Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to European parliaments and institutions in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria from 4 to 20 April 2008 and I seek leave to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

This was by a long way the longest and most significant delegation in which I have participated. The delegation visited the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Austria. In the Netherlands we met the President of the Presidium of Amsterdam, visited and met with board members of the Aboriginal Art Museum of Utrecht, visited the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague and spoke with judges from those tribunals. We also met with members and senators from the Dutch parliament. We met the Dutch Minister for European Affairs, Frans Timmermans, a very impressive man, and we met senior officials from Europol.

In Belgium we had an interparliamentary meeting with members of the European Parliament who are members of the European Union Australian Group. This two-day meeting canvassed issues such as climate change, European Union institutional reform and the Lisbon treaty and trade liberalisation. The delegation also met with various political groups within the European Parliament. I and other Labor MPs met with members of the British Labour Party such as David Martin, and other members of the European Parliament who are members of the European Parliament Socialist Group. We had a meeting and briefing with Mr Neil Parish MEP, chair of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. We were given an overview and tour of the European Parliament, which was in session. This was something of an eye-opener. Their voting system is extremely quick. They would carry out about 20 divisions in the time that it took the former member for Corangamite, Stewart McArthur, to count one and they are about 10 times the pace of this parliament.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. I really do think it is quite unnecessary for the member giving a report to comment unfavourably upon a person who has served in this parliament and his electorate well. I would ask him to withdraw those remarks.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was listening and I am sure the member for Wills will take that on board. But it is not unparliamentary and I will call the member for Wills.

Kelvin Thomson (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. No offence was intended. We also met Belgian MPs and toured the Belgian parliament. In Brussels we had extensive briefings at NATO headquarters. I was a bit taken aback by the sanguine view which our NATO advisers had of Australia’s willingness to commit troops overseas. Certainly we sent troops to Vietnam and to Iraq but the decisions were highly controversial and I believe the former decision played a role in the 1972 Australian election outcome and the latter decision played a role in the 2007 Australian election result.

On our final day in Belgium we visited the Polygon Wood and Tyne Cot cemeteries at which many First World War Australian soldiers lie buried. It is remarkable that some have been recently identified through the use of modern DNA technology. But most lie in unmarked graves, a silent yet loud endless commentary not only on heroism and courage but also on the brutality, futility, violence and waste of war. We attended a Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate where the delegation leader Senator Ferguson laid a wreath. The people of Ypres conduct this ceremony every night, and have done since the end of the First World War except for an interregnum during the Second World War following Nazi invasion. It is an incredible achievement.

In France we met with the OECD, with French parliamentarians from the French National Assembly and their Senate, members of the France-Australian Parliamentary Friendship Group, and with UNESCO. In Austria we met with Austrian parliamentarians and toured the Austrian parliament. They complained about being regularly confused with Australians. They have bumper stickers which say, ‘Austria—no kangaroos’, to try to get their message across. It is quite a tribute to the kangaroo’s international standing, I think. We met with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Austrian State Secretary for European and International Affairs, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Narcotics Control Board, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Band Treaty Organisation, and with OPEC. OPEC were a very cheerful lot, which they could afford to be, given the price of a barrel of oil.

The delegation learned an immense amount from these briefings and meetings. There is simply no substitute for being there to learn about country and its people—to smell the air, see its transport, walk into its shops, talk to its people. The delegation behaved as ambassadors for Australia. I think we sometimes showcased its laconic and quirky sense of humour and worked together in a highly bipartisan way. Nevertheless, I am sure we all picked up different messages from the experience.

It was very clear to me that Australia’s stocks in Europe have risen greatly as a consequence of the change of government on three counts. The first is the apology to the stolen generations. It was remarkable just how often this was mentioned to us around Europe in a most positive way. Clearly the apology is one story about Australia which has received widespread international coverage and has cut through. The second is the ratification of the Kyoto protocol on climate change. The nations of Europe have been trying to tackle global warming for years and are extremely pleased that Australia has now resolved to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem. The third is that Prime Minister Rudd had been to Brussels recently and had left a very favourable impression, presenting Australia as very positively disposed towards Europe. This presented a real contrast with the member for Mayo, who, when he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, used to say from time to time in a most patronising way, ‘Oh, you’re taking the European position.’ Needless to say, many of those we met in Europe were pleased that Australia had moved on from this kind of condescension.

The challenges Europe faces are numerous, and many of them resonate here: climate change, population pressures, illegal migration, drugs, crime, terrorism, the pros and cons of biofuels, public transport infrastructure—big challenges, not easily fixed. But our understanding of these countries, the challenges they face and how they are facing up to them was enhanced immeasurably by our visit. Hopefully, we will be able to apply some of what we learnt in facing up to the challenges which we confront in our own country.

I want to thank the leader of the delegation, Senator Alan Ferguson, for his hard work, which was a key to the delegation’s success. I also want to thank his adviser, Gerard Martin; the delegation secretary, Maureen Weeks, who did an outstanding job; and the ambassadors and other diplomatic personnel of the various missions we visited who were invariably helpful and professional. I also want to thank my parliamentary colleagues from both houses and both parties: the member for Kooyong and Senators Glenn Sterle, Anne McEwen, Grant Chapman and Ruth Webber. They were a pleasure to travel with. Each of them grew in stature in my eyes during the course of the delegation and their energy, idealism and good humour helped make the delegation quite unforgettable.