Speech by the Honorable J. F. Stefani at the Legislative Council on Wednesday, May 27, 1998

The Hon. J.F. STEFANI: Today, I wish to speak about the Vietnamese community in South Australia. As a close friend of this community and a strong supporter of the Free Vietnam Alliance, I was particularly honored to be nominated to serve on the Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Committee and to participate at the recent launch of the Roadmap to a Democratic and Developed Vietnam.

Contemporary Vietnam, known officially as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the world's twelfth most populous nation. It is also the second largest socialist country after China. During many decades of rule, the Vietnamese Communist Party has not been able to achieve any substantial economic reform, and the political process has remained largely unchanged. The war in Vietnam can best be described as the political drama of the 1960s. For the many Vietnamese refugees living in Australia, the war has been the cause of a dramatic change in their personal circumstances and in their lives. Through the experience of war, the majority of Vietnamese have developed a strong political consciousness.

Under the Communist regime, the Vietnamese people simply had an aversion to the kind of Government control under which they had come to live in Vietnam. This aversion had become so strong that many of them made the extraordinary decision to flee their beloved country as boat people and refugees, leaving behind all that they loved and risking their lives in search of freedom. To understand why Vietnamese people fled their country, one needs to know what they have lost and to understand what they have loved so passionately. We need to be aware of the trauma they have experienced, and we need to comprehend all that preceded it. We need to comprehend that, after 30 April 1975, when the Republic of South Vietnam ceased to exist, the Communist Government diminished the standard of living for many Vietnamese people and destroyed their dreams and their freedoms.

To describe the feelings of my many Vietnamese friends, I will quote Thanh Nam. He told the story of his escape with his family, as follows:

"When I think of the escape of my family, it is a lesson penetrating my brain. I still see that brave little boat in the swirling storm as the very symbol of life. Anyone who has lived with communists knows the meaning of life, and that the communists have lost it. To live, we had to be free, for life has no purpose without freedom. This was our reason and the reason why many Vietnamese made a game getaway."

There are many other stories about the oppression, the hardships and the atrocities experienced by many Vietnamese refugees, both in their country and during their escape to freedom. Unfortunately for some of them, these experiences can never be forgotten. Despite this, many of them have now settled in Australia, bringing with them important family values and traditions which originated from their beloved Motherland, Vietnam.

These traditions include a strong commitment to democratic values which underlie human rights and a common goal for all people to live and work together in peace and harmony for the national good. Therefore, in this context the Vietnamese people have a strong yearning for democracy and for personal freedoms which have become part of their guiding principles as a community. For many Vietnamese people, freedom has, indeed, been a reason for living, and many have died in the cause of fighting for freedom. It was therefore with great pleasure that I was invited to speak at the launch of the Roadmap to a Democratic and Developed Vietnam which aims to advance the political and economic freedom of Vietnam and its people through a broad international partnership which gives access to improved information and better education to the people of Vietnam.

As a member of the Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Committee, I am pleased to pledge my continuing support to the ongoing work of the Free Vietnam Alliance, because we all strongly believe in the freedom and human rights of all people. As a just and free society, Australia condemns the gross violation of human rights which have occurred and are still occurring in Vietnam because, as Australians, we all strongly believe in democracy, freedom, and peace. May the work of the Free Vietnam Alliance and the Australia-Vietnam Human Rights Committee be blessed with success in the future, and may their endeavors be of support to the peace loving Vietnamese people living in Australia and in Vietnam.