Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties I present the committee’s report entitled Report 82: Treaty tabled on 28 November 2006.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper

by leave—Report 82 contains the recommendation by the committee that binding treaty action be taken in relation to the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia concerning Transfer of Sentenced Persons signed in Canberra on 11 October 2006. The committee has taken the slightly unusual step of tabling this short report to allow the other domestic requirements for the agreement’s entry into force to be completed as quickly as possible. The committee intends to table a full report at a later date. There are five Australians currently in prison in Cambodia, including one who is 18 years old. The committee thought it was important to ensure that any Australians who could access the provisions of the agreement once it has entered into force would have the opportunity to do so as soon as possible.

The committee encourages the government to implement the agreement in Australia’s domestic law as quickly as possible. The committee also hopes that the Cambodian government will move quickly on its domestic requirements for the entry into force of this agreement. The committee also thanks representatives from the Attorney-General’s Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for being available for a public hearing at short notice. The public hearing was held on Tuesday evening and we are now tabling the report on Thursday morning. I commend the report to the House.

Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties Report 82: Treaty tabled on 28 November 2006 recommends that binding treaty action be taken in relation to the agreement between the governments of Australia and the Kingdom of Cambodia concerning the transfer of sentenced persons.

The committee has tabled its recommendation in relation to this agreement with deliberate speed to ensure that it does not delay the other domestic requirements for the agreement’s entry into force. Ordinarily, the committee would not be required to table its report until 20 March 2007. By tabling before the summer break and well before the 15-day sitting period has expired, the committee is providing the government with an opportunity to complete the other domestic requirements for implementation much earlier than would normally be the case.

The committee encourages the government to act quickly to implement the agreement. It serves an important function in that it allows Australian nationals serving prison sentences in Cambodia to serve the remainder of their sentences in Australia. There are currently five Australians in Cambodian prisons. If any of these five Australians wants to take advantage of the terms of the treaty and request a transfer back to Australia then it is important that the treaty enter into force as quickly as possible. The committee has done its best to ensure that this can happen.

One of those Australians, Gordon Vuong, was only 16 when he was arrested and sentenced to a 13-year jail term. Bringing prisoners like Gordon home to serve the rest of their sentences in Australia offers a greater opportunity for family support, education, training and ultimately rehabilitation. The sooner the agreement is confirmed, the better.

I visited a Cambodian jail some years ago as part of a parliamentary delegation and, knowing the conditions there and having been a prison officer myself in a past life, I believe there is great merit in bringing Australians sentenced to jail in Cambodia back to Australia, where there are greater opportunities for rehabilitation. Because Australia may no longer have to pay for the incarceration of 13 prisoners under the agreement, transferring Cambodian prisoners in Australia back to Cambodia will also benefit Australia. I commend the report to the House.

I would like to thank the committee secretariat for their advice on this matter. We were going to defer it until next year but, with the agreement of the chair of the committee, we decided that we would try and get it through this year. I thank the House for giving the committee time to present the report today; it is much appreciated. I would also like to thank the secretariat for their work throughout the year. They have done an outstanding job on treaties. The committee has worked very hard, as has its chairman. I congratulate the honourable member for Boothby for his work. I wish all those members on the committee and the secretariat all the best for Christmas and the New Year.