John Hogg (Queensland, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

I won’t go into that, Senator Faulkner. If one reads the report, one will find that a comprehensive program was organised. In particular, I draw to the attention of members of the Senate a paper that I submitted to the conference. It was entitled ‘My conscience, my vote’ and it was meant to stimulate and provoke debate at the conference, which it certainly did.

I must commend Dr Jacqueline Dewar for her assistance throughout the conference to me and Senator Ferguson in dealing with technical issues that were raised at the conference. I also want to thank on the public record the Speaker, Mr Mapu Taia, and the Clerk, Mr Nga Valoa, of the Cook Islands parliament for their hospitality and for their organisation of the conference, which was very well handled and organised by such a small parliament. It shows what can be achieved when people apply themselves in circumstances where they have to really step up to the mark. They enabled us to have all of the facilities that we would have elsewhere, including good internet access to enable us to constantly be in touch with our emails and access to other facilities that we need for our parliamentary duties. I record my thanks once again to the President of the Senate, and I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.