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

I move:

I rise today in sadness and in anger to express my deep concern about recent human rights abuses in Cambodia, and I ask today that the Australian government join me in speaking out against recent actions of the Cambodian government. We condemn violence against protesters. We ask that Cambodian authorities release those detained for social and political activism. We ask for a Cambodia free of corruption and a democratic Cambodia free of violence.

I do so on behalf of all of my constituents in Hotham, because we have the great privilege of sharing our home with so many Cambodian-Australians. There are about 11,000 Cambodians living in Victoria, and 2,000 of them have made their home in my electorate of Hotham. It is a community with driven, passionate leaders who are engaged in political life both here and back at home in Cambodia—leaders such as Hong Lim MP, the member for Clayton and very proudly Australia's first Cambodian-born member of parliament; Councillor Youhorn Chea, a community hero and City of Greater Dandenong councillor and former mayor; and Councillor Meng Heang Tak, a young leader who is already a respected and distinguished person and is just starting out his journey as a councillor with the City of Greater Dandenong. They are representative of so many other leaders, some of who are joining us here today in the chamber from Cambodian associations from around Hotham and beyond.

We are also very lucky to benefit from the spiritual guidance and leadership of monks from the significant temples in my electorate of Hotham: Wat Buddharangsi in Clarke Road, the Khmer Buddhist Centre of Victoria on Springvale Road and the Dhammaram temple in Balmoral Avenue. I want to pay my respects to those religious leaders who are represented here in the chamber today. Soum swa-khom—welcome to our parliament.

For Australia, Cambodia is a neighbour but, more than that, a friend. We have welcomed Cambodians to our country since the 1970s and have welcomed people to build new lives here. We enjoy a strong trading relationship, and the relationship between Australia and Cambodia is really that of a genuine friendship. In such a friendship you can have frank discussions, and that is what I want to do today.

In July 2013 a general election was held in Cambodia. There was a fear that those elections would not be fair—a fear founded quite reasonably on the unwillingness of the Cambodian government to implement the recommendations on corruption and electoral fraud of the United Nations special rapporteur in 2012, and the fact that Sam Rainsy, Cambodia's opposition leader, was not given free rights to stand in that election. Concerns about the election process quickly turned to civil unrest, and perhaps the most shocking incident occurred in January, when we saw garment workers shot and imprisoned simply for participating in protests demanding a higher wage. Five people were killed, 23 were arrested and assembly was banned.

Recently I was lucky to join the shadow minister for foreign affairs and Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for Sydney; and the shadow Attorney-General and member for Isaacs to speak with Professor Gareth Evans. Professor Evans is a legend in this place and has a significant and longstanding history with Cambodia. Professor Evans indicated—in private, but also in his public statements on this matter—that enough is enough. In a recent newspaper article he said:

So what has our government's response been? Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been conspicuously silent on these points. She has failed to mention these terrible abuses on her visit to Cambodia, focusing instead on negotiating a new asylum seeker agreement. And it does make one wonder: is the silence strategic? What else could possibly explain turning a blind eye to this conduct?

The loud megaphone broadcasting our condemnation is in order, and we call on the government to voice Australia's deep concerns at the situation in Cambodia, because I have sat with Cambodian leaders and felt their agony while they have told me about abuses in their home country. I was appalled to hear their concerns about the electoral process; I was horrified to learn that there was a ban on assembly; and I was sickened and saddened to hear that citizens were shot dead. The actions were unacceptable. They were unacceptable by Australian standards, they were unacceptable by the standards of the Cambodian community and they were unacceptable to my constituents in Hotham.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The chamber requires a seconder for the motion.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue, and I am delighted to be able to speak in front of a number of Khmer who have successfully settled in Australia and made a very significant contribution to this nation over a long period of time. My engagement with Cambodia goes back a long way. I had the opportunity in 1985 of visiting Cambodia, at a time when the nation had suffered dreadfully as a result of the activities of the Khmer Rogue. I can remember Phnom Penh when I was there, largely devoid of Khmer people. There was a government installed by Vietnam. Hun Sen was there; the Vietnamese were there; the Russians were there—it was a city devoid of Khmer. I have had the opportunity of meeting those who were in government, as well as those who were in opposition, and many of them I regard as my friends. I cannot say Hun Sen is a close friend—I have only met him once or twice—but Sam Rainsy I had the opportunity of meeting on several occasions.

