Extracts from the editorial Monday by Australia’s The Age newspaper:
“There was a world of difference in the way British Prime Minister David Cameron managed his visit to the Commonwealth [summit] in Sri Lanka and the approach taken by our Prime Minister, Tony Abbott. One was inspirational; the other fawning.
“Mr Cameron used his visit to demand the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa investigate allegations of past war crimes in Sri Lanka, … [saying] Sri Lanka must conduct an inquiry into human rights abuses or Britain will call on the UN Human Rights Council to do so.
“The British leader also brought the eyes of the world to Sri Lanka's troubled north, [saying] he wanted to give Tamils ‘a voice that the world needs to listen to’.
“Turn now to Mr Abbott, who prefers appeasement.
“He told the CHOGM forum that while Australia "deplores the use of torture, we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen". In fact, Mr Abbott, Australia does not accept sliding relativism. We ratified the UN Convention against Torture … Even Mr Cameron suggested Mr Abbott was ‘gliding over the difficult issues’.
“Mr Abbott's primary concern, it seems, was people-smuggling, which tops his domestic agenda. To that end, he gave Sri Lanka two patrol boats to intercept asylum seekers who might be headed to Australia.
“In helping Sri Lanka force back those who want to leave, Australia buys into the pretence that all is well yet fails to levy pressure on the Rajapaksa government to alleviate the conditions those same asylum seekers find so intolerable.
“Mr Abbott wants to brush aside Sri Lanka's past troubles and failures of the present, and look ahead. To do so, with nothing else, is morally indefensible.”
See our earlier posts:
‘Human rights violators can't be trusted not to do it again’ (Nov 20)
Australia’s warship gift to Sri Lanka under fire (Nov 17)
Australian Senate passes motion on Sri Lanka war crimes (Nov 14)