Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to talk about parliamentary and institutional reform efforts in Malaysia, one of Australia's key trading partners and closest friends in the Asia-Pacific region. The friendship between Australia and Malaysia is both longstanding and broad. Recent events in Malaysia have reinforced the important leadership role it can play, and will play, across our region. Last year, Malaysia elected a new government and embraced a new direction. The newly elected Malaysian government was elected on the promise of restoring good governance and the rule of law, strengthening democratic institutions and implementing new measures of accountability. In summary, this manifesto contained a promise to improve the welfare of the Malaysian people, with a focus on those living in rural areas, minority groups, Indigenous people and the lower middle class, who are often forgotten. There was a promise to restore democratic institutions and rule of law—a promise for all Malaysian citizens, regardless of their race or religion. There was a promise to stop the corruption of national institutions and to strengthen the rule of law by ensuring the independence and integrity of important government agencies. Importantly, there was a promise to address political corruption. By tackling corruption, malfeasance and theft through the pursuit of sustainable economic growth, and by spreading the benefits to all, not just to those in power, Malaysia is setting itself on a course of prosperity and freedom.

Their Prime Minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad, was elected to office after a decisive victory for the Alliance of Hope coalition on 9 May 2018. The result of the 9 May election was one of the most significant events in the lifetime of many Malaysians, whether they live in Malaysia, in Australia or elsewhere. The level of civic participation combined with leadership from numerous quarters came together to say, 'We, Malaysia, want our country back. We Malaysians want less corruption. We Malaysians want more genuine government for the people of Malaysia.' It was a story, a political message, a political campaign that was quite inspiring and led to a very decisive and important election win for Malaysia. It was all done in the face of strong resistance and intimidation from those who held power in Malaysia. It was a giant moment for Malaysia. It was a giant moment for Asia.

When we look at progress to date there is much cause for optimism, especially when we acknowledge that the reform manifesto is very ambitious and contains a significant number of economic and financial reforms. Commentators are in general agreement that the domestic reform agenda is progressing well. The government has shown a strong commitment to improving transparency and accountability in the public sector and has taken many steps to advance these important causes. In fact, despite having to work with a coalition comprising of a loose group of affiliated parties and alliances, the government delivered on a number of key policy reforms within their first 100 days.

Institutional reform commenced immediately with nine key agencies, including the commissions for public service, national audit, anticorruption, elections and judicial appointments, now reporting to parliament rather than the Prime Minister. A parliamentary public accounts committee was established with its chair coming from the ranks of Mahathir's former party, the United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, the party now in opposition. This is a reform which will enhance government accountability. However, one of the many positive developments from this significant step forward has been the government's willingness to engage in widespread law reform and to do this in consultation with Malaysia's legal community.

This evening, I must acknowledge not just the work of Dr Mahathir in leading Malaysia to a new place, a better place, but I'd also like to put on record my acknowledgement for the work that the Malaysian minister of law in the Prime Minister's Department has been doing and, in particular, his announcement in October 2018. On that day, the biggest news in human rights was the announcement that the Malaysian government would begin the path, begin the pursuit, of law reform around the abolition of the death penalty. There's cautious optimism that legislation will be presented to pursue this important ambition, the ambition of the abolition of the death penalty, in coming months. I commend the government for its courage and commitment to this noble pursuit.

This move in Malaysia also reflects a wider achievement—that is, the growing momentum behind a new international standard that we no longer accept that the state should be killing its own people, and that is really as simple as it can be. I'm sure all of those in this parliament and in parliaments across the world are excited, cautiously optimistic, that Malaysia has set itself on the ambitious path of abolishing the death penalty. Malaysia's death penalty reform will earn it a reputation as a leader in the region. While there are other countries in this region that have moved away from the use of capital punishment, Malaysia's recent actions will prompt others to revisit the issue. It's a clear and greatly welcomed step.

On matters closer to home, I'm also pleased to report that the Australian government has been actively engaging with Malaysia and offering assistance with their democratic and institutional reform agenda. Specifically, these actions included: engagement through Australia's high commissioner in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysia's international reform committee on key features of Australia's democratic institutions; official visits where Australian public officials and elected representatives met with Malaysia's Council of Eminent Persons in Kuala Lumpur during August 2018 to compare insights on both of our countries' economic and institution reform experience; and a Malaysian parliamentary delegation, led by the Speaker of the federal lower house, attended the Australian Parliament House in Canberra in September 2018. The visit was hosted by the International and Parliamentary Relations Office, and during their visit the delegation learned about Australia's parliamentary system and processes.

In December 2018, a further Malaysian delegation was invited to Australia to learn about Australia's electoral processes, hosted by our very own Australian Electoral Commission. The Walkley Foundation sent a delegation to Malaysia under the public diplomacy program to engage Malaysian journalists, media organisations and government officials on Australia's experience with independent media, investigative journalism and media representative bodies. At Malaysia's request, the Hon. Kevin Andrews MP travelled to Malaysia in December 2018 to discuss parliamentary select committees. There is an upcoming gender policy dialogue scheduled for May of this year in Malaysia, an initiative that was announced by former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister to exchange experiences in the area of eliminating violence against women, furthering women's economic empowerment and increasing women's labour force participation.

On a personal level, I've been pleased to continue my own engagement with the new Malaysian government and delighted to have had the very rare, distinct privilege of having met Dr Mahathir on two occasions, once as opposition leader and more recently in his role as Prime Minister. I'm indebted to him for the very privileged opportunity to share with him his experiences as a regional leader.

As chair of the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, I had the opportunity to participate also in the December 2018 parliamentary delegation and contribute to constructive dialogue with Malaysia's Speaker of the parliament and a number of members of their equivalent committee. Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of meeting with a group of Malaysian political staffers here in Canberra and was very impressed by their commitment to reform and to democratic practice in Malaysia and was inspired by their passion to improve their country, not just for themselves but for generations into the future.

I'm sure I speak for many Australians when I say I'm excited about the prospect of reform in Malaysia and look forward to watching closely these important Malaysian milestones—a truly positive direction that will no doubt benefit all Malaysian citizens both now and into the future.