Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to the 115th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, held in Geneva from 16 to 19 October 2006, and to Portugal from 20 to 25 October 2006. In doing so, may I say that it was an excellent delegation, and I place on the record my appreciation of the work and contribution of the deputy leader, the member for Cowan. Not only is he an excellent travelling companion—as is his wife, Noelene—but also he is an outstanding ambassador for this parliament and for Australia. I also commend the member for Riverina, Mrs Kay Hull, and Senator Gavin Marshall for the significant contributions they made to the work of the delegation.

I know the member for Cowan will be speaking at greater length specifically on our visit to Portugal, but I thought it was appropriate that the report is being tabled today as we have a delegation from Portugal visiting the House—the Portuguese parliamentary committee on foreign affairs—led very ably by Dr Arnaud. As we had the pleasure of meeting the foreign affairs committee during our work in Portugal, I thought it appropriate to make a few comments. The committee met over 30 members of the 230-member Assembly of the Republic of Portugal and gained a greater appreciation of the key social, economic and political issues of Portugal, including education, health, drug control and, of course, foreign affairs. The visit provided an excellent opportunity for us to exchange views on the issues of mutual interest—in particular, on East Timor. I understand the delegation from Portugal will be flying to Dili to consider some of the matters up there. We have a very important partnership with Portugal to continue to work to help rebuild East Timor and indeed to help to strengthen their democratic system of government.

Australia welcomed the deployment of a 120-member contingent of the National Republican Guard as Portugal’s contribution to helping maintain law and order in East Timor and noted that both countries were working cooperatively and effectively to this end. The delegation noted the significant progress that has been made in restoring stability in East Timor but also noted that the security and political situation will continue to be challenging in the lead-up to the 2007 elections and beyond. This means that continued international support for East Timor is critical.

The delegation concluded that it would be useful for ministers, parliamentarians and officials from Portugal and Australia to talk further about the collaboration in and coordination of bilateral aid programs in East Timor and to explore ways of better defining areas of specialisation. So we are particularly pleased to welcome the Portuguese delegation to the Australian parliament, and we wish them well on their ongoing journey to East Timor.

Before I move on to the work of the IPU, I would like to express the delegation’s thanks to Mr Luke Williams, the Australian ambassador to Portugal, and to his staff at the Australian embassy in Portugal. The program of visits and meetings was well focused and comprehensive and allowed the delegation to gain a real appreciation of Portugal, its history and its culture as well as current issues. We were enchanted and delighted with the warm reception we received from the Portuguese parliament and the Portuguese people. I also thank the Portuguese ambassador to Australia, who assisted us in preparing for this visit.

There is a full account in the report on the IPU. I want to make clear that there is a typing mistake in there. In my speech to the IPU, it refers to the ‘nonproliferation of nuclear weapons’. It should have read ‘the proliferation’—that is, that we discourage the proliferation, not the nonproliferation, of nuclear weapons. I want to make that clear.

This delegation was an excellent delegation. I believe we have continued to lift the profile of Australian delegations to the IPU assemblies, and a great contribution was made by all members of the Australian delegation to the work of the 115th assembly. Once again, I thank all of the staff, including Mr Neil Bessell, our secretary, who assisted us in preparing for those meetings. Members were also grateful to the staff of DFAT, who also assisted us in our preparation. Our sincere thanks go to all of the staff in Australia’s embassy in Portugal. I commend the report to the House. (Time expired)

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