Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister advise the House on Australia’s approach to improving governance in our region? Are there any alternative approaches?

Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. I do not think members of the opposition have ever asked me a question on the South Pacific since the Bougainville crisis, which we helped to resolve. I do not think they have, but I could be being unfair. I am sure that the member for Maribyrnong, the shadow minister, has never asked me a question. The South Pacific has never been important enough for the member for Maribyrnong to ask a question about.

There was an alternative approach, which was the Labor approach. That was to pay hundreds of millions of dollars every year in aid and not focus on governance, not express any concern about poor quality of governance and not run strong and decisive anticorruption programs. When we came to government we had to deal with the legacy of that.

This government is determined to provide not just assistance to the ordinary people of countries such as the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. I think we have demonstrated that in spades through the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands and also through the Papua New Guinea Enhanced Cooperation Program. But we are not going to do so in a way which allows a continuation of poor governance and corruption where that may exist. Where we fear that that does exist we will obviously respond to it and try to deal with it.

Very specifically, it is hardly surprising that this government is totally opposed to the whole concept of child sex tourism. The Hawke government introduced the laws, by the way, to make it an international offence in relation to Australian citizens. Where an Australian citizen is facing charges of that kind then, regardless of his or her occupation, it is right and proper that that person be pursued vigorously. In the case of Mr Julian Moti, the Australian Federal Police want him back in Australia. The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions wants him to face charges. In circumstances where another government flies such a person on a government aircraft to sanctuary—in this case, to the Solomon Islands—we regard that as an extremely serious matter. It is not a matter where we would just turn a blind eye. We will not show ourselves to lack interest or concern about this. It is hardly surprising that this government has taken a strong stand.

There are many people in Papua New Guinea and, for that matter, in the Solomon Islands who agree with what we are saying and doing. There are many good people in politics, in government generally and in the defence force of Papua New Guinea—honest and honourable people. But there are some who are not. The fact is that this government will continue to show strength and determination in dealing with that problem because the opposition will show what it always shows: the weak approach.