Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I want to start by thanking the member for Fremantle for facilitating this discussion by moving what is a very important motion. Although it can sometimes be difficult to keep precisely abreast of the conflict in North and South Sudan and the region, given communication problems in the area, it is clear that escalating violence in the region is continuing to cause an unacceptable growth in mass displacement and appalling rates of death. As we have heard, the situation in southern Kordofan, on the border of North and South Sudan is particularly dire at the moment and has not improved since conflict broke out on 6 June in advance of the scheduled independence of South Sudan on 9 July. Other members have expanded on this matter and I add my support to calls for a ceasefire, which is after all the only path towards sustainable peace and political stability in that state.

I believe that Australia has the unambiguous responsibility to support South Sudan, the world's newest nation, as it establishes itself in the region. We also have a responsibility to do our part in ensuring that the facilitation of peace in the areas abutting South Sudan, including most urgently the southern Kordofan, Dafur and Blue Nile regions of Sudan, is resourced and to that end I cannot emphasise how important it is that the government takes heed of the final calls of the member for Fremantle's motion and provides ongoing and predictable diplomatic and funding resources to address humanitarian development needs in the two countries.

Despite the distance between the region and Australia, our country can and must do two things. The first has been embraced. I am proud, Mr Deputy Speaker, of the extent to which Australians and local communities helped to facilitate the recent South Sudan independence referendum here in Australia. It is testament to the strength of the South Sudanese Australian communities and to the cooperation of the IOM, humanitarian crisis hub, AusAID, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that over the Christmas and New Year's break last year on the request from my office, an extra $15,000 was secured and logistics arranged with local communities to facilitate the transport of eligible voters from South Australia and Tasmania to Melbourne, given that there were no polling booths in those states. The Yes vote in Melbourne was one of the highest in Australia and we assisted the community in creating and then in helping celebrate those results. I have been proud to report to this house from time to time the ways in which the Sudanese community in my electorate and in Victoria have worked together and drawn energy from what has been an historic campaign for independence. But our attention also needs to turn back to the plight of those for whom violence and unrest is a daily reality and to now concentrate on the second means with which we, as a wealthy and stable democracy, can assist them.

The future stability of Sudan and South Sudan was never going to be guaranteed through the independence vote alone. What is happening in the north and the border areas adjoining it require our attention. We cannot take our eyes off the fact that on 9 July two nations were created. If we are intending to be consistent with our continued support for South Sudan and the referendum process, we must play our part within the international community to take action now while a political process is still possible.

We are also in a position, as part of the international community, to provide aid to the millions of people in Sudan who are facing increasingly high levels of food insecurity right now. I recognise the statements made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs in recent times regarding Australia's share of the required aid to Sudan but, noting that Australia will be required to provide appropriate development assistance for years to come and noting that the provision of emergency humanitarian support is now paramount, I urge the government to do all it can to increase its humanitarian support for those displaced by this terrible conflict.

There is another form of support that we can provide that became apparent to me over the course of the last several years that I have been working in Melbourne with members of the South Sudanese community. Many people have come here from South Sudan seeking to create their life here. As the member for Riverina said, there are many, many people who now want to call Australia their home and lead a peaceful life making a productive contribution to their community. Many of them are getting on with that. It may not often be seen as such from the media reports but that represents the overwhelming majority of desires of South Sudanese living here.

But there also many who have come to Australia, attracted by its democratic values, who while in Australia have played a very important role in fostering democracy in their home country. I am very pleased that several members of the Melbourne electorate are in fact in South Sudan right now assisting with the creation and establishment of a stable democratic government. I think it is something that, as Australians, we can be extraordinarily proud of that not only can we provide a home and refuge to people but we can also provide a crucible from which democratic values can spread across the world. I put on record the Greens' support for this motion.

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