Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (13:54): I rise to speak about a conflict that has faded from our headlines but has not ended. In Burma the military regime continues to bomb villages and civilians. International media, including the BBC and Reuters, report ongoing airstrikes right across Myanmar. Survivors describe jets circling overhead before bombs fall on schools, churches and homes. Parents speak of digging their children from the rubble. Entire communities are hiding in forests without reliable access to food, medicine or shelter and to escape further attacks. Human rights organisations report that civilians remain the primary victims. Millions have been displaced internally or forced across borders into neighbouring countries.

This sustained humanitarian emergency is now in its eighth decade, and it is worsening. Here in Ringwood and across the eastern suburbs we are home to proud and resilient Karen and Chin communities. Many families in our local area have direct ties to those regions now under attack. They follow the news daily. They receive phone calls and messages from loved ones in hiding. For them this is not a distant geopolitical issue, it is deeply personal and part of their lived experience of this conflict. This may be a forgotten war in parts of the media, but it is not forgotten by communities in the eastern suburbs, and I know the member for Croydon shares my concerns. The cameras may have moved on but the bombing in Burma has not stopped. We must continue to press for regime change and for an end to the murder of innocent civilians.