Ms ELLIS (4:28 PM) —I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to this important motion today, and I commend my colleague the member for Cowan for proposing the motion to the House. The news that there were going to be democratic elections in Burma back in 1990 was greeted positively by the free world. In 1990, those elections were conducted with what can be described only as a predictable result. Nevertheless, it was a result that I and many others welcomed. The National League for Democracy, the NLD, won 392 or 80 per cent of the 485 seats contested. The junta-backed NUP won 10 seats, a mere two per cent. What has followed in Burma is a terrible story. The military junta have refused to acknowledge the result of those elections in any way. Many elected members have been murdered or tortured or have disappeared. The Prime Minister, subsequently elected by those successful members of parliament, has been in exile ever since. We have seen oppression the likes of which can be compared only with the worst days in South Africa or with the infamous Pol Pot.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has led her people through these terrible years with dignity, with determination and with an absolute belief that at some time right will rule and we will see the legitimate government of Burma in office. She has done this at great personal cost after years of house arrest. `House arrest' is a feeble description when it actually means the personal torture of isolation and forced separation from her husband, the late Michael Aris, from her children, her friends and her colleagues. Five years ago, on 10 July, the military junta announced Suu Kyi's release from house arrest. They wished us in the free world to believe that with that release they would comply with the law and restore democracy to Burma. Sadly but predictably, the oppression continued at all levels following that gesture. More recently, of course, we have seen Suu Kyi isolated on the side of a road for days simply because she was attempting to travel from Rangoon to speak with some of her followers. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, her people, the people of Burma, and all ethnic groups within Burma—the Mon, the Karen, the Shan, the Kachin and the many other groups—must get our support, the support of the free world, in their quest for democracy.

I question the wisdom of attempting pleasant dialogue with the perpetrators of evil rule in Burma. In our platform, discussed at our recent Hobart national conference, we say:

I can recall earlier this year that, when our eyes were all turning—and correctly so—to East Timor and the terrible scenes taking shape there, I was celebrating the Mon national day here in Canberra. The Mon, like other ethnic groups within Burma, have suffered through decades of oppression. However, while we look at the East Timor situation, Kosovo, the Middle East and other parts of the world, where we see on our televisions every night that atrocities are becoming the norm, we must never forget what has been and continues to go on in Burma. We have heard some interesting comments in this debate today. Can I say: thank God we never gave up on the inspiration and commitment of Nelson Mandela through the dark days of South African history. Now we must not give up on Aung San Suu Kyi or the people of Burma. I had the privilege, the pleasure and the delight of living in Burma for a year and a half nearly 20 years ago. I so much look forward to going back but feel in all conscience that that is never going to be possible while the current junta rule in Burma in the evil way they do.