Jeannie Ferris (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Humphries, I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

the maturing relationship between Vietnam and Australia, the high-level contacts between Prime Ministers, Australia’s development cooperation program of approximately $81 million per year, and the strong people to people links,

(ii)

continuing international concern about human rights issues in Vietnam, including gaoling, administrative detention, harassment of human rights activists for their advocacy of democracy, and religious freedom,

(iii)

the importance of addressing the cases of individuals such as the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen Quang, Hoa Hao Elderly Mr Le Quang Liem, Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh, Dr Pham Hong Son, journalists Nguyen Khac Toan and Nguyen Vu Binh and many ethnic Montagnard people such as Siu Boch, A Brih, and Y Tim Bya, and

(iv)

the Australian Government’s active support and promotion of democratic freedoms and human rights in Vietnam, including through the annual human rights dialogue, and other cooperation programs, and encourages the Government to continue these efforts; and

(b)

calls on the Vietnamese Government to observe its international obligations on human rights, including the provision of free and fair elections.

Question agreed to.