Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to follow up on what Senator Feeney, representing the government, said in his response to Senator Ludlum. He makes reference to the United States policy that by 2018 less than one per cent of these cluster munitions will have that failure. We know that one of the reasons why cluster munitions are so vile, not just in their operation, is in the cases when they do not work. We know they often fail to detonate on impact and they contaminate large areas of land with highly dangerous, unexploded submunitions—and I am relying on information provided to us in the Bills Digestand that this contamination has both immediate and longer term impacts on civilian populations and on the rehabilitation of vital infrastructure including roads, schools, markets and farms. We also know that incredibly expensive and arduous clearance activities are taking place—again, I am referring to material provided in the Bills Digest. Can Senator Feeney indicate what his understanding is of the current failure rate of cluster munitions overall, given that the United States is aiming for one per cent by 2018? That is my first question.