Martin Ferguson (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport, Roads and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the United Kingdom and Poland, from 25 June to 8 July 2006. The delegation was led by Senator Ian Macdonald and the other delegation members were Jackie Kelly, Robert McClelland, Paul Neville, Barry Wakelin, Jonathan Curtis from the secretariat, and me. May I begin by thanking the United Kingdom, Scottish and Polish parliamentarians and ambassadors for sharing their insights on a range of issues with us and for the tremendous assistance they gave us during visits to the United Kingdom, including Scotland, and Poland.

In almost 12 years this is the first parliamentary delegation that I have participated in and it was certainly an eye-opening and engaging experience. It was made all the richer by the parliamentarians and ambassadorial staff with whom the parliamentary delegation met. I would also like to thank the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association of the United Kingdom and Scotland, the Australian embassy in Poland and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for doing an outstanding job of coordinating the parliamentary delegation. The parliamentarians whom we met in England, Scotland and Poland readily shared their insights into bilateral and key domestic issues and the machinations of their parliamentary systems. The parliamentary delegation visited areas of economic, cultural and international significance and met with government and business leaders concerning EU developments, security, terrorism and energy challenges.

Of particular interest to me, as I was then shadow minister for resources, energy, forestry and tourism, were discussions regarding the United Kingdom’s energy challenges. The Minister of State for Energy, Mr Malcolm Wicks, and senior departmental representatives gave a presentation on a major review of energy policy, which was released several weeks after the delegation’s departure. The review considered climate change issues, energy supply and infrastructure challenges and security issues confronting the United Kingdom. The delegation recognised the leadership that the Prime Minister Tony Blair has taken in this area and was interested to learn of the United Kingdom’s ongoing dependence on nuclear energy for part of their energy supply—because of their energy requirements—as an ongoing viable energy source and the maintenance of its current infrastructure.

It was also an interesting experience to view the Westminster system at work and to listen to the United Kingdom parliamentarians’ insights into the system’s machinations. It was interesting to recognise the differences in key features between the Australian and United Kingdom systems and consider how greatly our system has evolved. A highlight of the parliamentary delegation’s visit to England and Scotland was attending question time. On both occasions the delegation met with the Speaker of the House of Commons, Michael Martin, and other representatives from the respective lower houses. It was of interest to see how the UK parliament has adopted the Australian committee model to progress policy issues and especially to see their main committee—the Westminster House—in operation. This was a development from Australia that the United Kingdom adopted.

Obviously, as I am of Scottish descent, it was great to see the operation of the Scottish parliament and to be given a greater understanding of the devolution of the Scottish parliament and the parliamentarians’ responsibilities. They spoke with great pride of their new Scottish parliament. The Scottish and United Kingdom governments, from what I could see at the time, enjoyed a good working relationship and work together productively to make progress on difficult bilateral issues. Two members of the Scottish parliament, Mr Kim Mather and Mr Bill Aitken, met with the delegation and spoke candidly of Scotland’s economic and social development.

One of the highlights of the delegation was the visit to Poland and being able to learn firsthand of its evolving democratic system. It was inspiring to visit a country that is emerging in the EU with a strengthening economy, that has a rich national history and whose people have characteristically expressed sheer determination. Whilst in Poland we had the opportunity to visit historically significant places: namely, the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. It was deeply saddening to see firsthand these places of great human suffering. As did the member for Hinkler, I urge all Australians going to Poland to take the opportunity not only to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau but also to visit Warsaw, which was all but devastated during the Second World War. The Polish parliament requested that we convey to the Australian Council of Trade Unions its admiration for the ACTU’s support for Solidarity and its development and achievements under the leadership of Lech Walesa, in the struggle after the end of the Cold War.

It was a privilege to be part of this delegation. It was a great opportunity to strengthen our bilateral ties, and it certainly gave me a greater insight into the operation of the committees and delegations overseas and their importance for us in gaining a better understanding of significant international and domestic policy issues.

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