Helen Kroger (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I present the 119th report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Treaty tabled on 5 July 2011. I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

Question agreed to.

I seek leave to incorporate a tabling statement in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

Mr President, today I present the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties’ Report 119, which contains the Committee’s views on the Instrument Amending the Constitution of the International Telecommunication Union; and the Instrument Amending the Convention of the International Telecommunication Union which were tabled in the Commonwealth Parliament on 5 July 2011.

The work of the International Telecom­munications Union (ITU) is technically compli­cated and not widely understood. However, its work does materially improve telecommunication services for the general public. Probably the best known example of this is the 2000 agreement establishing an international standard for third generation mobile telephony. The 2000 agree­ment replaced a diversity of country based mobile telephony standards with a single international standard, enabling third generation mobile devices to operate anywhere in the world, laying the framework for international mobile roaming.

The ITU funds its activities through contributions from Member States. Unlike other United Nations agencies, Member States decide their own level of contribution. Although Aust­ralia’s contribution to the ITU is 4.725 million Swiss Francs (approximately A$5.1 million), this sum is entirely recouped through industry contri­butions. Consequently, the Australian Govern­ment has no net costs.

Mr President, the proposed treaty action amends the ITU’s Constitution and Convention in relation to the class of contribution Member States may make to the ITU. Both of the amend­ing instruments will enter into force generally on 1 January 2012.

The amendments comprise:

The greatest impact of the amendment will be to reduce the amount by which the largest financial contributors to the ITU can decrease their level of contribution at any one time. Although the ITU is not financially unstable, the adoption of this amendment would contribute towards improving the ITU’s financial stability.

Aside from the above provisions, the obligations of ITU Member States will not change.

The Treaties Committee supports the adoption of the proposed amendments as they will provide stability to ITU funding. The Committee understands that the telecommunications industry supports the changes and there will be no net cost to the Australian Government. For these reasons the Committee concludes that these amendments should be supported with binding treaty action.

Mr President, I commend the report to the Senate.