Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian Delegation to the 128th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Quito, Ecuador and bilateral visit to Paraguay, from 21 March to 7 April 2013.

I am pleased to present the report to the Australian Parliamentary delegation, which participated in the 128th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Quito and also undertook the first parliamentary delegation to Paraguay. As this report attests, this was another successful and hardworking delegation. All members of the IPU delegation were all very heavily involved in the process: Mr Adams, Mr Secker, Mr Jenkins, Senator Stephens and Senator Ruston. They either chaired one of the standing committees or were heavily involved in drafting and covered Australia's delegation in glory.

The bilateral visit to Paraguay was amazing. In this very short time I have I would like to thank all the individuals who participated and assisted with this delegation: particularly the two ambassadors, Mr Tim Kane in Chile and Ms Patricia Holmes in Argentina; also, Diwaka Prakash, who gave us advice of an incredibly high standard; Geoff Barnett and other staff in the International Community Relations Office; and most particularly to the secretary, Jeanette, for all her guidance on my first and probably last IPU delegation. I thank everybody involved. The IPU is a wonderful thing that we in this parliament should be proud of. I thank everybody involved in this delegation and for the report I tabled today.

House adjourned at 17:59

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