Page 2091 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 5 June 1990
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Democracy in China
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts) (11.05): Mr Speaker, I rise to contribute briefly to this debate. I particularly want to refer to a point made by Mr Berry in which he said that Labor was the friend of the oppressed. It has also been true in the past that the Australian Labor Party had been on occasions the friend of the oppressors as well. I refer particularly to the friendship between the ALP Government of Mr Whitlam and the Chinese Government of Mao Tse-tung, which was a very different government from that which we have come to expect of China since.
I think it is important to acknowledge the very great tragedy that occurred in Tiananmen Square as a result of the action of the Chinese Government one year ago. There has been discussion in the media since that time about whether a massacre actually occurred on that day. I think it is worth noting that the discussions about that have been fairly broad-ranging and give rise to some question of just how accurate our media and the international world media really are about issues like this.
I personally express the view that the massacre did occur, that the evidence is very clear that it did occur. I also express the view that, even if it can be shown that only one Chinese student died on that day in Tiananmen Square, the killing of that student would constitute a very serious threat to the principles on which this particular country's democracy is founded and on which I hope every democracy of every nation of the world ought one day to be founded. I refer to the fact that people have the absolute right to express their point of view without fear or favour and that that view ought not to be discarded or suppressed on the basis of political decision. I think that the Chinese students carried a flame which is today burning much brighter throughout the world.
A power failure having occurred at 11.07 pm, no further proceedings were recorded.
Assembly adjourned at 11.19 pm
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