Senator HARRIS (3:53 PM) —I rise to support the government's motion welcoming United Nations Security Resolution 1264 and the peacekeeping party into East Timor. I sincerely hope that the peacekeeping force will be that, and that it will be a temporary situation leading to the just return of control of their land to the sovereign people of East Timor. I also wish to endorse the sentiments passed today in support of our Australian troops, and very clearly remind this nation of their families, their children, their mothers and their fathers whom they have left behind. I believe it is very important that we support Senator Harradine's sentiments in that we, as a nation, pray not only for that force and their families but also for the East Timorese people. We also pray that righteous people will be uplifted in Indonesia so that the real intention of the Indonesian people is heard around the world.

Senator Faulkner called on the Indonesian parliament to pass legislation to allow recognition of the right of the East Timorese people to freedom and self-government. I believe, in actuality, that Senator Lees was far closer to the mark when she made the comment, `Why are we asking the perpetrators of this violence to give their permission so that the people on whom they are perpetrating that violence can have their freedom?' I believe that Senator Lees is correct in that it is an anathema that we are doing that. Senator Alston commended not only the countries of the world which have contributed to the peace force by way of members but the other countries which have pledged funds to support the East Timorese people. I would like to call upon the Australian government to reconsider the aid of approximately $120 million that it has appropriated for the Indonesian government—$8 million of which I believe was expressly for military purposes. I call upon the government to reconsider that allocation and to seriously consider transferring those funds ultimately to the people of East Timor. Senator Brown also went on to say that we should not mix up our responsibilities between economic and civil rights. I believe he has explicitly hit the nail in relation to the East Timor issue.

I would like to take a little time to relate to the senators in the chamber and those people around Australia who are listening to this what I believe equates to a similarity with the emperor who paraded with no clothes. The advisers to the emperor were sufficiently articulate with words to convince the emperor he had the finest set of clothes when, in reality, the people could clearly see that he had none. You might ask: what does that mean in relation to this motion? I believe it largely depicts sentiments being expressed not only in Indonesia but also in Australia. I will share with the chamber some words, and I would like you to focus on them. The words are:

Something happened here that moved me very deeply. It was so far outside our experience as Australians that we'll find it very difficult to convey to you, but we'll try. Sitting on woven mats, under a thatched roof, in a hut with no walls, we were the target of a barrage of questioning from men who knew that they may die tomorrow and cannot understand why the rest of the world does not care.

Does that sound like a report from last Saturday night's news? It does. It has a familiar ring. But it is actually part of the last on-camera report by Greg Shackleton. It was filed on 15 October 1975. The questions being relayed to the government in that statement are no different from those questions we ask today. East Timor asks why the rest of the world does not care. Finally, 24 years later, we are committing Australian sons and daughters to a peacekeeping mission. All that foreign aid has done is reinforce behaviours that in many instances are repugnant to the world.

When five journalists were murdered in Balibo in 1975 the Australian government barely flinched. Then, at a funeral of a young boy, Sebastiano Gomes, the Indonesian armed forces went on a killing spree, murdering between 100 and 500 innocent people. The honourable member for Holt declared:

The massacre is not a matter of deliberate or calculated Indonesian government policy.

The United Nations begged to differ, describing the incident as:

A well planned military operation designed to deal with public expressions of political dissent.

Throughout all of this, Australian governments kept the money flowing into Indonesia. Two years ago Pauline Hanson knew that this money would buy neither favours nor better behaviour from a basically corrupt government. She raised these issues during her time in the House of Representatives. I wonder whether regional neighbourliness and friendship is the real issue behind the funding that we pay to Indonesia. In November 1997 Pauline asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs:

Why is it in the national interest for Australia to provide foreign aid to countries which have promoted military officers responsible for the murder of Australian citizens? It is suspected that Indonesian military—

personnel—

killed Australian journalists in East Timor . . .

