Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Cape Town, South Africa and a bilateral visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

As the report that I have just tabled attests, this was a highly successful, hardworking and informative delegation. I congratulate each and every delegate—the deputy leader, Danna Vale; the Chief Government Whip, the member for Chifley, Roger Price; the Government Whip, the member for Shortland, Jill Hall; and the member for Barker, Patrick Secker—for the significant contribution that each of them made to the delegation to the 118th Assembly of the Inter-Parlia-mentary Union in Cape Town and also to the bilateral visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. It was a team effort.

I have only have a few minutes to speak to the detailed report and therefore cannot review all of the meetings undertaken by the delegation and the issues that were pursued. In relation to the IPU, I would commend to honourable members pages 4 and 5 of the report, which list the many highlights of the delegation’s work at the IPU. I am particularly pleased to report that the member for Shortland has followed in the path of the member for Riverina, Mrs Hull, and was elected as a titular member of the coordinating committee of women parliamentarians. This is a great honour for this parliament and Australia.

In a major achievement for the delegation, Australia proposed and was successful in having the IPU agree that its first committee should debate and finalise a resolution on nuclear proliferation and the comprehensive test ban treaty at its meeting in Addis Ababa in April 2009. It is a great honour for this parliament and for Australia that the member for Chifley, Mr Roger Price, was elected as a co-rapporteur for this debate. I know he has already undertaken significant work to facilitate this debate, and I wish him well for his work at the meeting of the IPU in Geneva in October, when he will conduct a workshop on the matter.

On behalf of the delegation, I congratulate and thank the parliament of South Africa for the extremely efficient and successful conduct of the assembly. Their hospitality was well received. I also place on record our appreciation for the way in which the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, Ms Baleka Mbete, carried out her duties as the president of the assembly, especially the important motion that she put forward as her president’s statement on Zimbabwe.

The bilateral visit to Jordan was highly educative and informative. Every member of the delegation came away from this visit with an enhanced understanding of the history of Jordan and the Middle East and the dynamics of the complex challenges that impact on the peoples of this troubled part of the world. The delegation was impressed with and welcomes the moderate and responsible approach adopted by Jordan in what was quite rightly described as a ‘hard neigh-bourhood to live in’. The delegation was impressed with how the Jordanian people are addressing significant domestic challenges including refugees, access to water and lack of energy resources. They are addressing these with enthusiasm, resolve and commitment.

The delegation expresses its sincere appreciation to the Jordanian parliament for an outstanding program incorporating intense discussions on complex and challenging issues facing the Middle East. There is no doubt that Jordan is in the ‘eye of the storm’ of the Middle East process involving Israel and Palestine and wider issues of the region as a whole.

Other highlights for the delegation were two events that indicate Australia’s heritage in this region and Australia’s involvement during the First World War. We attended the opening of an exhibition of historical photographs from the Australian War Memorial collection. The exhibition, entitled Anzacs and the Great Arab Revolt, showed Anzac soldiers in and around Amman and Salt in 1918. The delegation was also extremely honoured and moved to attend the Anzac Day dawn service commemorating the landing at Gallipoli 93 years ago, on 25 April 1915. The service was conducted at the Citadel in Amman. The location is particularly appropriate as it was the site of military action between Anzac forces and some 2,500 Turkish troops, in September 1918, in what was described as a ‘short but violent battle’. We will indeed be pleased to hear of the commemorations of the 90th anniversary of this battle that involved the Australian Light Horse.

It is important that, in this statement, I place on the public record the delegation’s appreciation of the outstanding contribution made by Dr Hani Al Nawafleh, a member of the Jordanian House of Representatives, to the success of the visit. Dr Hani and his wife, Attica, are graduates of Monash University and lived and travelled in Australia during their time here. No delegation could have wished for a more enthusiastic, pleasant, committed and energetic ‘honorary host’ than Dr Hani. If it could, the delegation would have made him an honorary Australian for the outstanding services he provided to us. His willingness to make the visit a success was boundless, and this report attests that he achieved his goal.

The delegation highly commends the services provided by the Jordanian parliament, particularly by Mr Yaroub Al Habashney; the excellent security officers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Amjad Al Husami and Captain Mohamad Al Zubaidi; and the efficient transport officers.

Federal Agent Michael Jackson, who for obvious reasons likes to be known as Mick Jackson, worked tirelessly to coordinate security and other arrangements, and his contribution was much appreciated. The staff of the Australian Embassy in Jordan, particularly Ambassador Trevor Peacock and Deputy Head of Mission Victoria Young, could not have done more to ensure the success of the visit. The program for the visit was wide-ranging and well targeted, with significant appointments with the Jordanian Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House, the President of the Senate and several senior ministers. The delegation appreciated the time and effort of other embassy staff, particularly those who organised an excellent and informative program for spouses.

