Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to give a report back on my recent visit to Armenia as a guest of the Armenian National Committee of Australia. Along with the members for North Sydney and Bennelong, I visited Yerevan over a number of days to experience everything at Yerevan—Armenian heritage, culture and history, and particularly a taste of their politics and the potential and strength of the bonds between the two countries. Despite many periods of occupation and oppression, the Armenian people have existed and thrived for thousands of years. While visiting, the delegation had the opportunity to embrace Armenia's independence day, a celebration to mark the end of Soviet rule as the people of Armenia voted in a referendum to proclaim their independence. It was wonderful to toast the occasion with the Armenian President himself, Mr Armen Sarkissian, and the Prime Minister, Mr Nikol Pashinyan.

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Unfortunately we don't have a quorum, so I have to suspend proceedings. The chair will be resumed when a quorum is present.

Proceedings suspended from 16 : 05 to 16 : 20

(Quorum formed)

The standing orders provide that a quorum for the Federation Chamber is the Deputy Speaker, one government member and one non-government member. However, there are no provisions in the standing orders, so far as we can ascertain, as to what happens necessarily when a quorum is not present, apart from suspending. Whereas, in the House, the Speaker has the choice of adjourning the House until the next sitting or, if satisfied there's likely to be a quorum within a reasonable time, resuming the chair after a reasonable time. This is an unprecedented situation in this chamber. This is a chamber which is generally dealing with uncontroversial matters and legislation. To my knowledge, and on the advice I have, this has never happened before. I want to place on the record that I intend to bring this to the attention of the Speaker, in particular to ask the Speaker to look into whether some change to the standing orders is required to deal with this subject.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As former chair of the Procedure Committee, could I also ask you to drop a note to the Procedure Committee, because I think these kinds of anomalies are very useful in terms of investigations—

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think rather than me doing it, member for Barker, the appropriate course of action would be for me to report this matter to the Speaker and allow the Speaker to then determine if there is a lacuna, so far as the standing orders are concerned, and to address that matter in the way in which he finds appropriate. I just wanted to say that to the chamber. I thank the member for Mayo for coming in to enable a quorum be present. On that note, I call the member for Goldstein in continuation.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a pity that my speech around my visit to Armenia with the Armenian National Committee was interrupted, but I also want to extend my thanks to the member for Mayo for her cooperation.

The Armenian people were among the first to rise up and demand independence, sparking the downfall of the Soviet Union. Throughout the visit, we had a number of meetings with various government officials and senior leaders, including of course the President and the Prime Minister, as I outlined already. It was also an opportunity to recognise and honour the victims of the first genocide in modern history—the Armenian genocide from 1915 to 1923, where 1.5 million Armenians, of a total population of two million, were forcibly marched into the Syrian Desert to face their death—and their chilling stories. We also had the opportunity to sign the visitors book and plant a tree at Tsitsernakaberd, the genocide memorial outside of Yerevan. It wasn't just a human genocide; it was also a cultural one. Many churches and cultural institutions and traditions were destroyed. And many of them—particularly the Armenian orthodox church—did not recover from that era and the legacy of the Soviet Union that actively dissuaded people from practising their faith or made it difficult for them to do so. In addition to the horrific death count, many Armenian families lives were irreversibly altered through forced labour, food depravation, rape and robbery, and it should never be forgotten.

Today's Armenian government is busy undertaking robust reform as part of a new era for the country. Their focus is on providing a tax framework that encourages growth, including a flat income tax, exempting enterprises with a yearly turnover of less than $50,000 from company tax. That's right—in Armenia, they get it. Cutting taxes grows jobs, as does meeting with various other ministers in the government to talk about issues ranging from tackling domestic violence, social inclusion, the promotion of STEM for young people and opportunities for bilateral engagement.