Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—At the beginning of this parliament I was fortunate enough to be a permanent delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, made up of delegates from 152 countries. On attending my first meeting, I was very impressed at the work of Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. In order to protect parliamentarians against abuses, and thus defend the institution of parliament, the IPU established the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians in 1976. It has since examined cases in over 100 countries and in many instances has helped to provide those at risk with protection or redress.

This has taken a variety of forms, such as the release of detained parliamentarians, reinstatement to a previously relinquished parliamentary seat, the payment of compensation for abuses suffered and the investigation of such abuses and effective legal action against the perpetrators. Sometimes the abuses arise from the application of flawed legislation or parliamentary rules in a particular country. A satisfactory solution may then require a change in these legal provisions to bring them into line with applicable human rights standards.

Each year, the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, which is currently chaired by Senator Carstairs of Canada, reports to the IPU cases where parliamentarians have had their human rights abused, or they have been detained, tortured or even killed in the course of their service to the parliament.

The work of this committee is essential in upholding the institution of democracy around the world, particularly in countries where human rights of citizens are often violated. But it always struck me that a vibrant democracy also depends on journalists to report the news and to hold governments, parliaments and institutions to account. I know that at times our journalists here in Australia are accused of bias, one way or another, and I confess that sometimes I have harboured a suspicion of bias in the odd article. But Australia is well served by a robust press gallery in this parliament as well as in parliaments around the country.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case in our region and, sadly, many journalists are killed in the line of duty. We are all familiar with the tragic events of October 1975 in East Timor, where a group of five Australian journalists, now famously known as the Balibo Five, were killed while covering the Indonesian invasion of the former Portuguese province. More recently, journalists from our own press gallery were caught up in the tragic Garuda plane crash at Jogjakarta Airport, in Indonesia, while covering the visit of the then Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer.

I hope that with the support of the Australian branch of the IPU we can work to change the mandate of the committee to include a rollcall of those journalists who have lost their lives in the course of their work. I have raised this issue with the committee chair, Senator Carstairs, and she has indicated her support for changes to the committee’s mandate to include reporting on journalists who have been lost in the line of duty. Today, I hope to start a tradition which involves reading into the Hansard the names of all journalists from our region killed in the line of duty during the past year.

At the time of preparing this speech the largest nationality group were Filipino journalists, seven of whom have been killed this year. They include: Ernie Rollin, Jojo Trajano, Crispin Perez, Antonio Castillo, Jonathan Fetalvero and Godofredo Linao Jr., all of whom died as a result of targeted killings. Government Press Undersecretary, Jose Capadocia, suffered an accidental death.

Since preparing this speech we have learned of the worst election massacre in the history of the Philippines, which occurred on Tuesday of this week. There are suggestions that as many as 34 journalists may have been executed, along with followers of a political aspirant. As details are still sketchy and victims are still being identified, I am sadly unable to read their names today.

Pakistani journalists represent the second largest group, having lost five journalists this year. Mohammad Imran and Saleem Tahir Awan were both killed in the same suicide bomb attack. Aamar Wakil and Raja Assad Hameed were victims of targeted killings, while Musa Khankhel was abducted and killed.

Afghan journalists Jawed Ahmad and Janullah Hashimzada died as a result of targeted killing, while Munir Ahmad Amil was killed in a shooting at an army checkpoint. Sultan Munadi, working for the New York Times, was killed in an abduction rescue mission.

Indian journalists Venkatesh Chapalgaonkar and Anil Mozumdar died accidentally, while Prakash Kumar Nath died as a result of a targeted killing. Indonesian journalist Agung Gede Narendra Prabangsa was abducted and killed while two of his compatriots, Rajo Johan and Harfianto Gani, suffered accidental death.

Lasantha Wickrematunge, the editor-in-chief of the Sunday Leader in Sri Lanka, died as a result of a targeted killing while fellow Sri Lankan Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy was killed in crossfire. Uma Singh, a female Nepali correspondent, died as a result of targeted killings and Chinese reporter Bao Cunliang suffered an accidental death.

I hope all of us in this place remember the important role that journalists play in a strong democracy, the risks that they take to bring the truth to people and the sacrifices that too many are caused to make.

I would like to thank Malcolm Farr from the press gallery and Anna Noonan from the International Federation of Journalists, who have assisted me, the Leader of the House, Mr Albanese, who made government time available, and all those on both sides of the chamber who have offered their support.