Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I join with my colleagues who attended the IPU in firstly congratulating all those who were associated with the delegation. I would like to acknowledge the work of Neil Bessell, secretary to the delegation, Mr Debra Biggs and Ms Alison Purnell, who was a great resource and assistance to all delegates at the IPU. I would like to thank everybody for the enormous contributions they made. It is the assistance, the briefing, the information and the support that you get when you are at these delegations that actually determines whether or not they are successful.

Like the member for Chifley, the Chief Government Whip, this is the first time that I had attended the IPU Assembly and, I must say, I went not knowing what to expect and left having learnt a lot and having a totally different impression of what it involved. The theme of the assembly was ‘Pushing back the barriers of poverty’ and it included the role that parliaments have in striking a balance between national security, human security and individual freedoms and averting the threat to democracy. The delegation was led by the Speaker, Mr Harry Jenkins, and he made a presentation in the main assembly on the theme of ‘Pushing back the barriers of poverty’.

All the delegates from this parliament to the assembly made an enormous contribution. Mr Price was appointed to report at the 120th assembly on the nuclear motion that we were successful in getting up. Ms Vale was elected to the drafting committee of the second committee and Mr Price was also elected to the drafting committee of the third committee, I believe. I made a contribution to the third committee and presented a paper on migrant workers, people trafficking, xenophobia and human rights. I was also elected as a titular delegate to the women’s organising committee along with 14 other members from parliaments and I took over from Kay Hull, the member for Riverina.

I report that Kay Hull made an enormous contribution to the IPU in the time that she was a delegate from this parliament. She is very highly thought of by the women who are on the organising committee and her presence there was sorely missed. I hope that in my role as titular delegate to the organising committee I can make a similar contribution to hers. It is also worth noting that, because of the work that she had done on the women’s organising committee, she was also invited as a delegate to the conference earlier this year that looked at the impacts of HIV-AIDS. So she has made an enormous contribution and it is through her involvement in the IPU that she was actually able to make that contribution.

One of the aspects of the committee that I found particularly interesting and important was the countdown to 2015, which looks at child and maternal health and how the 60 developing countries are working towards reaching millennium goals Nos 4 and 5. It was a very moving experience to learn of the issues and difficulties faced by developing countries, but it was also inspiring to see the work that was being done by organisations such as UNICEF.

Whilst talking about UNICEF, I would like to refer to a visit that I made. I left the conference and spent a day with UNICEF. I visited an African community. We had the choice of three visits and I chose to go to a community that had child-led households. It is interesting to note that in South Africa currently there are three million women with AIDS and 300,000 pregnant women who are HIV-positive. Each year 32,000 children and 400,000 adults die of HIV-AIDS, there are 500,000 new infections and 300,000 people are treated. There should be 1½ million people receiving the anti-retroviral treatment that is available.

I visited an African community and, to be quite frank with you, I had never visited a community where there was so much poverty and where people were living under such appalling circumstances. The one thing that came through to me was the hope and the support that existed within this community. The wonderful program had been developed within the community. We visited two households. One was where three young people whose parents had died of HIV-AIDS were living and supporting each other. The young people were attending school and they had the support of the community. ‘Isibindi’ is Zulu for ‘courage’. What I saw there showed that those involved with this program have a lot of courage.

I also visited a woman who had been in the last stage of AIDS. She received anti-retroviral drugs and has regained her health. She is living back in her community with her young son. She moved from having one foot in a coffin to living and having hope for the future, hope to see her young son grow up. The other programs that people could have visited were mothers2mothers, which works with mothers who are HIV-positive, and Mount View Primary School, which implemented a safe and caring child friendly society. These were communities that had enormous pressure on them, yet from within those communities there was great strength, resilience and coming together. They are working to see that there is a future and are making real changes in people’s lives. I found it absolutely inspiring to be involved with that. In relation to the IPU conference, I feel that Australia made an enormous contribution to the debates and I feel it was a very worthwhile experience.

Along with attending the IPU, we had a bilateral visit to Jordan. That was also a very interesting experience. Jordan is a country with a modern history that began with the fall of the Ottoman Turks, who dominated the region from the 16th to the 20th century. It is a constitutional monarchy consisting of a bicameral parliament with a House of Representatives and a Senate. It was really interesting learning how that parliament worked and actually sitting around the table and getting an understanding of the situation in the Middle East from a totally different perspective. Since I visited, I scan the papers on a daily basis to keep in touch with the issues in that area.

We met with a number of ministers. We were given a totally different perspective on the Middle East peace process and the issue of refugees. In this country over the last few years we have had quite a debate on refugees, and I acknowledge, Madam Deputy Speaker Moylan, your fine contribution to that debate. Visiting a country like Jordan, which is confronted each and every day with refugees from Palestine and Iraq—an enormous number of people crossing the border into this small country with limited resources—and seeing the way the Jordanian people open their hearts to those refugees was a learning experience for all of us. Whilst we were there we visited a Palestinian refugee camp. Once again, we could see the different approach that has been adopted there and the enormous stress and strain that it places on those communities.

Like previous speakers, I acknowledge the work of Dr Hani in organising such a fine visit for the delegation. His contribution was enormous. Particularly I would like to say that the meetings we had with the various ministers—the Prime Minister, the Minister of Social Development, the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of the Interior—and with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate were of particular significance. Once again, they gave us a totally different perspective on what is happening in the Middle East, the issues that we in this country should be aware of, and how we as a nation can make a contribution towards a resolution of these issues.

Our attendance at the Anzac Day dawn service was a truly memorable experience. I think it impacted on all the delegation in the same way. It was very moving and really brought to our attention the fact that, no matter where Australians are on Anzac Day, it is a very special day. Whilst we were there we also attended the opening of an exhibition of historic photos from the Australian War Memorial collection, which linked in, the night before the Anzac Day dawn service.

I would like to thank everyone associated with the delegation. It was a very useful experience. I learned a lot and I think the delegation worked together to the benefit of this parliament.

Debate (on motion by Mr Danby) adjourned.

See this speech in context