Most Australians look at Asian democracies and they are not all the same as ours. It does not matter whether you are talking about Vietnam or China, or even countries closer to us. Some people will say that we do not always understand Asian culture. I would like to think that Asian culture reflected the democracy that I know, but in many respects that has not been part of their heritage. When I look at the way in which events have unfolded, I understand that Cambodia is very much what I would regard as a one-party state, with the CPP being in government for such a long period of time. I understand that elections are held, and they do not always look the same as ours. I witnessed some of those early elections, like Gareth Evans, very much aware of the need to try and promote the sorts of values that we see as being important.

As is recorded in the motion, I very much lament that you can have elections in which people who believe that they are participating lose their lives. We have to ask ourselves what is the best and most appropriate way forward. For us, in relation to countries within our region, we have endeavoured to have dialogue with them about the way in which you can produce change, the way in which you can obtain better human rights outcomes. With China, with Vietnam, we have human rights dialogues. Whether we should have dialogues with other countries in the region is a matter that, no doubt, consideration will be given to in the future.

The view of the Australian government is that we want to see democracy working. We want to see all parties able to exercise restraint, to work through issues, to have effective dialogue. Having played a role in the negotiation of the Paris peace accords in 1991, and having been a long supporter of the democratisation progress in Cambodia, Australia wants to see that this continues to develop and we want to play a positive role in rebuilding Cambodian society and its infrastructure to meet its future needs. The government is concerned about the deaths and injuries that have occurred but continues to urge all parties to exercise restraint and to work these issues through in open dialogue. We do have a strong and growing bilateral relationship with contemporary Cambodia—the Foreign Minister recently visited there—and we will remain actively engaged in working these issues through in the future.

Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to associate myself with the motion put by the member for Hotham. The member for Hotham first raised with me the issue of what is happening in Cambodia very soon after her election to this place. Of course, she is not the only one to do so: the member for Bruce will be speaking on this motion a little later. The members for Isaacs and Fowler will not be able to speak today, but I know they also feel very strongly about this issue, as do many other Australian parliamentarians. The reason is that Australia has very longstanding and close relations with Cambodia, stretching back decades. Australia has seen Cambodia as a friend for a long time. Our involvement in the peace process in the eighties and nineties, under the leadership of then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, was a very important time for us. Gareth Evans has often been described as the architect of the Cambodian peace plan. Indeed, in 1994, Chheang Vun, who is now a senior lawmaker in the Cambodian government, went further and described Gareth Evans as 'the father of Cambodia'.

The peace plan followed two decades of violence involving foreign actors, including the United States, Vietnam, civil war, bombing and the Khmer Rouge genocide that shocked the world. We had a role, indeed a lead role, in the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia. We also accepted, as the member for Hotham has said, many Cambodian migrants and refugees, who have greatly enriched our country and add a unique and distinct flavour to our multicultural society.

Following the 1991 Paris peace agreements, hopes were high that the people of Cambodia would finally have peace, democracy and human rights. Indeed, Australian Lieutenant General John Sanderson led a force comprising 46 countries to supervise the ceasefire. Those hopes were boosted by the peaceful election in 1993, but unfortunately the path since then has at times been very rocky.

In March 1997 an attack on an opposition rally killed 16 people and injured hundreds, and in July that year there was a bloody coup in which opponents were reportedly tortured and executed. The international community, perhaps desensitised after many decades of Cambodian suffering following the Khmer Rouge atrocities, did not speak out loudly enough at the time. Since then, we have seen human rights and democracy continue to flounder. Last year, there was deadly violence against unarmed people protesting against the national election, which some have described as a deeply flawed national election. In January this year, five striking garment workers were shot dead by security forces and others were seriously injured by gunfire. More than 20 workers were detained without trial. Additionally, there have been disturbing reports of racially-motivated violence against the ethnic Vietnamese population, and the main opposition leader has been accused of inciting racism.

As Gareth Evans writes in his op-ed in The Australian today, which has also been published around the world, the human rights abuses have gone hand-in-hand with corruption. Out of 177 countries, Cambodia is ranked 160th by Transparency International. There have been allegations that those close to the government, around 20 people, have amassed fortunes of around $1 billion through illegal means. There has been a high level of political patronage, with the government reportedly having 244 ministers and secretaries of state. Given how poor Cambodia is, this type of behaviour is inexcusable.

