THỦ TƯỚNG ÚC BẮT CHƯỚC TS QGHC HUỲNH TẤN LÊ- BỊT MẮT, BỊT MIỆNG, BỊT TAI - NHỨT QUYẾT KHÔNG NGHE THẤY VIỆT CỘNG TUYÊN BỐ NĂM 2099 VIỆT NAM MỚI CÓ NHÂN QUYỀN - ALBANESE TẢNG LỜ CAMBODIA NHƯ KHÔNG BIẾT HUN MANET LÀM THỦ TƯỚNG, HUN MANY (Em) LÀM PHÓ THỦ TƯỚNG VÀ HUN SEN (Cha) SẼ LÀM CHỦ TỊCH QUỐC HỘI./-Mt68
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Federal MP Julian Hill warns Cambodia's rulers not to intimidate critics ahead of ASEAN-Australia summit
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The federal government is spruiking the meeting as a golden opportunity to build deeper political and commercial links with the strategically critical region, which is set to enjoy rapid economic growth in coming years.
But the event has also exposed schisms in some diaspora communities in Australia, while the federal government will have to balance its political and commercial aims in the region with its stated desire to back democratic values and freedoms across South-East Asia.
Protests break out in Melbourne
On Saturday several hundred protesters from the Cambodian, Vietnamese, Burmese and Laos communities gathered on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne to draw attention to political repression in the region, as well as the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar.
Australian intelligence agencies and police are monitoring the CPP groups closely, and federal Labor MP Julian Hill — who has been a critic of the ruling party in Cambodia — told Saturday's rally that people in the Cambodian community had the right to protest and voice their political views.
"To those who dare to try and come and interfere in our communities, our police and intelligence agencies know what you're up to," he said.
"The Australian government will take strong targeted action against those involved."
Mr Hill stressed that the ASEAN Australia summit was a critical diplomatic event and that it was right for the government to pursue closer ties with the region.
But he said the hopes that Hun Manet might chart a new course away from his repressive father had proven false and that the "same old regime" still held power in Cambodia.
"Cooperation in some areas should not be misunderstood as any kind of endorsement of the multitude of human rights abuses carried out under CPP rule, both by Hun Sen and now his son Hun Manet," he told the crowd.
"When it comes to violations of human rights and freedoms, Australia and the Australian government will always speak up for our values."
Victorian MP Meng Heang Tak – who was one of the CPP critics in Australia who received a death threat in the lead-up to last year's elections in Cambodia – told the rally that Anthony Albanese had to press Hun Manet to free political prisoners and allow free elections.
"We cannot stay silent, and we must demand change in Cambodia because at the moment, there is no respect for human rights, no respect for law," he said.
Cambodia's government has previously dismissed accusations of intimidation through its overseas networks, with Government spokesperson Pen Bona saying earlier this week that Hun Manet's meeting would simply allow the prime minister to "brief" the community on the government's progress while "cultivating a strong bond between our leaders and our patriots".
The ABC could not reach Cambodia's ambassador in Australia for comment.
Protesters also demanded that Australia unveil new sanctions on Myanmar's military junta and slammed ASEAN's "Five Point Plan" to try and broker a solution to the crisis, saying it had not stopped repression and bloodshed in Myanmar.
A prominent member of the Australian Burmese community, Dr Yu Yu Chit, told the ABC that the Five Point Plan was a "total failure" that had failed to stop mass atrocities by the military junta.
"They are burning down villages, schools, churches. It's a disaster," she said.
"They [ASEAN] do not even condemn the military. A non-interference plan is a failure. Negotiations with the military have failed. It's a total failure."
Some protesters also vowed to flock to the site of the Australia-ASEAN leaders meeting in central Melbourne next week to make their point.
Police have flagged they will put extra security measures in place at the venue and some major sites in Melbourne's CBD as they prepare for the mass diplomatic gathering./-
