Page 5256 - Week 16 - Thursday, 28 November 1991
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Those remarks come from an excellent text, which I often keep close to me, known as Isolationism and Appeasement in Australia, by Andrews. That text adequately sets out the way that this country approached issues in the 1930s. They were appeasing, they were not willing to face up to issues internationally and they dodged decisions. I believe that there is a most regrettable parallel to that situation in Australia at the moment.
I was very pleased to hear that the South Australian Parliament has started a significant move in Australia. Yesterday, the South Australian Legislative Assembly passed a motion in similar terms to paragraphs (2) to (5) of the motion before you. My motion states, firstly:
That this Assembly -
(1) Urges the Prime Minister to pursue every effort in the United Nations to secure a just peace in Yugoslavia;
(2) Condemns the atrocities perpetrated during the incident of 12 November 1991 at East Timor Cemetery in Dili.
There are then two other paragraphs, which members can read, dealing with the rights to self-determination. Finally, the motion requests you, Mr Speaker, to forward the motion to the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Australian Federal Government. I understand from the Clerk that, as a matter of form, you communicate this motion, if it is supported by members, to the Chief Minister, who will send it to the Prime Minister and/or the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
We owe a great debt to people in our community now who suffer as a result of events in their homelands. I am pleased to say that in the chamber at the moment we have the president of the Slovenian National Council in Canberra, Mr Florian Falez, representatives of the Slovenian Information Office in Sydney, Ljubo Vranko, secretary of the Croatian Coordinating Committee, and other representatives from the community. There is also, I am pleased to see, a representative of the Muslim community in the chamber today, Mr Mustafa Ajkic. There are Timorese representatives as well.
I believe, as does the South Australian Parliament as expressed in its resolution last night, that it is now time for the constituent communities of Australia to pressure the Federal Government to take action. The communities themselves have been demonstrating for months - in the case of the Timorese, for years - but now it is time for each of the parliaments in Australia to speak up and let the Federal Government and the Prime Minister know how we as a community feel about the continued sense of inaction perceived by those communities.
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