actually committed the attack being brought to justice, and I know that is something that people will be watching quite closely.

Among the comments that were made worldwide was a statement by the White House on behalf of the President. There were also comments by the EU and the UK—already quoted here. The UN Secretary-General's United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, called for a global day of action on 10 November 2012 to support the goal of education for all children, and that became known as Malala Day. That was commemorated in over 100 countries. That was a way that all of us in the international community could join hands and give an expression of support for her and support for the right of girls, particularly, to have access to education freely and in a framework of not being seen as somehow deviant. For God's sake, it is unbelievable to think that someone would get shot for it in this day and age.

Malala has been the recipient of several international awards and accolades since the attack, including the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom and the Rome Prize for Peace and Humanitarian Action. Malala's plight is now regularly evoked in major international meetings, such as the recent World Economic Forum in Davos and meetings of the United Nations and specialised agencies. Indeed, at the moment we are talking in this place about Malala and what happened to her.

I will speak a little on how our government responded at the time. They obviously responded strongly and were appalled at what I call an attempted assassination of child activist Malala in western Pakistan. The government said at the time that they commended the Pakistan government for the financial support and assistance that they provided. I am sure that when she was taken to the UK they would have done everything they possibly could to provide care—and I am sure that they are doing that—and it was good to see that that happened immediately.

The right to an education is something that we take for granted here, so it is something on which we can all join together and say, 'That has to be the right worldwide.' Indeed, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines the right to education. We have to make sure that we can support that, as we do here, everywhere else.

I conclude by saying that Australia has long supported these rights and has provided education assistance for female students in some of Pakistan's most remote and marginalised communities. One of the important things that we can do with our ODA is to make sure that we spend it in a way that is going to provide those girls who are students with educational support. I would just like to say to Malala: good on her for what she has done for girls and for education. We wish her a speedy and wonderful recovery.

Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of this excellent motion proposed by my good friend and colleague the member for Casey. I join with my colleagues opposite in universal acclamation for the commitment that we are expressing in this House today to girls' education and the tribute to Malala Yousafzai.

On 9 October 2012, in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, three cowardly Taliban terrorists boarded Malala's school bus, sought her out by name and deliberately shot her point blank in the head and in the neck in an attempt to kill her and silence her forever. Happily for the world, they were not successful. Their violent act of misogyny left Malala in a critical condition, unresponsive for three days as doctors fought to save her life. In less than five weeks, Malala went from an intensive care unit in Pakistan, showing no signs of consciousness, to walking, writing and reading again in a hospital in Birmingham, Britain. Only in the last weeks has she been discharged from hospital. As an advocate for girls' education in her native Swat Valley, Malala's life had been at risk from the Taliban for a number of years for simply wanting to have an education like her brothers. Her father said of her that she:

… got influenced by what was going on and gradually she joined me in our struggle against extremism.

She was then 11 years of age.

The Taliban has had a long history of trying to prevent girls from attending schools through violence, even going to the extent of physically destroying schools, with some estimating that the Taliban destroyed over 150 schools in Pakistan in 2008 alone. As they sought to impose their austere interpretation of sharia law, the Pakistani Taliban threatened girls, their families and their teachers, despite the fact that at the time there was a pledge by the Pakistani government to safeguard girls' education and their schools from such extremists. The Taliban's efforts to disrupt and prevent girls' education continue to this day. Amazingly, given the violent threats they have been faced with, there are brave girls throughout Pakistan willing to risk their welfare so that they can attend school and improve their chances in life for themselves and for their families.

In 2009, Malala began blogging for the BBC's online Urdu news service under a pseudonym, describing the Taliban's repression of girls' education. Malala wrote, 'I was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools,' before describing how a number of her friends had moved out of the Swat Valley to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi to be able to continue their education in a safer environment. For those that stayed, the very real and present Taliban threats of reprisals on families meant that many did not send their daughters to school. In late 2009, Malala took up a position as chair of the District Child Assembly of Swat, leading discussions between young people as to what they wanted their future in the Swat Valley to look like. Over the next few years, Malala continued to agitate for girls' education in her blogs, on television and radio and in social media. When in October 2011 she was nominated by Desmond Tutu for the International Children's Peace Prize, and in December of 2011 she received Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize, the risk to Malala and her family was brought into the open, with death threats published in newspapers and slipped under the family's door. Yet, despite this, Malala continued to campaign for girls' education, describing it as 'our basic right'.

I commend those in Pakistan and throughout the world who have joined with her. The newly formed Malala Fund will help girls just like Malala. One of the instigators of this fund, Alyse Nelson, said:

We stand with Malala and girls around the globe who are boldly speaking out as advocates for education and equality. When girls move forward, they take their communities forward too.

This is so true. Malala has said when speaking of her recovery:

… because of these prayers God has given me this new life … and this is a second life. And I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated.

