Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The action I took in the House today was deliberate and it was powerful, and I did it on behalf of every Filipino person whose human rights have been abused by the government of President Marcos and the government of President Duterte before him. I was appalled that President Marcos was given the opportunity to address our parliament today, the privilege of addressing our parliament today. As Senator Birmingham said, addressing our parliament is symbolic and it is serious. It is appalling that the President of a government responsible for human rights abuses should be invited to attend our parliament and speak to our parliament.

I took this action after having discussions and correspondence with many Filipinos in Australia, the Australian coalition for human rights in the Philippines and the Australians for Philippine Human Rights Network. I did it in the context of having taken part, some years ago, in an international civil society led investigation into human rights in the Philippines, conducted by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines, where I learnt and heard firsthand about what is going on in the Philippines. I learnt about the extrajudicial killings where people on trumped-up charges are red-tagged and then hunted down and killed; where human rights lawyers are shot at point-blank as they drive through the streets; where workers, because they have the temerity to engage in fighting for their rights, are killed; and where environmental defenders, because they have the temerity to fight for justice for their community—for their rivers not to be polluted and for their lands not to be taken from them—are killed. This is ongoing. This is why I took that action today.

I'd like to read out to you today comments from Human Rights Watch, who say:

Australia's Labor government should be especially concerned by the rising harassment and violence against labor leaders and union organizers in the Philippines. Albanese should urge Marcos to act to stop these abuses and thoroughly investigate recent killings.

In September, police shot and killed labor leader Jude Thaddeus Fernandez at his home in the town of Binangonan in Rizal province. The officers claim Fernandez "fought back" while being served with a search warrant, without explaining why his home was being searched or why he resisted. Fernandez's colleagues told Human Rights Watch they believe police were using the commonly used defense of nanlaban (fighting back) to justify killing him.

This is not an isolated occurrence. Human Rights Watch go on:

Marcos's visit to Australia is an important opportunity for Australia's leaders to address well-documented human rights abuses in the Philippines. Ignoring them will only embolden Marcos and the prevailing culture of impunity. The people of the Philippines deserve more than warm words and empty rhetoric when it comes to respecting and upholding their human rights.

There are at least 800 political prisoners in the Philippines at the moment—including the former head of their human rights commission, a former senator, and she has been held for about a decade now. As a senator, I felt it was my obligation and my responsibility to speak up for her, and for those prisoners, and for every person who has had their livelihood, their wellbeing and their very life put at stake and affected by this government. It is appalling, as I say, because of just what a privilege it is to address our parliament, that President Marcos was invited to do so.

I am struck by having a censure motion moved against me for abusing parliamentary rights, when human rights did not rate a mention—when the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, in their speeches today, did not mention human rights at all. They are completely whitewashing—sycophantic towards the President. They are even trying to whitewash the legacy of Marcos's father, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

We cannot let these human rights abuses go unchecked. Every person having their rights impacted in the world impacts us. Human rights matter, and they matter for every person in the world. I am proud that, in this parliament, over the 10 years I've been here, I have spoken up for the human rights of people across the world, whether in the Philippines, Tibet, West Papua, Palestine or here in Australia. I will continue to do so, and I will take every opportunity open to me in this place to speak up for human rights—to speak up for people who deserve to have the right to live a peaceful life and to have their rights respected.

People do not expect, in a country like Australia, where we say we value democracy, to have the president of such a human rights-abusing government speaking to our parliament. It is appalling.

I am proud of what I did today—I am proud of it—and I am proud of the attention that it has drawn to the appalling situation in the Philippines. I hope that it will actually make some of you people here realise that our relationships with other countries are not just a matter of trade opportunities or military opportunities or how much we can have defence ties with them—that the relationships between the people matter, and it matters to us that we respect the rights of the people of the Philippines, not just the cronies in their government. I would do it again, and I encourage all of you to think very carefully about any relationships with any countries and being so sycophantic as to basically just whitewash over those human rights abuses.