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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1995 Week 10 Hansard (6 December) . . Page.. 2698 ..

MS FOLLETT (continuing):

across Africa of concerted opposition to oppression and injustice, both before and since the departure of the European colonial powers. Nigeria's writers and other intellectuals have been in the forefront of this struggle. During the civil war over Biafra, a number of them took up political activism. For example, playwright, poet and novelist Wole Soyinka, the winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Literature, was thrown into gaol for two years because of his opposition to the war and the way in which the Government was prosecuting it. At this point I would like to pay tribute to our own literary community, who have come together as the local chapter of PEN to speak out on this and other human rights abuses. They have been acting as our community's conscience on this issue, and by passing this motion the Assembly can and should add its voice to theirs.

I would like now to turn to the final part of my motion, which relates to the Shell oil company. Although I believe that we should be moving in the direction of economic sanctions, I have deliberately chosen not to call for hasty or precipitate action on the part of the Government. It would be irresponsible to determine on a particular course of action before we are in possession of all the facts. I am conscious that doing so could also detract from the immediate protest we need to be making today with a united voice. It does need to be said that the Shell oil company, as the major foreign investor in Nigeria's oil industry, bears a considerable degree of responsibility for what has happened and for the environmental destruction and sheer exploitation that have taken place in Ogoniland.

I certainly do not accuse Shell of the deaths of Ken Saro-Wiwa and the others. That act was done by the Nigerian Government. I will refrain also from accusing Shell of being the instigator of the repression of the Ogoni minority. What is beyond dispute, however, is that Shell has been a major beneficiary of it. There are credible reports, which Shell has not convincingly denied, that the company made the ending of the international environmental campaign being waged against it a precondition for urging the Nigerian Government to release Mr Saro-Wiwa and his supporters. It is also a matter of record that Shell waited less than a week after the executions to confirm a $5.4 billion investment in a liquefied natural gas project in the area.

Shell is one of the world's largest energy companies. However, it cannot consider itself immune from the pressure facing other large resource companies, including Australia's BHP and CRA, to act like responsible corporate citizens both at home and abroad. This motion places Shell on notice as to the consequences of failing to do so. It places the company on notice that it may have to choose between doing business with dictators or with communities that value human rights. Shell is already faced with this dilemma in Europe, for example, in Germany and Luxembourg. This part of the motion, if it is supported, will act in a small but significant way to increase that pressure.

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I believe that it is up to all of us, if we care about democracy and freedom of expression, to do whatever we can to ensure that gross abuses of human rights, no matter where in the world they occur or who is involved in perpetrating them, are exposed and condemned. I urge members to do that by supporting this motion.

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