Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is Peter Greste's 49th birthday. Instead of celebrating it with the people he loves, he will mark this day as he has the last 337 days—in an Egyptian jail cell. Our first thoughts today are with Peter and his family. His parents, Juris and Lois, and his brothers, Mike and Andrew, have won millions of admirers for their optimism and character throughout this ordeal. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition and I wrote to Peter in June, and we were touched to receive a reply from Peter, from his Cairo prison cell, thanking parliament, the press and the Australian people for their overwhelming support. The imprisonment of Peter Greste is a grievous injustice. As Peter himself put it, it is an affront to the freedom of expression. No journalist, no servant of the free press, should be put in jail for doing their job. Until Peter Greste and more than 200 other journalists around the world who languish in jail are free, the freedom of all of us is diminished. Let us all rededicate ourselves to the persistent and consistent diplomacy that will deliver Peter Greste's freedom. Let us all resolve that Peter Greste will spend his 50th birthday as a free man.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

on indulgence—I join with the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party in expressing our deep concern about the treatment that has been handed out to Peter Greste. As I said to Michael and Andrew when I met with them last week, the Australian government, with the support of the opposition, will do what we can to have him home as soon as possible. We have raised his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government before the election and after the election. Our Prime Minister has spoken directly to the President. I have spoken to Foreign Minister Shukri on numerous occasions. We did see a glimmer of hope recently when the President made a statement in an interview that there was consideration of a presidential pardon or clemency. We certainly welcome that. It is not what we have been told in either official or unofficial channels, but we have been urging the Egyptian government to consider releasing him now. His appeal against the sentence is listed for 1 January 2015, and up until now we have been informed that the legal process has to run its full course. If there is any opportunity for the Egyptian government to find its way clear to release Peter Greste now, so that he can come home to his family and friends, we will certainly do all we can to achieve that. I want to pay tribute, as the Greste family have done, to our diplomats in Cairo, who have been working tirelessly to make representations to every level within the Egyptian government. Might I also say that a number of our friends and allies and partners have also made representations, because the jailing of journalists for doing their job is an affront to all countries that embrace freedom, and freedom of speech particularly.