Malala Yousafzai is a brave young woman, a true feminist, a warrior against the evils of real misogyny. She is an inspiration to me and an example to us all. On 8 March, which is International Women's Day, we must focus on the issues facing women right around the world. This is one of the critical issues facing our sisters throughout the world: to have an education, to have a right to education and to have that education in a safe environment. Malala, you are a true inspiration.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a great pleasure and honour to speak on this motion tonight and I commend and congratulate the member for Casey for bringing it forward. Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl the Taliban tried to assassinate, is thankfully recovering albeit slowly and is in relatively good health.

On 9 October 2012 when this young activist living in the Swat district of Pakistan was attacked by the Pakistani Taliban on her way to school, Malala grabbed worldwide attention when she began to tell her story online, a story of the Taliban's repressive regime. In the period following the dislodgement of the Taliban, Malala persisted in informing the world about the situation and in particular the difficulties confronting young girls striving for an education.

Malala was one of five nominees for the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011 and she was awarded the inaugural Pakistan National Peace Award in December 2011. After the attack on her bus, Malala was evacuated to Birmingham where she underwent major surgery. After being discharged, Malala is reported as saying that she will be an advocate for the right for 'every girl, every child, to be educated'. Malala is an inspiration to us all because she has taken a very brave and public stance against repression by the Taliban of women and the rights of women to be educated.

When the mujahideen and later the Taliban took control of regions of Afghanistan in the 1980s and early 1990s, they set about burning thousands of schools. The Taliban and their allies murdered thousands of teachers. They destroyed the education system and created a fear of learning in the areas they controlled. From the mid-1990s the Taliban began a campaign of violent repression aimed at preventing school-age girls and boys from obtaining an education.

In some quarters it is fashionable to oppose the work that we are doing in Afghanistan. Yet over the past decade there has been a recognised increase in children attending schools and getting a much-valued education. There are media reports highlighting how parents in Afghanistan and Pakistan are desperately trying to get their children into education. Parents in these countries quite understandably want their children to be taught to read and write and learn science and maths so that they can get good jobs and support their families. I read one account from an Afghani woman who said of the Taliban:

We supported them for 10 years … And what have we got in return? They’re not letting us send our children to school or to the provincial hospital. I guess their next idea will be to bury our daughters alive to make sure they never go to school, work in an office, or walk around without a veil.

It is not just Afghanistan where the Taliban's repression is suppressing young people seeking an education. According to data from UNICEF, only about one-third Pakistani children aged between five and nine are enrolled in primary education and UNICEF reports that two-thirds of girls and almost half of the boys in Pakistan do not complete primary school.

In Pakistan there exists a thriving market for private education because there are parts of that country where it is almost impossible for young girls and boys to attend school. Both the Pakistani government and opposition leaders widely condemn the attack on Malala and they have vowed to continue to fight against extremism. Yet it has taken the bravery of Malala to bring to the fore the situation that exists in her country and also in Afghanistan. The Taliban's education policy is pretty straightforward: they oppose reading, they oppose books, they oppose kites, they oppose public education and, most of all, they oppose girls being educated.

The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is improving—and I saw it firsthand on my visit to Afghanistan two years ago—but it is only happening in certain areas. The Australian government has provided education assistance for female students in some of Pakistan's most remote and marginalised communities. In Afghanistan, I understand that a million girls are now going to school, which is an extraordinary and dramatic achievement in such a short period of time. When I was there I enjoyed seeing these girls skipping along in their uniforms with their little friends, heading off to school or coming home from school at the end of the day, having had a wonderful experience of learning and being educated and working to build their nation.

Prime Minister Gillard has stated on the record our resolve to continue supporting Malala's work and to pursue measures so that young girls like Malala can be free to go to school to learn and to have the opportunity to be educated in a safe environment. I wish Malala a full and speedy recovery and I wish her and her family a safe, happy and educated life.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by my colleague the member for Casey and I congratulate him for putting forward such an important motion on such a powerful issue. The story of Malala Yousafzai is an inspiring one. It is the story of a young woman wise beyond her years and possessing a grasp of the way things in her homeland should be, not just how they are. It is the story of a young woman's steady determination to stand up and make a difference, to stand up for what is right and to stare down evil. At just 11 years of age, Malala was reported to have said in a speech to local journalists: 'How dare the Taliban take away my right to basic education?' This was after a Taliban edict banning education for girls as they sought to impose their austere interpretation of sharia law and as they went about destroying over 150 schools in the region.

Malala caught the Taliban's attention in 2009 when she began writing a blog for the BBC about her life growing up in Pakistan's Swat Valley. That led the New York Times to release a documentary about Malala and she became a sought-after international spokesperson for her struggles against the Taliban's sadistic mediaeval rule. Despite threats from the Taliban, Malala rarely showed fear and she did not hide her face. She said in an interview in 2011: 'I have the right to an education, I have the right to play, I have the right to sing, I have the right to talk, I have the right to go to a market and I have the right to speak up.' A reporter then asked her, 'Why do you risk your life to raise your voice?' And she answered: 'I shall raise my voice. If I didn't do it, who would?'

