By Myanmar Campaign Monitor
On July 18, 2025, in Melbourne, the Myanmar Campaign Network (MCN) and the Myanmar diaspora convened a series of critical meetings with Victorian parliamentarians. Community leaders, representing migrant families reeling from Myanmar’s ongoing crisis, passionately advocated for state-level support to address the impacts of the crisis on the diaspora here, such as efforts to bolster local youth leadership initiatives.
The crisis has seen 4 million people internally displaced, 29,000 unjust arrests, 22,000 political detainees and 29 murdered MPs. These distressing scenes have deeply impacted Myanmar families in Australia.
The March 2025 earthquake, killing over 5,300 and destroying 100,000 homes, was further exploited by the junta through 400 airstrikes on civilians. With 20 million in urgent need and 40 million in poverty, the diaspora urged targeted sanctions, such as restricting jet fuel supply chains to weaken the junta, which controls less than 25% of Myanmar. The meetings yielded a powerful outcome: Victorian politicians agreed to issue a joint statement pressing the federal parliament to act.
The advocacy gained further momentum with the arrival of Dr. Sasa, the Minister of International Cooperation for Myanmar’s National Unity Government (the democratic Myanmar government in exile). His visit amplified MCN’s efforts through a series of high-level engagements. In Melbourne, Dr. Sasa met with the Melbourne University Initiative for Peace Building to foster academic and policy collaboration, held a public meeting to rally support, and prepared for a critical lobbying trip to Canberra during the parliamentary sitting week. In Canberra, MCN and Dr. Sasa engaged with key Australian figures to address the Myanmar crisis and push for five core objectives:
- Civil society engagement
- Strengthening community-based organisations
- Academic and policy collaboration
- Faith-based engagement
- Parliamentary and government partnerships.
In Canberra, Dr. Sasa and MCN met with Assistant Treasurer Minister Daniel Mulino, Senator Dean Smith, Assistant Defence Minister Peter Khalil, Tania Lawrence MP and Michelle Chan, Deputy Secretary for South and Southeast Asia at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We also met with the Australian Council for International Development. In these discussions, we underscored the dire situation in Myanmar, a multidimensional humanitarian and developmental emergency exacerbated by the junta’s brutality and the collapse of health, education, and public services.
The delegation emphasised the “Three Cuts” strategy:
- The junta’s access to finance
- Weapons
- Legitimacy
The last of these in particular can be assisted by opposing the military’s planned sham election in 2025. Despite the junta’s repression, the resilience of Myanmar’s people shone through with communities self-organising and committing to a democratic future.
The meetings in both Victorian and Federal parliaments, reinforced the urgency of international support, with Dr. Sasa and MCN urging Australia to take the lead in addressing the crisis. The diaspora’s voices, amplified through these high-level engagements, echoed from Melbourne to Canberra, is creating a narrative of solidarity and action. While the path to justice for Myanmar remains tough, MCN’s relentless advocacy, backed by Dr. Sasa’s leadership and the diaspora’s determination, has established a foundation for change, insisting that the world must not turn away from Myanmar’s fight for freedom.
