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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-04 Daily Xml
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SOUTH SUDAN

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins:

That this council congratulates HURIDOSS (Human Rights Development Organisation South Sudan), Australian Chapter, on its launch and wishes it success in promoting awareness and protection of human rights in the Republic of South Sudan through community education, advocacy, research and consultation in order to advance important policy and legislative reforms in this new nation.

(Continued from 14 March 2012.)

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (20:20): I rise on behalf of the Greens to support this motion brought to us by the Hon. John Dawkins and join in those words, that we congratulate the Human Rights Development Organisation of South Sudan, Australian Chapter on its launch, and we wish it every success in promoting awareness and protection of human rights in the Republic of South Sudan through community education, advocacy, research and consultation in order to advance important policy and legislative reforms in this new nation.

As we saw, Australia has recently recognised the Republic of South Sudan, joining with many across the world. I certainly congratulate that nation on starting a new chapter in what has been a very tragic history. As we know, many from South Sudan seek refuge and asylum in Australia. Many have suffered horrific human rights violations, which in fact is why they seek to come to our country and make a life here. We must also remember that those who have lived in war-torn nations do need extra supports. They will go on, as all Australians do, as all new Australians have, to build and diversify and strengthen the cultural fabric that is what Australia is and that makes Australia so great.

I will not take up too much of the council's time, but I certainly wanted to note that I think that the arts will play a great role in healing, as they often do. A song for South Sudan has been proposed, and the lyrics for this new national song have been gained by turning to the artists and poets of that nation. I understand that the themes of it are the history, the land, the struggle, the sacrifice and destiny.

This is something that is a truism for all citizens and must be embraced in terms of any discussion of human rights. With that, I would point to our own national anthem in that 'beneath our radiant Southern Cross we've boundless plains to share', and we welcome sharing those with the people formerly of South Sudan as South Australians. With that, I commend this motion to the council.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (20:22): The state government strongly supports this motion moved by the Hon. John Dawkins. The protection of human rights is vital to the advancement and prosperity of the African nation of South Sudan. We also support the motion because South Australia is home to about 2,000 people from South Sudan, who are anxious to see that true peace comes to their homeland.

The new entity mentioned in the motion, the Human Rights Development Organisation of South Sudan (HURIDOSS), is an outstanding initiative, and it is heartening that the Australian chapter of the group was launched here in Adelaide in January. We trust it can foster an environment in South Sudan, indeed a mentality, in which all citizens of the new nation are respected, treated fairly, and able to fulfil their potential. As the Hon. Jing Lee suggested in this place on 14 March, it is critically important that the rights of women are safeguarded.

When South Sudan declared its independence on 9 July last year, there was jubilation in the nation's capital and celebrations around the world. It was a moment of both optimism and poignancy. A country was being born while its citizens were continuing to recover from a 22-year-long civil war in Sudan that brought terrible bloodshed. It is estimated that about two million people died in that conflict and that a further two million were internally displaced or exiled. Although the new nation is still finding its feet and although there continue to be reports of fighting and food shortages, we hope life in South Sudan will improve soon. Just like Australia, South Sudan is a culturally, religiously and linguistically diverse country and we hope this diversity will be embraced and celebrated.

As I suggested earlier, our state is today home to a large and thriving South Sudanese community, and its members are making a positive contribution to society in many different ways. They have formed a large number of cultural, sporting, social, women's, youth and welfare organisations. The community is not just practising its cultural traditions but also generously sharing them with their fellow South Australians. Indeed, some of my parliamentary colleagues have taken part in recent celebrations around town.

I understand that the then minister for multicultural affairs (the Hon. Grace Portolesi MP) attended a joyous and historic event in July last year. On the very day that South Sudan officially became a nation she joined hundreds of people at a party in Woodville that went late into the night. I am also told that my colleague the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars represented the Minister for Multicultural Affairs (the Hon. Jennifer Rankine) at a more recent independence function.

The Hon. G.A. Kandelaars: At the Sicilian Club.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: At the Sicilian Club; how multicultural can we be? I know the Sicilian Club really well. A few weeks ago the Minister for Multicultural Affairs herself attended and spoke at the African Festival held in Hindmarsh Square. The minister was joined by Senator the Hon. Kate Lundy, who is now the federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs.

