Hon Judi Moylan

DELEGATION REPORTS: Delegation to 113th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva and Bilateral Visit to the Republic of Singapore

DELEGATION REPORTS Delegation to 113th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva and Bilateral Visit to the Republic of Singapore Speech Mrs MOYLAN (Pearce) (12.31 p.m.)— It gives me great pleasure to report to my colleagues on both sides of the House on the 113th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly held in Geneva from 16 to 20 October 2005 and a bilateral visit to the Republic of Singapore from 23 to 27 October 2005. I had an outstanding delegation who made an outstanding contribution to the work of the 113th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly in Geneva. I was ably supported by the deputy leader, Mrs Julia Irwin, the member for Fowler; Mrs Kay Hull, the member for Riverina; and Ms Annette Ellis, the member for Canberra. They were the elected members of the delegation, but we also had Senator Julian McGauran, from Victoria, who played a very important role in our delegation, although he came to the assembly in a private capacity. We appreciated the contribution that he made to the work of the delegation in Geneva. We were accompanied by Neil Bessell, secretary to the delegation from the Department of the Senate. Both the work that he did to prepare the delegation for this visit and his work during the visit was very capably managed, and we appreciated the assistance that he gave us at all times. Jeremy Kruse, who was the adviser from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, provided excellent advice, sometimes on the run as matters came up that were unforeseen. We appreciated very much his assistance both prior to the delegation and after it. The proceedings on this occasion were dominated by the election of a new president of the IPU to replace Mr Paez from Chile, who completed his term of office. We thank Mr Paez for the contribution he has made to the work of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. It was good to see that there was some good competition. There were two very capable candidates: Mr Pier Ferdinando Casini, the Speaker of the Italian parliament, and Mr Geert Versnick from Belgium. Mr Pier Ferdinando Casini was elected as the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union for the next three years. His term will end in October 2008. They were both excellent candidates. Both had some experience but particularly Mr Versnick, who has had long experience with the IPU. We thank the delegates for their enthusiastic approach to the work of the assembly. All members of our Australian delegation participated in the various forums of the assembly. Ms Ellis addressed the first committee on ‘The respective roles of the parliaments and the media in providing the public with impartial, accurate and verifiable information, especially on armed conflicts and the struggle against terrorism’—very topical. Mrs Irwin addressed the second committee on ‘Migration and development’, which Mrs Hull also addressed, and Senator McGauran participated in the third committee on ‘The importance of civil society and its interplay with parliaments and other democratically elected assemblies for the maturing and development of democracy.’ I addressed the emergency item, ‘Natural disasters: the role of parliaments in prevention, rehabilitation, reconstruction and the protection of vulnerable groups.’ My colleague the member for Fowler, the deputy leader, will address the Singapore end of the visit. Of course the whole visit was overshadowed when we arrived in Singapore by the impending death of Mr Nguyen by hanging, but I will leave my colleague to speak to that. Before finishing, I would like to thank the ambassador, Mike Smith, in Geneva for the great assistance and the hospitality he gave to the delegation. I also thank his staff because certainly they were important in working out the logistics and providing administration and assistance at all times to the delegation. We also hosted a lunch for Mr Lu Congmin, who was leader of the Chinese delegation, and that was a very useful activity. (Time expired)