Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I absolutely and fundamentally reject the premise of Senator Wong's question. As I was trying to say in my response to her first question, very, very clearly, when the Prime Minister talked at the Lowy Institute he talked about prosecuting a case for our national interests, including through multilateral institutions. He instituted the multilateral audit and asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to carry it out. That audit has been absolutely comprehensive. What it shows us is that Australia has a very important role to play in shaping the values and the norms within multilateral institutions themselves. We are talking about institutions that are extremely important to Australia in terms of advancing our national interest and promoting and protecting our values. Whether they are underpinning the global rules and norms that ensure a level playing field, whether they are regulating international cooperation in areas like aviation, telecommunications, maritime transport, intellectual property and a range of others— (Time expired)