Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the motion put by the member for Hotham. The member for Hotham first raised with me the issue of what is happening in Cambodia very soon after her election to this place. Of course, she is not the only one to do so: the member for Bruce will be speaking on this motion a little later. The members for Isaacs and Fowler will not be able to speak today, but I know they also feel very strongly about this issue, as do many other Australian parliamentarians. The reason is that Australia has very longstanding and close relations with Cambodia, stretching back decades. Australia has seen Cambodia as a friend for a long time. Our involvement in the peace process in the eighties and nineties, under the leadership of then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, was a very important time for us. Gareth Evans has often been described as the architect of the Cambodian peace plan. Indeed, in 1994, Chheang Vun, who is now a senior lawmaker in the Cambodian government, went further and described Gareth Evans as 'the father of Cambodia'.

The peace plan followed two decades of violence involving foreign actors, including the United States, Vietnam, civil war, bombing and the Khmer Rouge genocide that shocked the world. We had a role, indeed a lead role, in the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. We also accepted, as the member for Hotham has said, many Cambodian migrants and refugees, who have greatly enriched our country and add a unique and distinct flavour to our multicultural society.

Following the 1991 Paris peace agreements, hopes were high that the people of Cambodia would finally have peace, democracy and human rights. Indeed, Australian Lieutenant General John Sanderson led a force comprising 46 countries to supervise the ceasefire. Those hopes were boosted by the peaceful election in 1993, but unfortunately the path since then has at times been very rocky.

In March 1997 an attack on an opposition rally killed 16 people and injured hundreds, and in July that year there was a bloody coup in which opponents were reportedly tortured and executed. The international community, perhaps desensitised after many decades of Cambodian suffering following the Khmer Rouge atrocities, did not speak out loudly enough at the time. Since then, we have seen human rights and democracy continue to flounder. Last year, there was deadly violence against unarmed people protesting against the national election, which some have described as a deeply flawed national election. In January this year, five striking garment workers were shot dead by security forces and others were seriously injured by gunfire. More than 20 workers were detained without trial. Additionally, there have been disturbing reports of racially-motivated violence against the ethnic Vietnamese population, and the main opposition leader has been accused of inciting racism.

As Gareth Evans writes in his op-ed in The Australian today, which has also been published around the world, the human rights abuses have gone hand-in-hand with corruption. Out of 177 countries, Cambodia is ranked 160th by Transparency International. There have been allegations that those close to the government, around 20 people, have amassed fortunes of around $1 billion through illegal means. There has been a high level of political patronage, with the government reportedly having 244 ministers and secretaries of state. Given how poor Cambodia is, this type of behaviour is inexcusable.

There is, of course, hope: for all its flaws, Cambodia's opposition is described as 'increasingly credible'; thousands of social media savvy young voters have been demanding change in Cambodia; and international pressure is also building by many states, by putting their criticisms on the record when the United Nations Human Rights Council reviewed Cambodia's human rights record in February.

We believe that it is very important for the Australian government to also voice its concerns loudly and clearly. Because of our long and close friendship with Cambodia, Australia is almost uniquely placed amongst the international community to do so. While Foreign Minister Bishop recently met with Cambodia's Prime Minister, our government's muted response to the litany of human rights concerns would disappoint many in the Australian-Cambodian community. Our government's reaction reflects poorly on our commitment to supporting the rights of Cambodians. We need to be firm in our condemnation of violence against protestors and demand the release of political detainees. The ongoing pattern of political violence in Cambodia must stop once and for all, and we should be ready to help the Cambodian government, opposition groups and civil society to construct that much more peaceful society that Cambodians so deserve.

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