Bob McMullan (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance) Share this | Hansard source

Okay, let me deal with some of them. Questions on the Asia-Pacific community I will put on notice. Questions about state visits I will put on notice. I do not deal with either of those and I do not have anything immediately to hand.

With regard to the whaling case, because we want to maximise our chances of bringing Japanese whaling to a permanent end the case has been developed carefully. The government has confidence in the court. However, as with any legal action, it does not come with guarantees. We are not going to comment publicly on the details of our case or our strategy because that could prejudice our case, but it has been developed fully and we think that the case will maximise our chances of bringing Japanese whaling to a permanent end and therefore we think it is the appropriate course of action to take.

Obviously I am not going to say anything about who is committed to the UN Security Council bid. The only people who would benefit from that would be the people who are running against us, so I have absolutely no intention of doing that. I am sure those other countries will not tell us who has committed to vote for them, and we will not tell them who has committed to vote for us. I can say that we have not made decisions with regard to the regional or other allocation of the aid budget around the UN Security Council bid. I have seen those allegations. They are entirely without foundation, and that is something I can say with confidence. I will refer the questions about the APC and the state visits for an answer.

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