John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, could I have the indulgence of the House to advise the House of some arrangements which impact on the sitting of the parliament in relation to the APEC meeting in September?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Prime Minister.

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the House that, in partnership with the APEC meeting, there will be five bilateral visits of economic leaders. There will be bilateral visits from President Bush, President Hu Jintao of China and President Putin of the Russian Federation. Those three bilateral visits will all take place in Sydney, the visits from President Hu and President Putin taking place immediately before the APEC meeting and the visit from President Bush immediately afterwards. There will be two other visits of a bilateral kind: one from His Excellency Mr Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, and also a bilateral visit from the Rt Hon. Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada.

It is proposed that the sitting of the parliament now scheduled for Monday the 10th will not take place and that the parliament will sit the following day. I have invited the Prime Minister of Japan to address a joint sitting of this parliament. It will be the first time that a Japanese Prime Minister has addressed the parliament. I think it is entirely appropriate. I spoke to him on Thursday about this, and he is greatly honoured at the invitation that has been extended. It is also my intention—and I have already done so—to invite the Canadian Prime Minister to address the parliament the following day. This will reciprocate a courtesy extended to me in May of last year, when I had the privilege of being the first Australian Prime Minister since John Curtin in 1944 to address the Canadian parliament.

I think those arrangements are entirely appropriate. So the intention is that the parliament will not meet on Monday the 10th, that the bilateral visits of the Prime Minister of Japan and the Prime Minister of Canada will take place here in Canberra on Tuesday the 11th and Wednesday the 12th respectively, with the three other bilateral visits all taking place in Sydney, in and around what will be the most significant gathering of economic leaders that this government—and indeed this nation, more importantly—has ever hosted. I know that all members of the House look forward to the APEC gathering. It is a significant opportunity for the great virtues of this country to be on display to our region, and I know it will be an enormous success.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, by way of indulgence, can I add a few words to what the Prime Minister has just said?

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the Leader of the Opposition.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On a bipartisan basis, to extend also our support for the Prime Minister’s invitation to Shinzo Abe, it is a very important initiative given the history of our two countries over a long period of time. It is a great gesture, one which we support on this side of the House. Also the suggestion that the Canadian Prime Minister will do likewise is welcomed by the Australian Labor Party, as we welcome APEC and the visit to this country by so many foreign heads of government.