BETANCOURT, INGRID

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:46): I rise today to draw the council's attention to the plight of Colombian legislator, Ingrid Betancourt. On 11 March 2008, the federal senate passed a motion moved by Senator Bob Brown as follows:

That the senate (a) notes that 23 February 2008 marked the sixth year that Ingrid Betancourt has been held hostage by the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia (the FARC); and (b) calls on the FARC to release Ms Betancourt and all its hostages.

The name of Ingrid Betancourt is not a household name in Australia, but her plight has seen thousands of people marching in the streets across major cities around the world. People have been marching for her release and in support of democracy.

Ingrid Betancourt is a remarkable person and she has been a tireless campaigner against drug running in South America, arms trading, political corruption and political assassinations and, at the time of her kidnap six years ago, she was a presidential candidate. The most recent marches in support of her release took place just this week, when the French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, joined thousands of people in a solemn march in Paris, to call for Colombian rebels to release the ailing former presidential candidate, and similar rallies were held all over France.

The person of Ingrid Betancourt, as I said, is not well-known here, but she did visit Australia in April 2001 where she addressed, in fact, the first global Green's conference in Canberra. I might just read a sentence or two from her contribution on that occasion. She commented on the world's slide into social and environmental degradation and she said:

The salvation of the planet, the right to life, is nothing else than a fight for values. These values are shared by all of us human beings, regardless of the colour of our skin, or the name we give our god. And because they are essential values, they are not negotiable. To outline a new economic order, a new social pact, is not utopia. It is simply the basic thing, the minimum for society to continue in a globalised world. I say this with force and with anguish because we cannot waste any more time. We still have time to stop the self-destruction being foisted on us. But this will depend on our will, on our character, on our commitment and not on what power they choose to grant us.

The first thing we must defeat is our scepticism. Do not let us think of what we have not achieved, but of what we can do and what we must achieve. Let us not deceive ourselves: we have to take on the uniform of the new samurai, to defend our values, our principles, our ideals above everything—even above our own life.

She has now languished in the jungles of Colombia as a hostage for the past six years. According to recent reports—and this is the main reason that I have brought this to the council's attention now—is that she is fading very fast. In a letter to her mother late last year, Ingrid wrote:

I am tired, tired of suffering, I have been—or tried to be—strong. I have had many battles, I have tried to escape at several opportunities, I have tried to maintain hope, as one keeps one's head above water...I want to think that one day I'll get out of here, but I know that what happened to the [11 provincial legislators, held hostage since 2002 and killed in June] which hurt me greatly, could happen to me at any moment.

The time is now for us all to pay attention to the plight of our democratically elected colleagues in all countries who are suffering persecution or, in the case of Ingrid Betancourt, have been kidnapped. I congratulate the Senate on the passing of its resolution. I urge all members to be vigilant to make sure that the democratic principles we hold dear are also upheld in other countries. We all should use our best endeavours to ensure that democracy flourishes in this world, not just in our own lucky country.