There is, of course, hope: for all its flaws, Cambodia's opposition is described as 'increasingly credible'; thousands of social media savvy young voters have been demanding change in Cambodia; and international pressure is also building by many states, by putting their criticisms on the record when the United Nations Human Rights Council reviewed Cambodia's human rights record in February.

We believe that it is very important for the Australian government to also voice its concerns loudly and clearly. Because of our long and close friendship with Cambodia, Australia is almost uniquely placed amongst the international community to do so. While Foreign Minister Bishop recently met with Cambodia's Prime Minister, our government's muted response to the litany of human rights concerns would disappoint many in the Australian-Cambodian community. Our government's reaction reflects poorly on our commitment to supporting the rights of Cambodians. We need to be firm in our condemnation of violence against protestors and demand the release of political detainees. The ongoing pattern of political violence in Cambodia must stop once and for all, and we should be ready to help the Cambodian government, opposition groups and civil society to construct that much more peaceful society that Cambodians so deserve.

Teresa Gambaro (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion concerning the ongoing civil unrest in Cambodia that led to the death of five people earlier this year, on 2 and 3 January 2014. While Cambodia has in many respects had remarkable advances over the past 20 years, progress on human rights has been disappointing. Human rights issues in Cambodia are wide ranging and include issues around land disputes, electoral reform, freedom of speech, indiscriminate use of force, the lack of equality before the law, and the lack of independence of the courts and government institutions such as the National Election Committee. I was very honoured to be able to visit a year ago and talk to many officials regarding that range of issues.

Australia continues to monitor the human rights situation in Cambodia and to work constructively with the Cambodian government for the protection of human rights. I note that in a recent article in an online publication, Project Syndicate, published on 26 February, former Labor Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans argued:

I also note that Mr Evans's article has been picked up by many Australian media outlets. Sadly, Gareth Evans has kept very quiet about Cambodia over the last couple of years and only thought to raise it right now, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop, has visited Cambodia. Mr Evans did not bother to raise his concerns with the former foreign minister, Bob Carr, when he visited Cambodia. Then again, Mr Carr spent more time visiting Angkor Wat than he did raising human rights issues with the Cambodian government, which is what he was there for.

Under the guidance of our foreign minister, Hon. Julie Bishop, Australia is in an ongoing dialogue at senior levels of the Cambodian government on human rights issues. We also raise these issues consistently through our embassy in Phnom Penh and in the UN human rights forums. During Minister Bishop's visit to Cambodia on 22 February, she canvassed Cambodia's domestic political situation with her Cambodian counterparts. While ultimately these are matters for the Cambodian people, we must encourage all parties to remain in the dialogue, and to this end Minister Bishop has welcomed their mutual agreement, on 18 February, to hold a national workshop on electoral reform. The Australian government has underlined the importance that we attach to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Indeed, during the minister's visit to Cambodia, on 22 February she raised human rights in each of the meetings with the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the foreign minister for Cambodia—hardly what I would call a 'muted response'.

In addition, Minister Bishop reaffirmed Australia's statement at the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva on 28 January. In Australia's UPR statement as of 28 January we did express concerns about restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly and association in Cambodia. We also expressed particular concern about the recent disproportionate violence against protesters and the detention without trial of some of those protesters. We recommended that the government of Cambodia assume full respect, in law and in practice, for the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, consistent with international law. We also recommended that Cambodia establish an independent national human rights institution, as was consistent with the Paris principles. We have heard many speakers here today talk about the Paris principles. But there is a long way to go. Australia stands ready to help in whatever way that we can, to ensure that Cambodia addresses some of these human rights issues in the future. The government is well aware of the circumstances in Cambodia, and Minister Bishop's diligence in having already visited Cambodia, in comprehensively addressing these issues with the Cambodian government, is something that we should commend her on.

Laurie Ferguson (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With due respect to the member for Brisbane, I would like to assure her that my activity on this issue very much predates the change of government. I have been in correspondence with the previous foreign minister about the last elections there, and I have had the opportunity to work with people such as Chhayri Marm, a prominent Cambodian in my electorate; and Narand Kay, a Sydney Khmer broadcaster. I had the opportunity to meet Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, in my electoral office; to attend a number of fundraisers for the Cambodian National Rescue Party; and to attend with my colleague Chris Hayes rallies at the Cambodian Buddhist monastery about the outcome of the elections.

