Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The MP citizenship issue has been a significant matter of public interest in recent weeks. I was personally devastated by the news that Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters resigned from parliament over issues with dual citizenship. These two people—indeed, friends of mine—have served the party and the country with distinction and brought so much to this chamber. I'd like to pay tributes to both of them, and I certainly hope to see them back in this place one day.

Scott, Larissa and our leader Richard Di Natale have brought great credit on themselves and on the Greens in how they have dealt with this question with complete integrity, openness and grace. This is in stark contrast to the Liberal-National Party and, today, One Nation, who have announced they will refer Senator Roberts to the Court of Disputed Returns, but only after the Greens and others had forced the issue.

I came under public scrutiny over my citizenship because my parents were in Singapore when I was born, as my father was serving in the Australian Air Force during the Vietnam War. However, because of Singaporean law—where you can only become a citizen of Singapore if you have one Singaporean parent—there was no way I could have inadvertently become a Singaporean citizen. Despite this, like many in this place, I was under a lot of media and constituent pressure to publicly provide documentation on my citizenship status. So I sought advice, records and a statement from the Australian High Commission and the Singaporean High Commission and have provided this to the media.

I have been open with my documentation. I also know that Senator Di Natale has been open about his, but it has been brought to my attention that one person in this chamber has not been willing to clear up public speculation and doubts about their efforts to rid themselves of dual citizenship when they were duly first elected: Senator Eric Abetz.

We know that Eric Abetz was once a German citizen. We know that he is now no longer a German citizen. What we don't know is whether—or how long—he sat in this chamber before he rid himself of his dual citizenship. It could've been anything up to 16 years. We don't know whether he took all reasonable steps to renounce his German citizenship before he took his place in the Senate. He has previously said he would publicly release documentation, but I understand he has not done so.

The government has been very vocal in the media about Larissa and Scott. It is only fair to subject senators on the government's side of the chamber to the same scrutiny—in fact, all senators. This is why we have moved for a general AEC audit of all sitting senators' and MPs' citizenship records and status. Given Labor and Liberal are disappointingly not likely to support this motion, it would then be a simple matter for Senator Abetz to clear up this issue by publicly providing the documentation about the steps he took to end his citizenship. This would be easy to do and would put him above doubt, which we all must be. I ask him to come to this chamber and do so.

Now, onto Venezuela. Since I last spoke on the issue in June, Venezuela has taken further steps away from democracy and towards chaos. With the establishment of a so-called constituent assembly, the Venezuelan President, Mr Maduro, has effectively set the stage to perpetuate himself in power at the expense of Venezuelan democracy and the human rights of the Venezuelan people. Many international human rights groups, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned the constituent assembly, as have governments from around the world, including Venezuela's Latin American neighbours and the European Union.

There are many concerns with a constituent assembly, and I will outline some of the most egregious aspects here. It is entirely made up of ruling party loyalists, including the President's own wife. It's impossible to ascertain the truth regarding the voter turnout given there were no independent observers and the media were, generally, not allowed to get close to the voting centres. But it's widely believed that turnout was low. Millions of Venezuelans had previously expressed their opposition to the proposal through a plebiscite on 16 July. It has the power to stop the national assembly—Venezuela's democratically elected parliament—from operating. Indeed, the new body is meeting where the opposition-controlled assembly holds its sessions. It removed the Attorney-General, Luisa Ortega Diaz, from her position in one of its first decisions. Ms Ortega was once a government loyalist, but, more recently, she has been a critic.

The chair of Transparency International, Jose Ugaz, said:

Without an autonomous judiciary that provides for checks and balances to the government, democracy is impossible. The lack of an independent Attorney General Office in Venezuela will result in even more impunity for illicit enrichment in a country where corruption is already rampant.

Indeed, Venezuela ranks amongst the most corrupt nations on the planet. It can indefinitely suspend elections. Elections for governors, which were supposed to take place last year, are now scheduled for December 2017. Presidential elections should take place in 2018. It will be critical to ensure that elections proceed as planned. That is not to mention the fact that the assembly itself is unconstitutional. Instead of holding a plebiscite to ask voters whether they approved of his plan, as experts generally agree is required, Maduro did it through a presidential decree. And I note that previous the President, Chavez, held a plebiscite on changing the country's constitution, which was defeated and which didn't go ahead.

In addition to the establishment of the constituent assembly and the sacking of the Attorney-General, on Sunday 20 people in military uniforms attacked a military base and stole weapons. The attackers said they wanted to save the country from total destruction, but this is a very disturbing development, especially in light of international experts' concerns that Venezuela will slide into civil war with devastating consequences for the instability of the region and, of course, for human rights. This attack is an example of the increasing chaos in Venezuela. I call on all sides, both government and opposition, to deplore violence and stand up against human rights abuses and to move towards restoring democratic processes. Given the violence and deaths that we are seeing on our TV screens—and it is increasingly being covered here in Australia and in newspapers—the violence seems to be progressively worsening. I have met with a number of Venezuelans living in Australia, including in Tasmania and in Melbourne. They are all good people and they have very, very grave concerns for their families and loved ones back in Venezuela. It's on their behalf that I stand here today and represent this issue in the Australian parliament.

With the last few minutes I have left, I would like to quickly touch on Four Corners' stunning expose on the waste and recycling industry in Australia in recent days. This is a problem that has been a long time coming. My first senator's statement in here five years ago was how we need to tackle waste issues in this country, especially the issue of marine waste. I said in that senator's statement that it was one of the key reasons I came to parliament. Every Senate estimates I have repeatedly pushed the government to do something on this issue. Time and time again, they have stonewalled. The federal coalition has completely stalled our national waste policy. They abolished the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water. They have not issued a national waste report in four years. They have not issued a single policy objective. They have vacated this space. The result is that the recycling industry is now in crisis, and public trust is sure to follow.

Last night, the ABC reported that the New South Wales regulator was recorded joking with industry about stopping his own government from introducing a plastic bag ban. This is no laughing matter, but it is what we are up against. It suggests that even when conservative ministers such as in New South Wales want to do something on this significant matter of public importance, the industry and regulators have got in the way. The environment minister must act now to save the industry and help restore public faith by recommitting the federal government to developing a national waste policy, including binding, mandatory national targets.

The Greens support the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee's recommendations. I note there was no dissent across the political divide. I very much respect the work that Senator Back did in that committee. There is the call for the federal government to step in and legislate for a national container deposit scheme and plastic bag ban if the states have failed to act by 2019. We also desperately need mandatory product stewardship schemes for a range of problematic waste streams, including tyres, mattresses, paints, batteries and other electronic equipment.