Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate records its deep regret at the death, on 30 August 2022, of Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, places on record its acknowledgement of his role in bringing the Cold War to an end and his vision for a more open and peaceful world, and tenders its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.

Madam President, it is with sadness and respect that I move this condolence motion on the passing of the former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. As a child of the harsh Russia of the 1930s under Stalin, Gorbachev was a man of simple background: his father and grandfathers were farmers in the early years of Soviet agrarian collectivism. His family life was so harsh and brutal that he later reflected, 'What difference was there between this life and serfdom?' This early question reflected a lifelong courage to see clearly and to ask difficult questions. Nevertheless, he did not start his career as a disruptor.

He was a party man and a loyal Soviet citizen. He was a brilliant student, studying law at Moscow State University. While he was there he met his wife, Raisa Titarenko. They married in September 1953 and shared a close emotional and intellectual partnership which endured until her death in 1999. After graduation he returned to his native Stavropol. His promise was quickly recognised and he rose through the ranks. In 1978, Gorbachev moved back to Moscow to take the position of Central Committee secretary. Then, in 1985, he took leadership as general secretary.

His three immediate predecessors had all died in office within the proceeding four years. The Soviet ruling class was ageing, and it had failed to confront the growing reality of economic mismanagement and an arms race with the United States that the Soviet Union could no longer afford. Gorbachev, in contrast, was a relatively young man in his 50s; more importantly, he recognised that the Soviet Union not serving its citizens and needed to change.

Throughout his leadership, Mikhail Gorbachev was the defining figure in opening up Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Glasnost, perestroika—Mikhail Gorbachev became synonymous with the processes of reform, openness, transparency and reconstruction, and he drove and inspired across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. At a time that mutually assured destruction was accepted strategic doctrine, Mr Gorbachev had the courage to reject this nightmare and work towards nuclear arms reduction—earning for himself, deservedly, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

From Stalin onwards, the Soviet Union had been built on brutal, unforgiving power; on repression; on force; on lies; and on the denial of individual liberty: all sacrificed in pursuit of the ends of the state. Ultimately, it was a fragile and crumbling edifice which did not withstand the scrutiny and transparency brought by the glasnost reforms. When the first people power revolutions swept from East Germany out towards the rest of the Soviet bloc, the Soviet Union began to fall apart, crippled in part by its legacy of corrupt economic management and by the lies it had told its citizens. At that juncture, President Gorbachev made the critical decision, one utterly unpredicted by any glance through Russian history, to let power go. There are those, including the current Russian President, who see this decision as a moment of weakness, but it was an act of profound courage, an act of profound strength.

Today, as we witness the weakness and insecurity that underlies Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, we can see just how extraordinary were President Gorbachev's choices. Our challenge then and now is to strive for progress in peace. Our challenge is to reject the logic that seeks to force one nation's will over another and, instead, to resolve our differences and grapple with complex global issues like climate change, strategic competition, post-COVID economic recovery and all of the above and more, and to do so peacefully through dialogue, negotiation, compromise, hard work and respect through openness and accountability to our citizens for the world we are seeking to create in their name.

In the end, that is the lesson we can take from the life of Mexico Gorbachev. In the end, we always have a choice about how we approach the issues we face and what we do with the moments with which we are presented.

On behalf of the Australian government, I wish to place on record my respect for this extraordinary life and career.