Clearly, issues relating to Cambodia have been advanced for some quite some years. Global Witness, as early as 2008, stated that it had:

They commented about the prominence of the head of the armed forces, ministers' brothers, the Prime Minister's cousins, senators, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and wealthy connected tycoons in ripping off the country's extractive and mineral wealth. They noted that the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority was directly under Hun Sen and his deputy, Sok An. So they were expressing doubts back in 2008 about the level of corruption in the country.

What we saw in the elections last year was of great concern. In a fashion that the Cambodian government has utilised on many occasions, it utilised illegal processes to deny the possibility of opposition campaigning. The opposition leader, of course, was severely restricted in his ability to contest those elections. We have a situation where there has been allegations that as many as 1.2 to 1.3 million people were denied their voting rights. There have been claims that the so-called indelible ink that was supplied was actually totally inadequate.

We have had a situation in January this year where police and security forces used live bullets against demonstrators. There was a situation where very aged broadcasters, in their 70s and 80s, have been detained and given long sentences. Also, there has been a situation—as was noted by previous speaker—where political opposition rallies were attacked quite some years ago. Of those elections, Transparency International commented in very negative terms about them, saying that essentially they could not be regarded as legitimate.

In more recent times, we have a situation where the current regime is basically flogging off the interests of the nation and its people. In the race for the lowest common denominated in wages and conditions, Chinese, Koreans and Taiwanese companies have established themselves in the country, and the government has been extremely supportive of their ability to limit very much trade union activity. Human Rights Watch has commented that basic rights such as freedom of expression, assembly and association come under regular attack, while corruption is rampant, severely affecting the enjoyment of basic economic and social rights. Journalists were attacked in September last year. A trade union leader, Chea Vichea, was murdered. The regime and its associates attempted to frame a number of individuals—poor characters who were picked up. They were eventually exonerated. The family has refused compensation for his death exactly because they say that there has been an attempt to trump up charges against people who did not actually commit the offence. We also have had a series of forced evictions as the government and its auxiliaries have supported foreign corporations in seizing people's lands on behalf of those interests.

I want to say to the member for Brisbane, I have got a track record on this issue and I resent any kind of allegation that this is in any way manufactured against the current government. However, it does not give a good impression, despite all these alleged nice little comments in backrooms about how concerned they are about human rights in Cambodia, that in the same meetings they say that Cambodia is a suitable settlement place for refugees from this country. Quite frankly, the human rights situation in Cambodia is disgraceful and it is disgraceful that the foreign minister goes there and basically says it adequate for people to be settled there.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the motion brought to this House by Ms O'Neil. In 2008, as a new member, I was privileged to be part of a United Nations delegation that also included the member for Corio, the member for Forrest and Senator Siewert, to go to Cambodia and witness the elections in 2008, so I do have some idea of what is happening there. I was placed in regional Cambodia, at Battambang in the north-west corner. What has been stated in this place, I did see. Despite the fact that there was an air of legitimacy about that election, what was happening underneath, in a subversive way, became obvious to those of us there. So upon return we briefed the then foreign affairs minister, Stephen Smith, as to what we saw. I will say that I believe that the Australian government is engaged in the process in Cambodia. In the context of where Cambodia has come from in one generation, it is quite remarkable, but that undertone of corruption and intimidation was certainly evident to me.

I would like to comment on the Cambodian people. I was very humbled to make the acquaintance of many people in Cambodia and to witness the dignity and hard work they have placed into pulling themselves out of what must have been an incredibly bad time under the regime of Pol Pot. To lose nearly half your population in a short period of time and to come back as Cambodia has is truly remarkable.

I condemn the loss of life among the protesters at the garment factories, and I will make some comment on those garment factories. It is easy in Australia for us to look at them as places of exploitation to be condemned, but from what I could see those factories were supplying employment and a regular income to many people who had been displaced from rural Cambodia. To see those people going to work every day in the garment factories, and the dignity with which they carried themselves, was very humbling.

I might touch in the last minute on some of the good work that Australians are doing in Cambodia. There is a young woman from my home town who has started a charity in Cambodia called VOICE. Our guests in the chamber today would know that there are between 10,000 and 20,000 children working on the streets and in bars in Cambodia as we speak. Kristy Fleming and her charity, VOICE, are working with these children to get them off the street, to keep them away from abuse and exploitation and to help them with food, clothes and education. Under VOICE's Children's Communities Cambodia program, they run three community centres which support over 75 vulnerable children and families. She is just a young lady from regional Australia who visited Cambodia and, as I did, fell in love with the people and wanted to do something. Also, over the last few years the Rotary clubs of Dubbo have constructed a school in southern Cambodia that now has 400 students, providing education where previously there was none.

Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the motion. I think that the entire House is basically in favour of the motion, but we are in a situation where, as is often the case, the argument is: how do you get to the place you need to be, ensuring that—with respect—real action takes place? I would like to commence by acknowledging the representatives of the Cambodian community and venerable monks who are present here in the chamber—I understand they are mainly made up of the Cambodian community in Canberra, but I know that this is an issue of great interest to members of the Cambodian community throughout the nation. I acknowledge also the tremendous migrants they have been in Australia since many of them arrived, in the aftermath of one of the bloodiest conflicts that we have seen in our times—that is, around the questions of Vietnam and the bombing of Cambodia, and beyond that, the civil war and the terrible regime of Pol Pot. I acknowledge that in my local community in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, they have been fine Australians and people that I am proud to count amongst my friends.

The fact that there are so many members of the Cambodian community here today illustrates to the House the grave concerns that are held about what is occurring back in Cambodia. These concerns have been long held, but recent events have brought them to the forefront. I would like to pick up on a couple of the comments made by earlier members. We are seeing a situation now in Cambodia where—after decades of improvement on an economic front, and decades of hope on a political front—things are going backwards. That needs to be understood. The member for Berowra—a member that I have a good deal of respect for on issues of human rights—in his comments mentioned that when we talk about democracy, it is not the same everywhere, and that the circumstances in Asia are different, at times. I agree with him that that is the case, but we have to look at the question of what is taking place there. The recent events in January—around the shooting and detaining of garment workers protesting merely to try and get a reasonable living or subsistence wage—are beyond the pale. They are indicative of what has been occurring in Cambodia over recent times, when many in the international community have hoped, prayed and worked to see improvements—hopefully along the road to a fuller democracy.

The member for Brisbane made some comments which I would also like to pick up on. It is great that the Minister for Foreign Affairs—according to the member for Brisbane—when she was in Cambodia was raising these issues in discussions with senior figures in the government. That is fantastic and I want to congratulate her on that. I am sorry that we had to hear that here, in this debate, rather than in a statement from the foreign minister. Given the significance of this issue to many people of Cambodian descent in the Australian community, and to all of those who are concerned about human rights in our region, it would have been better if we had heard about it before this debate. But I congratulate the minister that those statements have been made and that those attempts were made while she was there. That is a very good thing.

I would like to pick up on one issue that the member for Parkes raised. He mentioned the question of the garment industry. He said that when he visited Cambodia, he was pleased to see that it provided meaningful work. I agree totally. Meaningful work for meaningful pay is an underlying basis of fair play within our Australian system and across politics. It should be in place throughout the world. Let us not forget the workers who were shot, or the men and women who have been detained for demonstrating for a right that we would see as something we all have, and should have. They were seeking a minimum monthly wage increase from just over $90 per month to just over $112 per month. I do not think anyone could say that that is unreasonable.

I support the motion, because these are issues that need to be raised. I am very pleased that the minister raised these issues while visiting Cambodia. They should be raised again. The time of quiet diplomacy with Cambodia may well be gone. We may need to be more active and more vocal in support of freedom. (Time expired)

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Hotham for bringing this very important matter to our attention. I also welcome the Australian Cambodian community and venerables who are attending here today. Sadly, the start of 2014 brought more disturbing news from Cambodia with continued harassment of human rights activists and protesters at the hands of their own government and security forces. On 3 January, during a legitimate industrial dispute in support of a minimum wage in the clothing industry, five workers were shot dead in Phnom Penh. Many were injured and many others were beaten by the police and members of the security forces; more than 20 were detained without trial. Understandably, this provoked significant widespread protest on the streets of Phnom Penh; I understand more than 20,000 people marched in protest at these actions. By the way, the protesters were met with the same heavy-handed treatment that, presumably, originated on the orders of the Prime Minister Hun Sen.

These recent incidents are part of a pattern of violence in Cambodia. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in our region and there are more than 15 million people living with the lasting scars of their painful and brutal past. Under the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, the population were put through some of the worst atrocities known to mankind and genocide saw more than eight million people killed through execution, starvation and forced labour. The promise of lasting peace, which was supposed to come at the end of Pol Pot's regime and the signing of the Paris peace agreement in 1991, was never quite fulfilled for the people of Cambodia. Since then, the Cambodian people have been subjected to autocratic political rule and frequent periods of violence.

