Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We live in a rather tumultuous world, both economically and in civil and military affairs. It seems to me that, in this world, isolation is utterly impossible. It is impossible to wall ourselves off from the troubles of the world and their actions and lack of action, and engagement is the only choice we have. In talking about this parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council Europe in Strasbourg and the 57th Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I want to begin by thanking my friend the honourable member for Cowan for his company and for his engagement on this parliamentary delegation. I also thank Richard Selth, who is in the chamber today, who ably organised it for us. What became very apparent as we undertook our duties was that this is a particularly interesting time in the world. Many of the things that we did at the Council of Europe concerned particularly important issues, whether it was listening to Mr Thomas Hammarberg, who is Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, talk about the pluralism in media and transparency in media ownership and all the problems that are now occurring in the United Kingdom—I know it is a very big issue—or whether it was listening to Mr Angel Gurria, who is Secretary-General of the OECD, talk about things such as the policies that had to be pursued during the global financial crisis, the need for growth, the desire to bring down deficits and reduce debt-to-GDP ratios while maintaining recovery, having seen the current events in Europe and indeed in Greece.

If there were anything I would like to put to the Federation Chamber it is that isolation is impossible. We simply must engage in these issues because they do affect us here at home. Mr Gurria's address to the council included addressing the terrible issues of unemployment in Europe, particularly youth unemployment, and the shift from lifelong employment to lifelong employability and skills acquisition. There are also many policy issues in there for Australia.

Similarly, with respect to the meeting at NATO, we met with the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. We had some very good meetings with many members of the Romanian parliament. It is fair to say that they encouraged us to establish an embassy and greater relations with Romania. That feeds into some other work I am doing as Chair of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee. We are currently undertaking an inquiry into that matter, so it is an issue that weighs on my mind. We attended the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Committee meetings and several issues were raised there, not least our involvement in Afghanistan, which were particularly important. I took away a lot from Professor Barakat's presentation on post-conflict development of Afghanistan and how much progress has been made on some issues of governance, poverty reduction, security indicators and the like. That was very interesting for me.

It was a very useful parliamentary delegation. It will add to our understanding of the world and, importantly, will add to our understanding of the environment in which our troops operate in Afghanistan. Again, I would say to the public: we live in a tumultuous world. Isolation is impossible and it is not desirable. We simply must engage. This nation must invest in parliamentary delegations and diplomacy generally if we are to have an influence and effect on the world around us.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Together with the member for Wakefield, I was a member of the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. I am pleased to speak to this delegation report: Parliamentary delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, and the 57th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Firstly, I would very much like to thank Mr Richard Selth, delegation secretary, for his assistance and efforts in putting this report together. His experience was particularly relevant and useful for us during the activities of the delegation. Thanks also to the DFAT staff for their comprehensive briefings and advice prior to the delegation's departure. On the administration side, thanks also to the team at the Australian parliament's International and Community Relations Office, particularly Mr Paul Jeanroy, who, as all MPs and senators would be aware, does some great work in this area.

The delegation presented a great opportunity for me to learn about relevant issues happening in the world. Our first stop was at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, between 4 and 5 October. Europe has been so completely occupied with the debt crisis and the challenges of the eurozone. This visit allowed the delegation to get a real understanding of the realities and struggles to resolve these issues. As we continue to see to this day that the problems and the focus in Europe remain a high priority for eurozone members, it is hard to see true economic stability being restored in Europe anytime soon. I was able to make a short speech at the Council of Europe, where I stressed the importance of living within one's means. Although I was later congratulated by the Secretary-General of the OECD, Mr Angel Gurria, it did not seem to be greatly appreciated by the majority of parliamentarians there. That is something that I can live with. I should also make mention of the assistance of Ms Joanne Frederiksen, Deputy Permanent Representative of Australia to the OECD, who provided us with good assistance for our visit to the Council of Europe.

The second part of our program was our visit to, and participation in, the 57th annual session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest from 7 to 9 October 2011. I note the assistance of the Australian Honorary Consul in Romania, Mr George Prelea. He was particularly useful and we were very well looked after. I thank Mr Prelea and his wife for their support and warm hospitality. Having been a major in the Australian Army, it was good to be able to interact with members of parliament from NATO countries and other nations and to hear the opinions and perspectives on matters such as the war in Afghanistan, the NATO members' intervention in Libya and geopolitical developments on the edges of Europe. I would say, from my participation in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the conservative political group meeting and at several of the committee sessions, it was fascinating to witness the interaction between nations and political groups. I saw the way in which the Russian delegation had been invited to participate but on all occasions that I witnessed they adopted a critical approach to NATO and strongly pursued their national interests, even when the discussion did not mention them. I certainly discussed my observations with the Liberal Democrat MP from the United Kingdom and the participation of a highly critical Russia was clearly the source of great irritation with NATO member delegates. I also note that the political groups were very keen to ensure that they were well or at least properly represented in the leading positions in each of the committees. There certainly seemed to be a strong alliance of political philosophy that in some cases appeared to transcend national groupings.

I would also take the opportunity to comment on the interactions between NATO members regarding the intervention that saw air strikes on government forces in Libya. This saw the United Kingdom and France supported by the United States on one side, with a block of critical nations on the other including Italy, Germany and Spain. Those nations were quite negative about the intervention and Russia also spoke against self-glorification. As I have already said, I found the interactions at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly fascinating. The importance of working with political friends was clearly evident and important in the multilateral environment. The involvement of Russia and the tolerance of their constant criticism was surprising, and also the way in which geopolitical events were approached and dealt with by the member nations of NATO.

It is my view that the Australian parliament should continue to attend the NATO Parliamentary Assembly so that we can better understand and appreciate the intricacies of Europe. It was a very good and useful experience and others should have the opportunity I have had. Before I conclude I would say briefly on Romania that the hospitality was very great from the members of the Romanian parliament, but it was very clear as well that there were problems with governance and corruption in Romania, which I am sure is distressing to Australians of Romanian descent. I reiterate that it was a great opportunity to attend these assemblies and I congratulate again Richard Selth and Paul Jeanroy and thank them for their efforts for us.

Debate adjourned.