Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 18 June 2022 I was honoured to attend an event hosted by our wonderful Burmese diaspora in Queensland. The event was held for two reasons: first, to celebrate the 77th birthday on 19 June 22 of Myanmar's state councillor and Nobel Peace Prize winner door Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; second, to call for an end—an end—to the violence and a return to democracy in Myanmar. I made a commitment that day to the community that at my first opportunity in this place I would make sure that their voices were heard and I deliver on that commitment today. I do so in the context of the outrageous execution of four democracy activists in the last week in Myanmar and I place their names formally on the Hansard record of this place of democracy. The four democratic activists, one who was a legislator, were as follows: Phyo Zeya Thaw, Kyaw Min Yu, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. Each and every one of them were executed by the military junta in Myanmar for simply seeking democracy in their home country.

I call for the imposition of additional sanctions by the Australian government commensurate with this outrage. I call for the imposition of Magnitsky sanctions against Myanmar's military junta members and against those individuals associated with this outrageous human rights atrocity. I call in this place for all of us, each and every one of us, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Myanmar diaspora to call for an end to the violence, a release of the political prisoners in Myanmar and a return of democracy in Myanmar.