Foreign Minister Penny Wong has refused to summon Vietnam’s ambassador over the alleged abduction of Melbourne pro-democracy activist Tran Hiep, accusing Greens senator David Shoebridge of being more interested in a “social media grab” than helping the detained Australian.
Shoebridge told a Senate estimates hearing on Oct. 28 that five independent witnesses supported claims Tran was taken from Cambodia against his will. He questioned why Wong had not called in the Vietnamese ambassador to demand an explanation.
“I have raised it at a ministerial level. That is more senior than an ambassador, so that is the answer to your question,” Wong said.
She offered Shoebridge a private briefing, subject to the family’s agreement.
“You are more interested in getting up a social media grab than on helping Mr. Tran. That is offensive and I am really disappointed,” she said.
Tran, also known as Ho Pham Hiep Huy, went missing on Sept. 18 while travelling in Cambodia with two other men.
On Sept. 28, Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security said the men had been caught illegally entering Vietnam and were under investigation for “terrorism.”
Human rights groups, including Viet Tan, a pro-democracy organisation to which Tran belongs, say the men were abducted on Cambodian soil.
‘I Never Entered Vietnam on My Own’
During the hearing, Shoebridge read out a message Tran passed to his wife through Australian officials.
“I want you to know that I never entered Vietnam on my own,” the message said.
Fiona Webster, acting deputy secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), said the department was “deeply concerned” at Tran’s account and had sought urgent clarification from both the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments.
She said DFAT was aware of the witness evidence from the five witnesses but had not yet reviewed it.
Michelle Chan, DFAT’s deputy secretary for South and Southeast Asia, said Australia had made more than 50 representations in Phnom Penh, Hanoi, and Canberra.
Chan said she had raised the case with Vietnam’s ambassador several times.
DFAT first contacted Cambodian authorities after Tran failed to board a flight to Thailand. On Sept. 23, the department formally sought information from Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam about his whereabouts.
Australian consular officials visited Tran on Oct. 15, according to Elizabeth McGregor, head of DFAT’s consular division.
Australia has requested monthly consular visits, although the next one has yet to be confirmed.
Asked by independent Senator David Pocock whether DFAT was treating the case as a kidnapping, McGregor said it was being handled as “a complex consular case.”
Wong told the committee that Australia took seriously any claim that an Australian had been deprived of their liberty and transported across an international border against their will.
She said international human rights law protects people from being detained without a lawful basis and proper process, “and that is Australia’s position.”
Previous Detention of Australians
Tran’s case follows an earlier dispute involving Chau Van Kham, another Vietnamese-Australian member of Viet Tan.
Kham was arrested in Vietnam in 2019 and sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of terrorism, which he and his supporters rejected as politically motivated.
He was released in 2023 following diplomatic efforts by the Australian government.
Earlier in the same hearing, Liberal Senator James Paterson sought updates on three other Australians detained overseas.
McGregor, who heads DFAT’s consular and crisis management division, said the government deeply condemned the suspended death sentence handed to Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun in February 2024, and continued to raise its opposition to the death penalty with China, including “at the highest levels.”
She said the government also remained deeply concerned about pro-democracy activist Gordon Ng, who was sentenced in Hong Kong in November 2024 under the city’s national security law for organising and taking part in an unofficial election primary.
McGregor said Australia was still seeking consular access to Ng, which it has not been given.
The government was also “appalled at the sham trial” and 13-year sentence Russia gave Oscar Jenkins, an Australian who was captured fighting for Ukraine.
“As a full-serving member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr. Jenkins is a prisoner of war,” McGregor said.