I congratulate and thank my fellow delegates for their work on this highly successful visit. I wish to express my sincere and massive gratitude to the secretary of the delegation, Neil Bessell, who has been the secretary to a number of delegations to the IPU. His breadth of knowledge on the IPU has been important to the ongoing success of Australia’s contribution to that organisation. I thank the House for its attention and I commend the report to the House.

Danna Vale (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—Mr Speaker, as deputy leader of the delegation under your leadership, I pay tribute to all members of the delegation for their commitment, diligence and professional conduct as active participants. Together with the Speaker and me, the member for Shortland, the member for Chifley and the member for Barker made up a delegation team in which each of us made a significant contribution. We were expertly supported in our work by the delegation secretary, Mr Neil Bessell, from the Department of the Senate; Ms Debra Biggs, adviser to the Speaker; Ms Alison Purnell, Director, Ministerial and Parliamentary Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, at the IPU; and Federal Agent Michael Jackson in Jordan. It is appropriate that our gratitude for their fine efforts be recorded in the Hansard.

There were many notable contributions that were made by our delegation at the assembly but, before I attempt to highlight some of these, mention must be made of the generosity and warmth with which the government of South Africa received the national delegates. Their hospitality was abundant and unrestrained and, besides the many functions, meetings, conferences and receptions provided to welcome delegates from 150 nations, their program for the partners of the delegates was outstanding. I take this opportunity to thank South Africa, the host nation, for its matchless generosity and hospitality. The impressive Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa, Ms Baleka Mbete, was elected as president of the IPU assembly.

The Speaker participated in the general debate on the theme of the assembly: ‘Pushing back the frontiers of poverty’. The member for Barker took an active role in the debate in the First Committee on Peace and International Security. The member for Shortland undertook to debate in the Third Committee on Democracy and Human Rights. I joined the debate in the Second Committee on Sustainable Development, the topic being: ‘Parliamentary oversight of state policies on foreign aid’. I was also elected to the drafting committee to refine the resolutions on this topic for adoption by the IPU assembly and was elected rapporteur of the drafting committee and presented its final resolutions at the closing general assembly. The member for Chifley was elected to the drafting committee of the third committee to finalise the resolutions of the debated topic—’Migrant workers, people trafficking, xenophobia and human rights’—for adoption by the general assembly.

Our delegation also lodged a proposal that at the 120th assembly, in 2009, the first committee consider the topic ‘Advancing nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, and securing the entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: the role of parliaments’. We were supported by the United Kingdom, Japan and Zambia, and the proposal was adopted by the committee and endorsed by the assembly. The member for Chifley and the delegate from Zambia were appointed as co-rapporteurs for this topic to draft a report and resolution to be discussed at the 120th assembly. I congratulate the member for Chifley for his contribution and this honour.

Together with the member for Shortland, I attended the meeting of women parliamentarians. The member for Shortland was nominated by the Asia-Pacific geopolitical group, one of the two groups which Australia attends—the other being the Twelve-Plus Group—and was subsequently elected as a titular member of the Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians and attended its meeting.

There was a roll-call vote on the inclusion of an emergency item on the agenda of the assembly, and our delegation participated in that vote. Our delegation also welcomed the presidential declaration on the Zimbabwe situation, which was made by the president of the assembly. The delegation attended several bilateral meetings at which we commended Australia’s candidature for a seat on the United National Security Council in 2013-14.

Following that, the bilateral visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan by the delegation was also marked by the warmth and generous hospitality of our Jordanian hosts. We were all edified by meetings with the Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the Jordanian House of Representatives and several other ministers and their staff. We were received with outstanding hospitality by the Jordanians, and special mention must be made of the affable Dr Hani Al Nawafleh and his delightful wife, Attica, who went to extraordinary lengths to ensure our comfort and satisfaction at all times, including inviting us to their private home to meet their family.

My sincere appreciation goes to the Jordanian parliament for an outstanding program, which included focused discussions on the many complex and challenging issues that face the Middle East today. Some issues, like access to water and energy resources, are shared by Australia. Our delegation was immensely impressed by the intelligent and measured approach adopted by the Jordanian ministers in what has rightly been described as a ‘hard neighbourhood’.

This visit was highly informative and our delegation considers that Australian parliamentarians should take every opportunity to increase engagement with embassies in the Middle East in order to increase our understanding of its history and the dynamics of the complex challenges that impact on the peoples in this troubled part of the world. It was a privilege and an honour to have been part of the Australian delegation to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. I thank my colleagues and commend the report to the House. I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.