Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Australian delegation to the 144th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, held in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, from 20 to 24 March 2022, and I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

I'll say at the outset that I did not actually attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. That duty and responsibility fell to Senators Hughes and O'Neill. I'm just trying to work out how long my tabling statement is going to go for. Indeed, it might go for some time—we're just sorting out business.

The overall theme of the assembly was Getting to Zero: Mobilizing Parliaments to Act on Climate Change. The assembly was attended by 778 delegates, 404 of whom were parliamentarians, representing 101 member parliaments globally. As someone who was a delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union on behalf of the parliament in the last term, I think it's terrific to see that international gatherings are slowly returning post COVID. Those 101 states are not the full membership of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, but they do form a critical mass.

As one of those delegates, I can say that participation in the last term of parliament was not what we were anticipating when we signed up for this duty and responsibility, because it seemed to involve staying up, during parliamentary sitting weeks, from midnight to 4 or 5 am on the iPad and engaging with people in different time zones. Needless to say, for the benefit of the international community we had our cameras turned off most of the time, except when we needed to speak, because the visuals would have been frightening.

Australia, as I said, was represented by Senator Hollie Hughes and Senator Deborah O'Neill. I thank them on behalf of the parliament, because they had to go through quarantine in Indonesia. It was certainly no luxury trip to Bali. It was actually quite a difficult thing for them to feed into their schedule, but we took the judgement as a delegation that Australia's voice had been lost from all of these international forums for two years and that it was incumbent on us to find a way to turn up and participate. So, in the lead-up to the election, the two senators took the proverbial bullet.

Senators Hughes and O'Neill both contributed to the general debate. The general assembly at the IPU holds two major debates through each of the six-monthly international conferences. I know the member for Dunkley's deeply fascinated by this.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am!

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The general debate was on climate change, and then there was an urgency debate, which, unsurprisingly, was on Ukraine. It's a pity it wasn't held after the election—Australia participating in an international forum on climate change—because we might have had a bit more to say and might have helped our international standing to recover, but it's been terrific to see the new government and the Prime Minister out there starting to repair the damage of a decade of neglect and the damage to our international relationships from a lack of action for nearly a decade on climate change.

On 23 March 2022, the assembly adopted an emergency item—submitted by our friend and neighbour New Zealand—relating to the peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine, respecting international law, the Charter of the United Nations and territorial integrity. I understand from reading the report that there were three proposed urgent items submitted for debate and that all of those related to Ukraine. I think the New Zealand formulation provided the best space within the international community for delegates and countries to participate.

I've just got a two-minute warning from the member for Dunkley. We may be graced with someone far greater than us—you never know—at about 12.45.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You never know your luck in a big city.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, a range of procedural and administrative activities occur at IPU conferences. I wouldn't say that they make gripping television, having watched a few of them, or that they're very exciting, but they are important. In accordance with usual practice, Australia also actively participated in meetings of the Twelve Plus geopolitical group, and we're also a member of the Asia-Pacific group, appropriately, although unfortunately that group didn't hold any of the general meetings or caucus meetings during the assembly. In addition to the assembly and geopolitical group meetings—and this is an important part of participation by parliamentarians—the Australian delegation held bilateral meetings with a range of delegations, including those from Britain, Indonesia, Israel, New Zealand, Poland and Timor-Leste. When I represented the parliament in late 2019 in Belgrade, Serbia, I discovered that, for many of our diplomats, the opportunity to have parliamentarians in country to participate in a number of these bilateral meetings and support DFAT in its important work was greatly appreciated. I certainly found many of the discussions very valuable, including some quite difficult discussions with people—in a more private, semiformal environment—about human rights and various differences. In addition to the assembly and group meetings, the Australian delegation, together with the delegations from Britain and New Zealand, visited the memorial for victims of the 2002 Bali bombing tragedy. They laid a wreath in their honour, which was entirely appropriate on the 20th anniversary of these tragic events.

In conclusion, the IPU is a niche but important and constructive place in international diplomacy, even if parliamentary diplomacy is not going to in and of itself change the world. Having seen the importance that many countries, both larger and smaller than ours, place on their delegations—in the one that I participated in in Belgrade and from talking with the member for Fremantle about his participation in the previous term—it did strike me that Australia really doesn't engage as extensively as perhaps we could, given our shared national interests in many of these debates. A lot of that's due to time zones, and a lot of it seems to be our view of international travel and the political backlash it receives, which isn't the case in Europe, Asia and much of the world.

We can get a lot of business done particularly with our friends in the Pacific islands, where the former government, to its credit, placed a high value on parliamentary diplomacy through parliamentary committees. This is actually a very efficient way to do it, with senior parliamentarians—delegations are usually led by presiding officers—former ministers and senior people all in the one place, so DFAT can task the delegation effectively and efficiently.

In conclusion, I do note that, traditionally, the Speaker of the House leads the delegation to the IPU when it's not a sitting week and the President of the Senate leads the delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. I'm more than confident that the new Speaker will do us proud in giving our voice to these international forums on matters of importance.