Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am happy to speak in support of the Foreign States Immunities Amendment Bill 2009. As a resident of South-East Queensland, having lived in Ipswich all my life, my family and I have witnessed firsthand what natural disasters will do to you in terms of the cost not just to family life but to domestic arrangements and in financial impoverishment. I can recall vividly the 1974 flood—I was a young boy—and the devastation it wreaked when my parents home was eight feet underneath the water and when about a third or more of Ipswich and about a third of Brisbane was under water when Cyclone Wanda came in from the north. I will always remember with fondness the firefighters and the wonderful work that they did to save the lives and the property of so many Ipswichians and people in the rural communities around Ipswich.

Last year, I was pleased to have the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, come to my electorate and visit the Lockyer Valley and meet with the representatives of the various rural fire brigades. I pay tribute to the work they do, particularly in relation to the fires we have had in rural Ipswich, the Lockyer Valley and the Fassifern Valley in the last few years. I also pay tribute to the SES workers, particularly in Ipswich with the terrible storms we have had in the last six months and the devastation that has been inflicted upon the area. I praise also the Ripley Valley Rural Fire Brigade and Jim Runham for the work they do and thank the businesses and the state Labor government in Queensland for the support they give to rural fire brigades. The people in rural fire brigades volunteer their time, effort and money and they make tremendous sacrifices to assist people, particularly in rural areas. I am pleased to say that the rural fire brigades in the Fassifern Valley and the Lockyer Valley make an enormous contribution and are warmly appreciated and valued for the contribution they make and their community spirit in the rural communities in my electorate.

The Australian Labor Party has three tenets concerning our foreign policy. The first one concerns our engagement with Asia, including assistance and practical help, particularly in the Asia-Pacific area. We see that expressed in places like Timor, the Solomon Islands and other localities in South-East Asia and through our cooperation with our regional allies such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore on issues concerning people-smuggling, the trafficking of drugs and other areas where the Australian Federal Police are doing tremendous work, working with local law enforcement agencies.

The second tenet of the Australian Labor Party concerns our engagement with the United Nations and our commitment to multinational action with respect to the relief of poverty and assistance to the poor in relation to their health and other circumstances through the World Health Organisation, UNESCO and other vital international organisations.

The third tenet of the Australian Labor Party’s commitment internationally is our alliance with the United States. The United States is a wonderful friend of Australia, not just in times of joy but in times of crisis. We saw that in World War I and World War II. We have seen it on other occasions. We value their assistance in East Timor. We also value their contribution regionally. Many of us as federal politicians have attended wonderful celebrations concerning Victory in the Pacific Day, the Battle of the Coral Sea and other occasions. But it is also about the ongoing practical assistance the United States has provided us and our reciprocal arrangements with the United States concerning firefighting. Parts of the United States are very similar to Australia.

Queensland is a state of vastness with respect to not just geography but also the climate that we have. I launched the Queensland Farmers Federation climate change report, funded by the federal government. Queensland suffers tremendous challenges with respect to climate change. We see that not just in floods but in fire as well. The legislation here is really Victorian based, but Victoria is negotiating, in a sense, on behalf of all states and territories of Australia. The conclusion of an agreement with the United States is vital to ensuring that the assistance that the United States has provided over so many years and on so many occasions since the early 2000s can continue. We have seen over the past seven years the United States deploy over 170 firefighters to Australia, particularly in places like Victoria. We have sent over 260 Australian firefighters to the United States on five occasions. This degree of friendliness and cooperation is emblematic of the wonderful relationship that Australia and Australians enjoy with the United States. We need their help and they need ours. It is a matter of friendship, comradeship and good neighbourly relations. We appreciate the specialist assistance they have given us in training and prevention strategies and in the preparation for managing bushfires. We also are very appreciative of the practical, financial assistance they have given us in this regard and of the way in which firefighters can learn from one another in the circumstances. It is very important that at short notice we can get access to their assistance—and they to ours.

As someone who practised as a lawyer for nearly a quarter of a century before being elected to this place, I want to say that the issue of tort is a challenge to all of us. When a person is sued they can expect that the plaintiff may claim damages for pain and suffering, loss of amenities, economic loss, Griffiths v Kerkemeyer damage, special damages—many kinds of damages which could be claimed against someone who has been ‘guilty of committing an act or omission of a negligent nature’. If that is the case, firefighters could expect that they could sustain large claims against themselves if they acted in a way which was negligent. So any way we can ensure immunity for American firefighters—our own firefighters have a similar immunity in the United States—is important in the circumstances of helping one another.

But this does not mean that, if a US firefighter comes to this country and commits a criminal act of manslaughter, robbery, assault, murder or break-and-enter, that person should be absolved of the laws which govern all of us. That is appropriate. If you go to another country and you decide to traffic drugs, you reap the consequences of the punishment of the legal system imposed by that other country. We do not expect that when US firefighters come to this country they will engage in criminal acts, but if they do they should be charged.

This legislation before the House does not absolve anyone from criminal acts, but it is important legislation because the United States have made it very clear that, due to their domestic legal arrangements and requirements, they cannot finalise the agreement with us unless the immunity is in place for their firefighters, and we would expect nothing less for ours. This is a good bill. It is a bill which ensures that we can help them and they can help us. It is legislation that should have bipartisan support. We appreciate the fact that those opposite also support this legislation. It ensures that sovereign immunity, which is a very important principle of international law, is upheld. This legislation recognises that we are part of a global community. It recognises also that we need to protect our neighbours’ firefighters, as they need to protect ours.

I would hope that my own state of Queensland takes up the challenge in this regard. I hope that we will continue to see in this country our friends from America and that they will receive our sons and daughters over there with the same degree of neighbourliness and the same degree of charity that they have in the past. This is about being a good Samaritan, to use the New Testament principle. I commend the government for the legislation before the House and warmly speak in support of it.

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