Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 421 standing in my name for today, relating to the sinking of the SIEV X. Before asking that it be taken as a formal motion, I note that the amendment includes the addition of Senators Moore and Humphries as cosponsors of the motion.

Leave granted.

I amend the motion in the terms circulated in the chamber and ask that it be taken as formal.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy President, could we seek a copy of that just to confirm that this copy I have is the relevant motion?

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To clarify: Senator Milne, this is notice No. 421?

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The amendment included the names of Senators Humphries and Moore—is that correct?

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, not in what has been circulated.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Milne, there seems to be some discrepancy as to the amendment that has been circulated in the chamber. Would you clarify the exact nature of the amendment to 421?

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw additional cosponsors if there is some question about it. I had been informed that they had cosponsored it. If that is not the case, I withdraw their names and propose the motion with the amended date.

Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has that been circulated?

Senator Hanson-Young interjecting—

Okay. To clarify: Senator Milne is moving notice of motion No. 421 as it stands with the date amendment. Is there any objection to that motion being taken as formal with that amendment? There being no objection, leave is granted.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senator Hansen-Young, move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—   (a)   recalls, with regret, that on 19 October 2001, the SIEV X carrying approximately 400 asylum seekers sank on its way to Australia, resulting in the drowning of 146 children, 142 women and 65 men and only 41 people survived; and   (b)   notes that:      (i)   in interviews with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, survivors told of the involvement of the Indonesian military in the boarding and organising of the voyage,      (ii)   survivors reported that they saw two military vessels appear, shine lights on the water and sail away,      (iii)   HMAS Arunta stood 4 hours away,      (iv)   Australia maintained a People Smuggling Disruption Program in the region at the time,      (v)   the Australian listening station at Shoal Bay was operational at the time, and      (vi)   many outstanding serious questions remain about the failure to rescue desperate people in the water and must be answered in the interest of justice and humanity; and   (c)   calls on the Government to establish a judicial inquiry into the SIEV X, subsequent investigations in the SIEV X tragedy and all circumstances pertaining to its voyage, loss and rescue of survivors.

Question put.

The Senate divided. [15:49]

(The Deputy President—Senator Parry)

Question negatived.