Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the suspension of standing orders this morning. The opposition will not be supporting this suspension this morning. While I would like to acknowledge up-front that the opposition recognises that North Korea's behaviour is the greatest current threat to peace and stability in our region, we do not believe that it is the correct use of the Senate's time to debate a bill of this type. I'll speak more on the substantive issue and the bill Senator Di Natale has raised this morning in a moment but, if the Greens were serious about this issue, they would not be moving a suspension of standing orders this morning without notice.

Last Thursday, for example, the Greens had an hour of the Senate's time, which was specifically allocated to Greens in general business to debate whatever issue or bill they decided warranted the attention of this place, and this issue was not raised. Instead of highlighting this issue, they then chose to bring a bill on for debate that was introduced just one day earlier. I don't believe it's fair to say that they can stand here today and genuinely say, 'This is a matter of importance that has just raised its head over the weekend.' The actions of North Korea have been well known for some time and, most definitely, have been highlighted previous to last week, when the Greens had time to raise this in line with the normal procedure of this chamber.

I'd like to make a few short remarks on the substantive issue relating to the suspension this morning. As I mentioned at the beginning of my remarks, the opposition recognises that North Korea's behaviour is the greatest current threat to peace and stability in our region. Its rapid advancement of ballistic missile and nuclear weapons technology has been increasingly provocative under the current regime and is of great concern to the international community. Like the government, Labor strongly urges all parties to continue down the path of easing tensions and encouraging dialogue. As North Korea's only major ally, China is well-placed to intervene effectively. Labor recognises the efforts China makes through diplomatic and economic means to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and welcomes its support of recent additional UN Security Council sanctions. Labor urges China to look at what more it could do.

On parliamentary scrutiny, Labor has taken the long-held position—as previously articulated by Senators Faulkner and Wong on many occasions—that, under our system of government, a decision to deploy members of the ADF, whether for combat operations, peacekeeping or disaster relief, should be a decision made by the executive government. We also believe that government should be as open and as transparent as possible through that process and provide to the parliament regular reports on Australia's role. We also believe the process should be accompanied by appropriate parliamentary debate and time for appropriate consideration of all matters. That's Labor's position, and we won't be supporting the suspension of standing orders this morning.