Since gaining power, the Hun Sen regime has been marred by corruption, violence and systematic human rights abuses. It has only been since the formation of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, led by Sam Rainsy, that there has been a coordinated and plausible opposition to the Hun Sen government. In the elections last July, the Cambodian National Rescue Party doubled its presence in the parliament, gaining 55 seats in a 120-seat parliament. However, following serious allegations of electoral fraud, manipulation of the electoral commission and tight government control of the media, the opposition boycotted the parliamentary sessions in September last year. I met with Sam Rainsy, the leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. As a matter of fact, I met with him twice during his visits to Australia. Last year, in Sydney, we spoke about the effects of the flawed governance and corruption of the current regime, and I heard his concerns and his plans for a future for the Cambodian people. To suppress any threat to its three-decade rule, the Hun Sen administration has instigated court proceedings against Sam Rainsy and his deputy, Kem Sokha, on charges that they have incited crime to undermine public security.

I have spoken on many occasions in this place about the issue of human rights in various parts of the world, including Cambodia, and I will continue to do so because I believe in a society where people's fundamental human rights are respected. Human rights are the inherent privilege that every person is entitled to regardless of their background or where they were born. Given the significant relationship between Australia and Cambodia, I believe Australia has a responsibility to join with the international community in voicing in the strongest possible terms its abhorrence to the continuation of human rights abuses in Cambodia and place appropriate pressure on the Cambodian government to address this dreadful situation.

Australia is a major foreign aid contributor to Cambodia, and our aid should have strings attached; essentially the conditions should be to improve their human rights record. People in Cambodia deserve better than what they have, and they certainly need our support. I would also like to acknowledge Mr Chhayri Marm, President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Sydney, one of the most passionate advocates for human rights that I have met, in his tireless work undertaken for his community. I will continue to attend functions with him, and encourage him to continue with his noble work.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to congratulate the member for Hotham for bringing forward what I believe is one of the most important motions that we will be discussing in parliament today. I would also like to recognise the members of the Cambodian community and their venerables.

It is a sad and tragic event when workers are killed for demonstrating peacefully to increase the minimum wage, and that is exactly what happened in January; and it is unacceptable. As the previous speakers have pointed out, Cambodian workers are among the lowest paid workers in the world—it was just to increase their wages from a mere $90 a month to $112 a month; that was what they were asking for.

This is a case where workers, who are working in atrocious conditions and get very small wages, have been further victimised. They were killed by Cambodian security forces, and a further 23 were detained for taking part in the protest.

I understand workers were just asking for a very small wage—just over US$100 a month—and that is woefully insufficient to meet the cost of living. We would not accept those conditions in Australia, nor would many other countries around the world.

I have heard the statements that have been made by previous speakers and how they are generally supportive of the workers in Cambodia, but I am disappointed that some of that support did not come out earlier. I would like to acknowledge the human rights organisations and multinational business leaders, and join with them in expressing my deep concerns over the actions of the Cambodia government. I would also like to condemn the violence against the protesters, because violence cannot be accepted as a response to workers fighting for better wages.

I would like to ask the Cambodian government to release those people who are being detained for participating in the protest It is totally unacceptable that peaceful protesters can be thrown into jail for protesting about better wages.

I would like to say that, while we would all like to have cheaper clothing, we cannot have that at the expense of workers. Sometimes people fail to recognise that we can get cheaper clothes because of the terrible working conditions that these employees were fighting against.

The garment industry is worth about $5 billion in Cambodia each year, and the clothing made for high street brands is the country's largest export. So an industry that provides the country's largest market is refusing to look after workers, and that is compounded by the fact that, when workers went out and protested for higher wages, not only were their demands ignored but the workers were thrown in jail. That is not acceptable. Everybody remembers what happened in Bangladesh in 2013, and we do not want that sort of thing to happen in Cambodia. We would like to support the Cambodian workers. We would like a message to go back to them that we here in the Australian parliament understand the issue of decent pay for a decent day's work. We need to make sure that this happens in Cambodia. We need the Cambodian workers to know that they have the support of us here. Everyone deserves a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, as I have mentioned.

But at this particular time the federal government is asking the Cambodian government to accept asylum seekers on behalf of Australia. This is akin to the Malaysian solution which the former government put forward in 2011, yet the coalition is happy to offer a deal to Cambodia, which has the human rights record that we are talking about today. We want to support you, not exploit you.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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.