Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

About 120 years ago, Australian troops took part in their first intervention in a crisis beyond our shores. The Mahdist uprising plunged a distant corner of the British Empire into turmoil, which began a cycle of ethnic and religious unrest that plagues Africa to this day. Today, though, in the southern Sudan province of Darfur, Christians and Muslims are laying waste to indigenous and colonial populations, and tales of human rights abuses are reported with alarming frequency. Once again, freedom- and peace-loving people suffer at the hands of self-appointed messiahs and their paramilitary cohorts.

This bloody conflict has claimed 200,000 lives, both innocent civilian and military, and left a further two million to perhaps six million people displaced. The peace process—if you can call it that, and as tenuous as it continues to be—has to be supported not only by the players in this conflict but by the entire international community. Nearly three million people in Darfur need humanitarian assistance, and I welcome the recent signing by the warring parties of a peace agreement that may see the end of violence.

Australia announced that on 27 July we will provide an additional $12 million in humanitarian assistance to help relieve this extraordinary human crisis. That will take Australia’s overall humanitarian funding to $20 million. Separately, at the same time, 15 ADF personnel are deployed under Operation Azure, which operates as part of the UN mission in Sudan. It is not an insignificant undertaking, notwithstanding the small numbers. It is an extraordinarily difficult task in onerous circumstances for the ADF personnel involved.

Australia wants the Sudanese government to fulfil its responsibility to the wellbeing and security of its own people and the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution which results in effective, practical action to stop the flow of weapons to Darfur, the imposition of realistic sanctions against the government of Sudan and support for the planned deployment of the African Union.

But Darfur is not the only flashpoint in which the international community—including Australia—has interests, nor is it the only region in which the right of self-determination and harmony is currently denied to people. I have before in this chamber and I once again call for the unconditional release of the Burmese democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese regime continues to flout international calls for that action and for it to improve the human rights situation and address ethnic tensions in that country. Regrettably, despite the concern repeatedly expressed by the international community, the Burmese military junta has just recently extended the home detention of Burma’s democratically elected leader by another year.

On a slightly more positive note, at least UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari recently met with Burmese officials, including Senior General Than Shwe, who is chair of the State Peace and Development Council. I note that the United Nations continues to push for a dialogue for change. But so great are the excesses of the military warlords in the regime that ASEAN has conceded the futility of their traditional non-intervention policy and are now calling for international action to force Burma on to the road to democracy and also to stem the flow of illicit substances from that country.

Just recently, the Canadian Foreign Minister, Mr Peter MacKay, made a statement in relation to the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. In his statement, amongst other things, he condemned the regime’s military offensive in eastern Burma. He noted that Canada believes that these are matters which must and should be discussed at the United Nations Security Council. There is increasing poverty and environmental degradation and the spread of HIV-AIDS is worsening in both urban and rural areas.

HIV-AIDS is affecting a wide cross-section of the population in Burma, and it will have enormous social and economic impacts for people who can ill afford it. The Australian government consider efforts to counter the HIV-AIDS epidemic a very high priority for international development. We fund a number of primary health care and HIV-AIDS control projects, and other small-scale activities, which are related to poverty reduction and basic human needs in Burma. Our foreign minister and government have also condemned the extended detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and called for a return to democratic processes in Burma. The time is right for stronger action on Burma, both to assist the Burmese people to realise their democratic and human rights and to ensure a stable region.

In October last year, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond Tutu called for UN Security Council intervention into Burmese war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, that call was blocked by China and Russia, and the Security Council still has not formally considered the issue of Burma or debated a resolution against the regime. I firmly believe that it is time to build a coalition of nations who are willing to explore significant steps which can be taken to put international pressure on Burma, and that will include a serious examination of whether to refer the situation in Burma to the UN Security Council.

