Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will speak briefly to place on record my gratitude to the member for Greenway for this very important motion and to all those who have spoken in this debate. I also want to welcome the members of the Australian Sudanese and South Sudanese community who are present in the parliament tonight. It is wonderful to see you here. As a former lawyer with the United Nations I feel a great deal of affinity with the work of the International Criminal Court, which will celebrate what I believe is the 10th anniversary of its Rome Statute on 10 December this year, which is also International Human Rights Day. I know that members of the Australian Sudanese community are very interested in that.

One of my staff members, Ronald Mizen, who is an aspiring journalist, visited South Sudan on the occasion of its first anniversary just a few months ago and had a wonderful experience there. He has put it all on film, which is great for those of us who have not yet had the pleasure of visiting. I am pleased to be the secretary of the newly established Australia-Africa Parliamentary Friendship Group and I hope that this will lead to many future occasions when the African diaspora, parliamentarians and diplomats can engage with Australian parliamentarians to improve our people-to-people links.

Debate adjourned.

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