Senator Allison to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

the report by the Pentagon dated March 2007 on the situation in Iraq in the last quarter of 2006, that advises that:

(a)

there were record levels of violence and hardening sectarian divisions,

(b)

‘sectarian cleansing’ was forcing 9 000 civilians to leave Iraq every month,

(c)

weekly attacks rose to more than 1 000 in the quarter, and

(d)

daily casualties increased to more than 140 with approximately 100 civilians killed or wounded a day,

(ii)

that these statistics were based on the violence observed by or reported to the United States of America (US) military and that these are likely to be out by a factor of two, and that the cited United Nations estimate, based on hospital reports, is that more than 6 000 Iraqi civilians were killed or wounded in December 2006 alone,

(iii)

the quote in the report that ‘Some elements of the situation in Iraq are properly descriptive of a “civil war”, including the hardening of ethno-sec-tarian identities and mobilization, the changing character of the violence, and population displacements’,

(iv)

the failure of the US military to meet its objective of handing over security responsibility to the Iraq provinces by the end of 2006,

(v)

that, although nearly 329 000 Iraqi police officers and soldiers had been trained as of February 2007, only a half or two-thirds of that total is on duty and that coalition forces remain hampered by militia infiltration, logistical deficiencies and corruption,

(vi)

that detention centres in Iraq have sub-standard facilities and do a poor job of tracking detainees, and

(vii)

that scores of Iraqi jails are overcrowded, with one jail housing three detainees for every bed; and

(b)

calls on the Government, in the light of this report, to recognise that:

(i)

Australia’s involvement in training Iraqi troops is likely to be ineffectual,

(ii)

the military strategy put in place by the US Administration cannot succeed without political reconciliation, and

(iii)

Australia should withdraw its troops.

Senator Allison to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

recognises that 27 March 2007 marks the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the Euthanasia Laws Act 1997, which overturned the Northern Territory’s Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995;

(b)

notes the results of a 2007 Newspoll, which found that 80 per cent of Australians thought that doctors should be allowed to provide a lethal dose to a patient experiencing unrelievable suffering and with no hope of recovery; and

(c)

calls on the Government to engage in a debate on end of life care, which includes the option of terminally ill and severely suffering people having choice about the timing and method of their death.

Senator Milne to move on the next day of sitting:

(1)

That the Senate notes that:

(a)

the 4th assessment report of the Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), published in February 2007, indicates that sea levels will rise by between 0.18 metres to 0.59 metres by the end of the century and that these projections do not include the full effects of changes in ice sheet flow because a basis in published literature is lacking;

(b)

the next IPCC report on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, to be released in April 2007, is expected to conclude that there is a medium confidence, that is a 50 per cent chance, that the Green-land and Antarctic ice sheets would be committed to partial deglaciation for a global average temperature increase greater than 1^o to 2^oC, causing a sea level rise of 4 to 6 metres over centuries to millennia;

(c)

recent scientific research, published too late for inclusion in the IPCC reports, suggest that sea levels are rising more quickly than previously thought and many scientists, including Dr James Hansen, head of Atmospheric Research for the National Aeuronautics and Space Administration, warn that a warm-ing of 2^o to 3^oC could melt the ice sheets of West Antarctica and parts of Greenland resulting in a sea level rise of 5 metres within a century;

(d)

the assessment of the impact of even a moderate sea level rise in Australia remains inadequate for adaptation planning;

(e)

assessing the vulnerability of low coastal and estuarine regions requires not only mapping height above sea level but must take into account factors such as coastal morphology, susceptibility to long-shore erosion, near shore bathymetry and storm surge frequency;

(f)

delaying analysis of the risk of sea level rise exacerbates the likelihood that such information may affect property values and investment through disclosure of increased hazards and possible reduced or more expensive insurance cover; and

(g)

an early response to the threat of a rise in sea level may include avoiding investment in long-lived infrastructure in high risk areas.

(2)

That the following matter be referred to the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee for inquiry and report by 20 September 2007:

An assessment of the risks associated with projected rises in sea levels around Australia, including an appraisal of:

(a)

ecological, social and economic impacts;

(b)

adaptation and mitigation strategies;

(c)

knowledge gaps and research needs; and

(d)

options to communicate risks and vulnerabilities to the Australian community.