Australians feel morally obliged to assist people in the world as best we can. Unfortunately, the minister forgets we should also be morally bound to look after our own. We have now sent our defence force into East Timor, a force which has had its funds and, subsequently, training opportunities limited by a government determined to give Australian taxpayers' money to overseas countries to buy regional mateship. Yes, I suggest all we have tried to do is buy regional mateship.

Let us not overlook the opposition's track record in their support of our Timorese friends. In 1991 an Australian government representative told the United Nations that Australia defends self-determination as a fundamental right of people everywhere. Yet, subsequently, the Hon. Gareth Evans, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, said:

We cannot lend ourselves to an exercise which is premised on non-acceptance of the sovereign incorporation of East Timor into the Republic of Indonesia. East Timor is just a country, an area that was never a sovereign state . . . It was an abandoned colony.

A colony that on 7 December 1975 was invaded not just by the sea but also by air. The East Timorese people were slaughtered, as we know they are being slaughtered today. The Australian public condemned these atrocities, but the government never committed itself to any action that could jeopardise the `special relationship' with Indonesia. For the last 25 years each party in this chamber has talked about moral and humanitarian obligations. They have given away billions of dollars of hard-earned Australian taxpayers' dollars in an attempt to buy the favour of our regional mates. I suggest that the special relationship with the Indonesian government was more important to our leaders than the rights of the Indonesian people.

By the time one-third of the East Timorese had died as a direct result of the invasion, Australian politicians had signed a treaty with Indonesia on the Timor Gap, which had oil and gas deposits worth billions of dollars. Unfortunately, the only obligation our government upheld was the economic rights of the invaders. Short of a jab in the nose, I often wonder how much has to be done to alert the major political parties as to what is happening within their electorates, let alone in another country.

Pauline Hanson's One Nation has certainly turned some—yes, I admit only some—of the thinking of the major parties around, to consider the will of the people. The government had been given advice about the possibility of violence following the Timor independence vote. Yet with great skill, finely honed through previous years in power, that advice was ignored. Really, the Prime Minister and the honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs know best what should happen in Timor. Never mind that respected East Timorese leaders asked that a cooling-off period of five years be adopted prior to the referendum, due to the military strength that was deployed in East Timor. Father Hilario, senior religious East Timor leader, said last October:

I think my days are numbered.

A senior Indonesian army official told the Sunday program:

If the pro-independents do win . . . all will be destroyed.

To allow a government with a brutal track record of violence to be in charge of security after the Timor referendum was negligent and a denial of reality. These very same people who told us back in 1998 that they were confident that they could manage any situation that arose now have blood on their hands. The great tragedy is that this blood could include that of some of our peacekeeping force members, who will have to try to broker a peace between hostile groups who are threatening to kill an Australian a day.

We have always argued that we need to build up our defence forces spending, personnel and equipment. This must be coupled with a government that can spend these funds wisely with a minimum of waste. The tragedy of East Timor is a stern warning to the other rebellious provinces of Indonesia, namely Aceh and Irian Jaya. The Ambonese are mainly Melanesian, of both Islamic and Christian faith. The province of Aceh is also populated by people of Melanesian origin and contains valuable natural resources, as does Irian Jaya. While losing East Timor will not hurt the Indonesian economy greatly, the loss of those other areas would have a definite economic consequence, and I cannot see the Indonesian government allowing this to happen under any circumstances.

I believe that the violence, the killing, and the burning of East Timor is a specific process set about by the Indonesian people to send a very clear warning to the other provinces, such that if they in any way move towards voting for independence they know exactly what is going to happen to them. I believe that the Australian government should repeal the Timor Gap treaty with Indonesia and renegotiate the agreement with the new East Timorese people.

The East Timorese crisis has made us realise that we do not have a special relationship with the Indonesian government and never did have. Let us have an end to these special relationships with other countries. No one likes a groveller, not the Indonesians and certainly not the Australian people. In conclusion, Pauline Hanson's One Nation wants to thank from our heart the wonderful members of our Army, Air Force and Navy for defending the rights of the East Timorese people.