The Taliban reacted in the way they often do when faced with the forces of freedom of speech. They sent their assassins to murder the 15-year-old girl. On 9 October last year two Taliban gunmen walked onto her school bus, asked for her by name and, from point-blank range, fired two bullets into her head and neck. But they were not able to kill her. And, as often happens with acts of evil, it had the exact opposite effect: they turned her into an even bigger international heroine. They created worldwide publicity for her cause and they captured global attention for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan. In their failure they sent a timely reminder to the world of the sick and perverted thinking and barbaric evil ways of Taliban extremists. They are little more than cowardly savages.

Several weeks after Malala was struck in the head and neck by the bullets she was airlifted to the UK where, after months of surgery, just a few days ago the 15-year-old walked down the hall of the British hospital under her own power and gave a videotaped interview. Despite being the victim of such a horrific attack, this passionate young woman has not altered her views. She said after recovering, 'I want every girl, every child, to be educated,' in direct defiance of the criminals that have vowed to kill her.

Young Malala's story is remarkable in so many ways. She has rallied the world in a fight to educate young girls, but her greatest gift has been to demonstrate to the world, including the Pakistani people, that it is possible to stand up to the Taliban. Her courage is infectious. But perhaps her greatest gift is to remind the world that our freedoms must be fought for and protected and that we should not cower in the darkness when faced with evil. She reminds us, as that old quotation goes, that all that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing. And, as her case shows, those 'good men' even include 15-year-old schoolgirls. She is a hero in every sense of the word. There could not be a more worthy nominee of the Nobel Peace Prize not to win.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last October, a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, was singled out and shot in the head on board a school bus by a member of the Taliban. She miraculously survived after life-saving surgery and was recently discharged from a UK hospital. I want to wish Malala well, as I am sure all colleagues in this chamber do. The Taliban stated that they shot Malala, who is a campaigner for girls' education, for promoting secularism. These hardliners consider the education of females to be an abomination rather than a human right, and not surprisingly this shooting sparked domestic and international outrage. On 1 February Malala gave her first public interview since her recovery. In a courageous display of vision this teenage girl made a vow to continue to serve her people and fight for the right of every girl and child in her home region of the Swat Valley to be educated. Malala has come to represent one of the many females who are the contemporary face of activism in the Muslim world. They speak up for justice where girls and women face a continuing tirade of misogyny embedded in the cultural mores of their communities

One of these women is Miss Tasneem Chopra, Chairperson of the Australian Muslim Women's Centre for Human Rights. I would like to quote Tasneem:

It is no coincidence that Malala was targeted in this attack. Evidence shows that Muslim women and girls who stand at the front line of activism frequently find themselves at the front line of attacks, often facing dire circumstances. Radicals do not target women activists by accident. This is a deliberate strategy to undermine their pathways to sovereignty through education and equality.

Miss Chopra explained that the Taliban in their extraordinary feudal interpretation of Islam enact brutal acts of misogyny. The attempted murder of Malala is by no means an isolated event. Young girls wanting to go to school in areas like Pakistan's Swat valley and neighbouring Afghanistan have come to typify a growing resistance against the Taliban, which seeks to subjugate them completely. In recent years in Afghanistan, they have carried out multiple atrocities aimed at schoolgirls, some of which include the November 2008 attack on 16 schoolgirls with acid while they were walking to school, a poisonous gas attack on a girls school in May 2009, and in August 2010 seven Kabul schoolgirls were hospitalised after another poisonous gas attack on their classroom. In April 2012, 150 Afghan school girls were hospitalised after drinking poisoned water in their school.

These are despicable acts of evil. But, unfortunately, they are done often in the name of Islam, so it is crucial to highlight that the Islamic faith strongly encourages the education of Muslim males and females. In fact, countries such as Indonesia and Egypt, for example, boast amongst the highest rates of Muslim female literacy and tertiary qualifications in the world. It is the Taliban's selective view of Islam that favours a patriarchal interpretation. Theirs is premised on a belief that in order to control society they must control their women. Because of these tactics, the Taliban ensure that, if you are a female, Afghanistan is recognised as one of the most dangerous countries on earth.

In our quest to right these wrongs that are committed against women and children in the region, we must be very mindful and note that as long as men continue to define what makes a women's role in society acceptable the parameters of her life chances will never be her choice. That is why strides must be made for women's sovereignty both at home and abroad, and they must continue to be a matter of global significance. From the rights of the girl child to eliminating violence against women, we all have a stake in the protection of females in order that we progress into healthier societies. It will always be women who remain best placed to articulate their lives, their lived realities, to speak of their disadvantage, their burden, their glass ceiling and how these injuries must end. So I want to join with all my colleagues and recognise that this Thursday, 14 February, marks the celebration of a global movement known as One Billion Rising, an international movement where for one day women, men and children stand together in solidarity to end abuse against women. This is an event that was put together by One Billion Rising founder Eve Ensler, who has said that the reality is that one in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime, and that is one billion violated, and that is an atrocity.

Debate interrupted.