Natasha Stott Despoja (SA, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

the military junta in control of Myanmar, the State Peace and Development Council, has announced its intention to hold a constitutional referendum in May 2008, in advance of national elections by 2010,

(ii)

the drafting of guidelines for the new constitution has not involved representatives of the National League for Democracy (NLD) or minority ethnic groups and comes at a time when many pro-democracy activists are in prison, and

(iii)

a clause in the draft constitutional guidelines guarantees the military 25 per cent of the seats in the country’s parliament;

(b)

expresses concern that this process will merely entrench military rule under the guise of democracy;

(c)

welcomes the Australian Government’s long-term advocacy for pro-democracy and ethnic minority groups in Myanmar; and

(d)

urges the Government to:

(i)

consider additional measures to pressure the military junta to adopt democratic reforms, and

(ii)

lobby India, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to:

(a)

call for the release of NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, and

(b)

acknowledge the ‘roadmap to democracy’ as deeply flawed and pressure the junta to adopt a dialogue with pro-democracy and ethnic minority representatives for a genuinely inclusive constitutional drafting process.

Question agreed to.