Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I find it remarkable that formality would be denied on a motion that simply notes that this is the 54th anniversary of the raising of the Morning Star flag, that celebrates the long overdue release of a political prisoner, namely, Filep Karma, and that calls on the Australian government to engage in constructive dialogue with its Indonesian counterparts to call for an amnesty of further political prisoners. We are not asking for much here; we are just asking for some transparency to grant access to foreign journalists and human rights monitors as well as foreign researchers to West Papua.

It must be remembered that the suffering of the West Papuan people is seldom reported, we have an Indonesian government that has banned journalists and other human rights monitors, and here we have a new Indonesian head. We now have the opportunity, through our negotiations with Indonesia, to ensure that the plight of the West Papuan people is brought to light. (Time expired)