Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue, and I am delighted to be able to speak in front of a number of Khmer who have successfully settled in Australia and made a very significant contribution to this nation over a long period of time. My engagement with Cambodia goes back a long way. I had the opportunity in 1985 of visiting Cambodia, at a time when the nation had suffered dreadfully as a result of the activities of the Khmer Rogue. I can remember Phnom Penh when I was there, largely devoid of Khmer people. There was a government installed by Vietnam. Hun Sen was there; the Vietnamese were there; the Russians were there—it was a city devoid of Khmer. I have had the opportunity of meeting those who were in government, as well as those who were in opposition, and many of them I regard as my friends. I cannot say Hun Sen is a close friend—I have only met him once or twice—but Sam Rainsy I had the opportunity of meeting on several occasions.

Most Australians look at Asian democracies and they are not all the same as ours. It does not matter whether you are talking about Vietnam or China, or even countries closer to us. Some people will say that we do not always understand Asian culture. I would like to think that Asian culture reflected the democracy that I know, but in many respects that has not been part of their heritage. When I look at the way in which events have unfolded, I understand that Cambodia is very much what I would regard as a one-party state, with the CPP being in government for such a long period of time. I understand that elections are held, and they do not always look the same as ours. I witnessed some of those early elections, like Gareth Evans, very much aware of the need to try and promote the sorts of values that we see as being important.

As is recorded in the motion, I very much lament that you can have elections in which people who believe that they are participating lose their lives. We have to ask ourselves what is the best and most appropriate way forward. For us, in relation to countries within our region, we have endeavoured to have dialogue with them about the way in which you can produce change, the way in which you can obtain better human rights outcomes. With China, with Vietnam, we have human rights dialogues. Whether we should have dialogues with other countries in the region is a matter that, no doubt, consideration will be given to in the future.

The view of the Australian government is that we want to see democracy working. We want to see all parties able to exercise restraint, to work through issues, to have effective dialogue. Having played a role in the negotiation of the Paris peace accords in 1991, and having been a long supporter of the democratisation progress in Cambodia, Australia wants to see that this continues to develop and we want to play a positive role in rebuilding Cambodian society and its infrastructure to meet its future needs. The government is concerned about the deaths and injuries that have occurred but continues to urge all parties to exercise restraint and to work these issues through in open dialogue. We do have a strong and growing bilateral relationship with contemporary Cambodia—the Foreign Minister recently visited there—and we will remain actively engaged in working these issues through in the future.

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