Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Just picking up on that, both the Australian Ambassador to the Vatican and the Governor-General have confirmed that part of their brief from the Rudd government was to lobby for the Prime Minister’s campaign to win votes on the Security Council. It was part of the reason for the ambassador taking up the position and for the Governor-General’s recent trip to Africa, where she visited a number of states—and we know there are about 53 votes in Africa. I would appreciate details of the costs and I am sure the government can attribute, particularly in the case of the Governor-General, how much of the trip was spent lobbying other countries. We have read in the media today that Rwanda has promised its support for the Security Council bid in exchange for the government providing support for Rwanda’s bid to enter the Commonwealth and that the Rwandan delegation was paid for by PM&C. There is a whole raft of indirect costs. I would appreciate it if the parliamentary secretary could provide that information.

I also wanted to ask about the Prime Minister’s attempt to form a European Union style of community in the Asia-Pacific. There have been reports that about $500,000 has been spent on this further ego trip on the part of the Prime Minister. Would the parliamentary secretary provide me with how much money has been spent to date in relation to that—which would include Mr Richard Woolcott’s expenditure and whatever payment he has received. I specifically ask the parliamentary secretary: how many nations have given their unequivocal support to this venture? We do know that in the world of diplomacy people talk in the most polite language so as not to insult or offend but a number of officials have described this initiative as dead in the water. There has been considerable publicity about the very lukewarm, bordering on neutral, approach of virtually every country that has been contacted. So I would appreciate the government’s view on the number of nations and the names of those nations that have unequivocally supported this venture of the Prime Minister’s.

In the time available I would also ask the parliamentary secretary about an item on enhancing regional counterterrorism effectiveness. There is no increase in the funding and I was wondering whether this program was meeting its objectives. Perhaps the parliamentary secretary could make some comment about the item of enhancing regional counterterrorism effectiveness, where there has been no increase at all in the funding.

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