Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

  (a)   notes that:

     (i)   the Fourth Review Conference on the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects will be held in Geneva from 14 November to 25 November 2011,

     (ii)   Australia will be the Friend of the Chair at this conference,

     (iii)   the proposed new protocol on cluster munitions protocol will be discussed at this conference,

     (iv)   this protocol does not uphold the high standard and obligations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM),

     (v)   the development of a weaker legal norm with this protocol sets a dangerous precedent for avoiding existing legal obligations, and

     (vi)   support for this protocol could potentially breach the obligations of a state party to the CCM; and

  (b)   calls on the Government to:

     (i)   recognise that the CCM is the reference for the prohibition of such weapons, and

     (ii)   undertake not to support this protocol or any other instrument that weakens the CCM.

Question put.

The Senate divided. [15:44]

(The Deputy President—Senator Parry)

Question negatived.