Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to speak again without closing the debate.

Leave granted.

I just want to make a few remarks to finish off the discussion that we are having at this particular moment. I want to thank all of the members who have made a contribution to this very important debate today. We have heard some really strong statements on both sides of the House which have denounced some of what we have seen in Cambodia in recent years. I have mentioned to some of the Cambodian leaders who were here this afternoon that, when I raised this issue first within the Labor side of the House but then more broadly with the parliament, there were genuinely people being turned away because there were so many people who wanted to speak in favour of this very important motion. So I genuinely hope that the Cambodians who are listening—the Cambodians who will see this on YouTube and other things and, of course, the venerable monks and the other senior Cambodian leaders who have joined us today—feel that the Australian parliament are standing with them as brothers and sisters in this fight for a more democratic world and in particular on the issues that have challenged Cambodia in recent years.

I will just reiterate some of the important points that I have heard today. The first is that we really regard the relationship that we have with Cambodia as a very special relationship. There is nothing quite like the sort of relationship that you can have with a country when so many Cambodians are actually living in Australia or travelling to Australia and when Australians are travelling to Cambodia. There is nothing like that person-to-person connection that makes us feel that we have a strong friendship with your country. It is different to other countries where we might have a bigger or a stronger trading relationship but not that emotional tie. It is important to note that, because the friendship is genuine, and in a genuine friendship you can have a frank conversation about things that are happening in one another's country.

We have heard a lot of very frank comments today about things that have been happening in Cambodia that we are concerned about. We are concerned about issues to do with the running of elections: we know that having a fair electoral system is a genuine bedrock of democracy and we want to make sure that Cambodians are enjoying that most fundamental of elements. We are concerned about industrial issues: we want people in Cambodia to have the right to protest for something as basic as a living wage. Of course, for any country in the world we would be concerned about violence, but particularly in a country like Cambodia, where we have had such a close relationship.

So we have had that frank discussion and we have also heard a little bit of a sense in this Chamber that enough is enough. We have heard a lot about some issues in Cambodia over many years, but all that we have seen in recent times, particularly in January over what happened post the election in July last year, is simply intolerable. It is time for the Australian government to move from its quiet, closed-door statements and its quiet, closed-door discussions with Cambodian leaders to make a strong and powerful show to the world that we do not believe that this is the way things should function in a strong democracy such as we expect Cambodia to transition into.

To the people who are here, I want to say again that we condemn violence against protesters. We ask that the Cambodian authorities release those who have been detained for social and political activism. We will continue to fight for a Cambodia free of corruption—a democratic Cambodia that is free of violence . As I say, we really want to stand with the people present and the Cambodian-Australians who are listening to this debate to commit to working towards that cause with you.

Debate adjourned.

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