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

I present the report of the Australian delegation to the 148th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 to 27 March, and I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection to the report.

Leave granted.

The 148th IPU Assembly took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 to 27 March this year. The overall theme of the assembly was 'Building bridges for peace and understanding'.

I think it's fair to say that across our parliament, in both chambers, the IPU is little understood except by those relatively few members who've participated or engaged in it. It's a unique organisation. It's a parliament of parliaments, if you like. It's a global assembly of legislatures around the world, including from countries that we may not think of as democratic. But every country, in one form or another, has some kind of legislative mechanism working with whatever function their executive performs. The IPU facilitates learning, sharing, debate and cooperation amongst countries and between parliamentarians, and parliamentarians, as we know, have a role distinct from that of the executive. It's an important organisation. It's often glacial but, over time, contributes to international norms, to capacity building within parliaments and democracies, and to global forums, with direct lines into the United Nations and other forums. It has two assemblies—generally one around March-April and one around September October—and it's an incredibly weird and complex organisation. I think this was my third assembly, and it does take a couple before you actually work out the arcane procedures. If you want to get a motion up, you need to start a couple of years in advance.

The assembly this time was attended by delegations from 142 member parliaments, including 711 members of parliament globally, of whom women comprised 36 per cent. The Australian delegation, because our House was sitting, was led by Senator O'Neill and comprised Senator Reynolds, Mr Entsch and me. I'd also just note that most countries take it far more seriously than Australia does. Indeed, many countries send what you might call heavy hitters within their system, and you can get a lot of other business done. For the record, I'm not suggesting that I may continue on the IPU delegation, but I do think we need to take seriously the need for continuity and let members like, I'd say, Senator Reynolds and Senator O'Neill continue for some years, because they build very strong personal relationships and can leverage a lot more for the country.

I won't read all of the tabling statement, rest assured. There are just another couple of comments that I want to make. Among the key outcomes, there was a Geneva declaration issued on 'Parliamentary diplomacy: building bridges for peace and understanding'. There was a resolution around 'Addressing the social and humanitarian impact of autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence', which was not a perfect resolution but a lot better because of our interventions, I would say—those of Senator Reynolds and me in particular. Thank you to DFAT for their work in supporting us through those very long days. There was a resolution on 'Partnerships for climate action: promoting access to affordable green energy, and ensuring innovation, responsibility and equity' and a motion regarding 'Reform of the United Nations Security Council'.

Senator O'Neill represented the Speaker of our House, who is also now a member of the executive committee. I just want to make a couple of remarks about the speaker. Lovely as it is to have you there, Mr Deputy Speaker Buchholz, it would be even lovelier to have the Speaker just for a moment, but I'm sure he's watching in his office. Our Speaker is the first Australian for nearly 40 years to be elected to the global executive of the IPU. That's actually a big thing globally. We haven't had anyone on the executive committee for 40 years. I really want to compliment the Speaker. In just a short space of time, his performance in that global forum has been truly outstanding. It does credit to the parliament and to our country. He's found ways to use the IPU in our national interest—some of which will never be seen—that are creative and effective and have advanced our relationships with numerous countries, supporting the work of DFAT and the government in a very bipartisan way.

It is a funny forum, a funny role for Speakers, because, generally, the minute they sit in the chair—I did notice you asked a question before, Deputy Speaker, which we thought was interesting—they get gagged. The moment that somewhere here is elected Speaker, their voice is silenced within our parliamentary debate, except for maintaining order. So the IPU is where Speakers go to be ungagged. I couldn't speak highly enough—and I think that's a bipartisan comment—of the work that the Speaker has done. He's known everywhere. He walks down corridors and, in just a couple of years, he's known by Speakers and delegations from across the world, and the role that he's playing internationally is a real credit to us. Frankly, as someone who's known him for some decades, I think it's a great use of his formidable political skills, which are perhaps not on display or put to use in his current role.

I commend the report. We did actively participate and we were a very collaborative group. There are a final couple of things I just want to record. As well as the work of the IPU itself—we were engaged in all sorts of stuff that's in the report—we also really hit our strides with multilateral and bilateral meetings, working with DFAT with other country groups and filling pretty much all of our spare time. We had meetings with Indonesia, Thailand, Ukraine, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Nigeria, Indonesia and Afghanistan, as well as a multilateral meeting with Pacific island nations, New Zealand, Timor-Leste and so on.

Thank you to Ambassador Amanda Gorely, Australia's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and to the Conference on Disarmament, who hosted the delegation at her residence and provided really high-level and generous staff support from DFAT—some really, really skilled and knowledgeable officers. I'll mention, in particular, Aussie Dave, the First Secretary in Cyber and Digital Affairs, who was truly invaluable in sitting with us and making a serious impact working with Canada and many other like-minded nations to significantly amend resolutions that were going through.

Thank you also to DFAT and the Parliamentary Library, who provided excellent briefing material to assist the delegation. I commend the report to the House.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Bruce. Before I move on to the next item of business, can I just, from the Speaker's chair, offer my affirmation of your words about our Speaker and associate the entire Speaker's panel and all of those in this House with the kind words that you offered Speaker Dick on his elevation to the IPU, the first Australian in 40 years to do so.

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

I forgot I was also going to say similarly lovely things about Senator Reynolds and Senator O'Neill, but I'll save that for another occasion.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the sentiment.