Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with the member for Fowler to speak on this important matter. I know he has a long history in this place of speaking on behalf of the great and good cause of freedom in Vietnam. Freedom in Vietnam includes religious freedom and freedom of speech. Many of us would say, and all Vietnamese people in Australia, look forward to a day when there is true democracy in Vietnam, where anybody who raises even the possibility of an advancement beyond the single party state will not be committing a crime, where the Vietnamese government will be true to the covenants of human rights and democracy that it has signed but never adhered to.

From my two visits to Vietnam and my many talks with Vietnamese people within the electorate of Cowan, and from what I have seen on websites and blogs regarding matters to do with readers in Vietnam, the issues could probably be confined to three areas. That is, religious freedom, land rights and patriotism. I particularly want to mention this last area, which is involving so many of the bloggers and protests we have seen in Hanoi, Saigon and other places in Vietnam. It relates to Vietnamese people, who believe very strongly in their homeland—in their nation. They offer up their voices—whether it is through electronic means, protests or other means—to talk about what is in the best interests of their nation. Yet on so many occasions the Vietnamese government finds fault with that. It locks people up—jails them. It is particularly the case for Nguyen Phuong Uyen and Dinh Nguyen Kha. More recently, Kha's brother has been arrested, as well.

It is their patriotism—their belief in their country—that so often brings people into conflict with the Communist government in Vietnam. They raise things to do with the national interest. The Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea is something that a lot of Vietnamese people are concerned about. People find fault with the pandering, in many ways, of the Communist government to Beijing. They also find fault with the Chinese concessions—the bauxite mines—in the highlands, which are doing untold environmental damage.

People feel strongly about their country, and for that feeling—that patriotism and the national interests of Vietnam—people find themselves jailed. People are arrested on a regular basis. That is the reality of what is going on in Vietnam.

I have spoken on many occasions about the religious grievance. Again, the member for Fowler mentioned the young Catholic people that have been fairly recently sentenced and jailed in Vietnam. Often that is to do with land rights and the wish to be able to follow their religion without the controls of the state. As we know, in Vietnam people are free to practice religion—provided they have their leaders authorised and licensed by the state! I am being facetious, obviously, because that is no great freedom at all.

If a church is prepared to hand over its membership list to the state then they are free to practice. If they wish to hand over the list of names of people who attend regularly or who come and visit their church, temple or whatever, then they can practice their religion. But if people in Vietnam refuse to do those things—if they refuse to hand over those lists and if they refuse to do exactly as they are told by the state—then they run afoul of the state and they are persecuted by the state.

We have spoken before of the cowshed church in Saigon. I was fortunate enough to visit there back in, I think, the start of 2011, and I worshipped with the Mennonites in the Cow Shed Church. They were kicked out of the house church that they had because the local Communist authorities did not like what was being said or did not like the fact that that church did not provide a membership list to the state. They would not do as they were told and, as a consequence, they were kicked out. The pastor's wife—I saw her there on that day—suffered from mental illness but she were forced to live in that shed while the pastor is in jail. She was forced to live in that shed behind a curtain. The Mekong River had risen at the time of my visit so that we were knee-deep in its waters. The pastor's wife, who has unfortunately since died, was stuck there, suffering, without any support from the state. She was, amongst her fellows in the church, persecuted by that same state. That is the religious freedom that awaits those in Vietnam who refuse to do the bidding—who refuse to follow the orders—of the state.

The tragedy of Vietnam, as we know and as we see all the time in Australia, is that those that hail from Vietnam are highly successful in this country because the shackles of socialism and communism are taken off their backs. In this country, if they want to work hard, they can get the benefits of working hard. Back there, they have to do as they are told. The Communist Party impose restrictions on people economically, religiously and democratically. In doing that, they hold back a proud country of 88 million people. I can only imagine how successful Vietnam would be without the shackles of an oppressive state and the uncaring, self-motivated and self-serving Communist Party of Vietnam. I can only imagine how successful that country would be if they had the same conditions and opportunities that we have in this country, which Vietnamese Australians have thrived under.

They want the same opportunities. There needs to be a time in the future when article 88 of the Vietnamese constitution, the article that has caused so many people to be arrested and jailed, is taken off the backs of the Vietnamese people, when Vietnam becomes the country where the individual is valued and where, collectively, the success of the country is valued more than is currently the case. As we know, in all communist and socialist systems, the talk is very good at the start about looking after individuals, but, in the end, in every case, the reality is a self-serving organisation, such as the Vietnamese Communist Party, existing for the benefit of a small number of members. In the end, they are the ones looked after while the people do the bidding of the state.

I appreciate the opportunity that the member for Fowler has provided today to, again, let us look at what needs to change in Vietnam. I hope that through the ninth human rights dialogue some progress can be made. At the moment, it looks like progress is not being made. The arrest and beating of young activists, particularly Nguyen Phuong Uyen, is a tragedy that represents what the state of Vietnam is all about. I am sad and sorry that there has been no great progress in Vietnam, but we look forward to better days. Hopefully, through the dialogue we will see better days. Time will tell. I pay tribute to the brave Vietnamese people.

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