Aside from Burma, there are other countries in our region that continue to face civil disorder as they struggle through the democratic processes. It is very important to acknowledge, in this place of democratic process in Australia, that these struggles are dealt with under the rule of law and with the freedom and democracy of the people in mind. But, to take a couple of examples in particular, the peoples of Nepal and Thailand will judge their leaders poorly if they cannot find lasting solutions to their concerns and address the challenges that face their countries.

It would be negligent for Australia to expect struggling democracies in our region to shoulder the burden alone. Indeed, we do not. We have been committed to promoting stability and the rule of law in our local community of nations for a very long time, and we continue that commitment today. It mostly manifests itself in the representation of this nation by the Australian Defence Force, the Australian Federal Police and officers of AusAID or the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who are deployed to support the transition to democracy in many countries, some as close to home as the Solomon Islands and East Timor. I will come back to the question of East Timor on another occasion.

I will now turn briefly to the question of Iraq. Operation Catalyst, which began in 2003, involves around 1,400 Australian personnel in Iraq, helping to ensure as smooth as possible a road to freedom and democracy. Aside from forces that protect Australian government personnel in Baghdad, Operation Catalyst provides protection for Japanese field engineers engaged in the reconstruction of infrastructure—and we hear recent discussion about changes to that. It also provides both airborne and seaborne maritime patrol capabilities to deter illegal fishing and defend offshore oil platforms, for disarmament and analysis of explosive devices and for logistical and training support for not only the Iraqi army but also all foreign forces in Iraq.

Australia has to date pledged over $173 million for reconstruction and humanitarian assistance to Iraq. We focus on the agriculture sector and on governance and we make what are described as ‘niche contributions’ in other areas, such as trade reform, human rights and police training. The Iraqi people are actively involved in the reconstruction of their country by supporting Iraq’s economic and social stabilisation programs to minimise local support for the insurgency. But, as we know, every day seems to bring new and tragic news about insurgent activities. In Iraq, as one of the most important components of international activities, I think we need to ensure we are urging authorities to ensure the security of all ethnic and religious groups. This is a part of the world which is an area of complex history and ethnology, and that adds to the challenges of reconstruction enormously. The Iraqi constitution states:

Iraq is a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-sect country ... Iraqis are free in their adherence to their personal status according to their own religion, sect, belief and choice, and that will be organised by law.

Furthermore it says:

Entities or trends that advocate, instigate, justify or propagate racism, terrorism ... sectarian cleansing, are banned ... Iraqis are equal before the law without discrimination because of sex, ethnicity, nationality, origin, color, religion, sect, belief, opinion or social or economic status.

But, nevertheless, sectarian and racist violence is still a daily occurrence. Today’s Australian reports on the situation of Luma George, a 20-year-old teaching student. Ms George is a Christian in Iraq. She now wears a hijab—the Muslim headscarf—as she is driven to and from university. She says that that is because gunmen have said that if she did not wear it she would be killed. That, in terms of exploring concepts of religious freedom in a developing democracy, is a matter of some concern.

The Al-Tub al-Adli morgue in Baghdad processes at least 20 to 30 bodies a day; last month, 1,384 corpses passed through its doors. Many of those Iraqis died in sectarian violence. Iraq has a significant Christian Assyrian minority, who should, with similar peoples, be protected from discrimination in accordance with that country’s international and constitutional obligations. I welcome the convening today, by the Hon. Bruce Baird MP and Chris Bowen MP, a meeting of the Australian parliamentary Assyrian friendship group to discuss many of these issues.

Forces, both Iraqi and international, need to operate with a restraint that fosters an environment of mutual respect and provides people like the Assyrians with a sense of security in their homeland. By and large, I think they do that. I think the problem is much broader than that. The Assyrians are committed to trying to find themselves a voice in the reconstruction administration of their lands in northern Iraq and elsewhere in the region to ensure they can preserve their cultural identity. Assyrians were estimated at around one million people before their recent exodus from Iraq, seeking refuge in Syria, Turkey,Greece, Jordan and further abroad. These are fundamental human rights issues, and issues that are worthy of note by this chamber.