Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is not up to me to express confidence in how the court system in Sri Lanka will work. I am not in a position to do that. If there are matters of concern to us, we will raise them with the government. I raised with Foreign Minister Peiris our concern at the dismissal of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. I did that with a phone call to him rather than a public statement. I raised as well the question of judicial independence when I was in Colombo in December. The government presented an explanation of its criticisms of members of the judicial system. But it is not up to us to make a determination. We make representations. Sri Lanka will have to answer in various international fora, like before the Human Rights Council resolution, initiated with our support and our co-sponsorship, and answer to its own people. I emphasise again that the— (Time expired)