During my matters of interest contribution last week I had the opportunity to acknowledge the work of the African Communities Council of South Australia and to talk about the African Festival this year. In addition to myself, many other members of parliament as well as the two ministers were present, together with the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, Hieu Van Le, and the Lord Mayor, Stephen Yarwood.

On 26 November last year the Premier and the minister attended an African Communities Council of South Australia commemorative dinner at the Crowne Plaza. We in the state government are determined to do everything in our means to help the local South Sudanese community. Ministers and parliamentarians have regular contact with the community, and of course the door of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission is always open.

The government is also keen to continue to provide financial support to South Sudanese organisations through its Multicultural Grants Scheme. That program does an excellent job of helping ethnic community groups to, among other things, hold cultural festivals across the state. It also helps to offset the cost of buying items such as office equipment which ultimately improve the way in which such groups serve their communities.

On behalf of the Minister for Multicultural Affairs (the Hon. Jennifer Rankine) I congratulate the Australian chapter of the Human Rights Development Organisation of South Sudan on its recent launch. Nothing is more important than protecting and promoting human rights. I am sure all members in this chamber support South Sudan in its efforts to bring about a new dawn and a bright future for its people, and I commend the Hon. John Dawkins for bringing this motion before the Legislative Council.

The Hon. J.S.L. DAWKINS (20:29): I will be brief in my summary, but first I would like to thank the Hon. Jing Lee, the Hon. Carmel Zollo and the Hon. Tammy Franks for their contributions to this motion. I would like to thank other members of the chamber who have indicated their support for the motion without actually contributing to the debate in the chamber. I would also like to thank all members of the Legislative Council for facilitating this debate at a somewhat earlier hour of the night.

Today I have been given a copy of the South Sudan Community of Australia magazine. That was given to me by Mr Mabok Deng Mabok Marial, the patron of HURIDOSS and Mr Bosco Opi, who is the Director for International Relations with HURIDOSS. In that magazine there is an excerpt that I would like to read which encapsulates the reason that HURIDOSS exists in this country and in South Sudan. It states:

HURIDOSS Aims at Doing the Following:

Provide training to military and police officers to uphold human rights law and humanitarian law.

Train law enforcement agencies to apply international standards on policing matters.

Review of South Sudan customary law which fuels the culture of impunity in the administration of justice.

Advocate for civilian oversight of all security and law enforcement agencies.

Assist the South Sudan government to work towards the ratification of UN human right covenants, conventions which will be utilised in a systematic way as program and policy benchmarks.

Also in the excerpt:

2. Legislative developments in South Sudan

Since becoming an autonomous nation, South Sudan achieved a number of milestones in meeting its human rights obligations. It passed key legislations to protect and safeguard the human rights of its citizens on important issues.

Then this article goes on to say that those four pieces of legislation include the Child Act 2008, the South Sudan Human Rights Act 2009, and then further details of other pieces of legislation which I will not go into now—another one was a Land Act 2009.

I am also grateful to both Mr Mabok and Mr Opi for providing me with a snapshot of the development of democracy in their new country; a country that has only existed since July last year; a country that has 10 states as well as a central government. I think those of us who have grown up with democracy, we take it for granted but these people have fought for many years and the new country is still enduring some armed warfare from the country to the north, the country that remains as Sudan.

Disputes over the border largely revolve around the location of oil deposits and we sympathise with the new nation as it has to deal with that. However, great credit goes to that country for the way in which it is developing its democracy. I am proud tonight to say that this house of the parliament has given that community great support in its efforts in that regard.

In closing, once again I thank everybody for the support that they have given to me and to those representatives of the South Sudanese community. As I said on 29 February, there is no doubt that Australian citizens one and all need to keep a strong focus on assisting human rights in the new nation of South Sudan. I look forward, as I believe all in this chamber do, to hearing more about the development and progress of the Australian chapter of HURIDOSS in the future, and I commend the motion to the council.

Motion carried.

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