Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Bruce for moving this motion. I think it's a great pity that he feels the need to move the motion, that we need to speak on this motion. It would be much better if Cambodia had seen the error of its march against democracy and had corrected the mistakes of recent years. But, alas, here we are again—not for the first time, but I hope for the last—calling on the government of Cambodia to embrace a return to democracy.

This is a particularly auspicious time to be discussing this motion given that tomorrow marks the 27th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accord. Of course Australia is proud of its role in the Paris Peace Accord. We're proud of the role played by then foreign minister Gareth Evans, by the then Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Michael Costello, and by Prime Minister Hawke. But the progress made in the Paris Peace Accord now seems like a distant memory. Since the Paris Peace Accord, the Cambodian people have voted six times for their national government, but there is no way that the most recent occasion could be regarded as a democratic or fair election. In the last few years, we've seen Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government engage in what can accurately and carefully be described as despicable behaviour. We've seen the opposition party banned, we've seen members arrested on false charges, imprisoned or exiled, and we've seen an election held recently which any objective observer would call a sham.

In order to be truly free and fair, an election needs to have a democratic press with freedom of speech to hold a government to account, whether the government of the day likes it or not, a legitimate and authentic opposition allowed to participate, and an opportunity to vote, free from intimidation. Not one of those elements exists in Cambodia today. There have been ongoing attacks on the press. The Cambodia Daily newspaper has been closed down over a spurious tax dispute—a trumped up tax charge has seen a daily newspaper close down. In May, staff of the English language newspaper The Phnom Penh Post resigned en masse following the sale of the paper to an entity which demanded changes to an article detailing the tycoon new owner's links to Prime Minister Hun Sen—again, freedom of the press disappearing. Around 30 radio stations have been silenced because of their opposition to and criticism of the Hun Sen regime. We've also seen, frankly, threats and intimidation, and I have had the opportunity and the need to speak in the House before about Hun Sen actually threatening Australians of Cambodian heritage. When he came here for the ASEAN summit, he said if there were protests against him here, he would have those protesters followed home, with the onerous overtones that threat entailed.

It's fair to say that the local Australian Cambodian community is extremely concerned and exercised about the political interference of the Hun Sen regime in their activities here in Australia. Some of this was outlined in a recent Four Corners program. I congratulate Four Corners for taking the time and the trouble to highlight this issue, because it is a real issue. Members of the Cambodian Australian community should be able to participate freely in Australian political life and comment on Cambodian political life without interference from the Cambodian Hun Sen regime.

With opposition parties banned and soldiers at polling booths there is no way that the recent election could be called credible, and no credible organisation has signed off on the election's validity. It is the case that Cambodia is not currently a democracy, and that leads to quite extreme actions having to be contemplated. The motion moved by the member for Bruce goes through those. I know he hasn't done this lightly. There are a number of steps that Australia should consider. We don't call for changes to foreign aid lightly, nor do we say, for example, that the other activities that are contemplated by this motion should be considered lightly. But Australia should withdraw from the refugee resettlement deal. I think two refugees have been sent to Cambodia. Millions of dollars have been spent in Cambodia. It gives legitimacy to the Cambodian regime. It's not an appropriate arrangement, which was entered into by the now Prime Minister when he was the minister for immigration. Cambodia can and should have a democratic system.

See this speech in context