Page 4499 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 23 November 2005
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There have been a number of other such cases. For instance, the thousands of weapons of mass destruction, the yellow cake from Niger—wrong again and again and again. Many of us feel that our federal government does not represent us very well and that perhaps Mr Stanhope represents us somewhat better in putting those opinions that we are not hearing from our government.
One thing on which I do not agree with Mr Stanhope is his position on maintaining troops in Iraq. I note here in this house that our federal government helped to set up—and it was part of the reason why we assisted the US—the invasion of Iraq and has asked for the US and its allies to leave. We do not seem to be listening to that. When America actively works to destroy the Vienna and Geneva conventions, Australia is implicated and our security is threatened. The ACT government’s stance on human rights fills a great, big blank there. We are not hearing the federal government stand up for these conventions that have been worked on for years, and we are in danger of seeing that whole machinery collapse.
The so-called war on terrorism is a struggle against people who are resorting to indiscriminate violence in pursuit of what they feel are moral ends. I disagree with them, but we are not going to win this war just with legislation that supposedly attacks terrorism. We used to have a really high standing in the international community. Remember, it was an Australian proposal that led to peacekeeping forces going into Cambodia. Do we see that support for the United Nations now? No, we do not. Multilateral institutions, which were the results of years and years of collaborative work from the governments of the world, have held a peace, a very fragile peace, in balance. Where is that leadership now?
I would have thought that anyone who claims that they love Australia would show affection and respect for the plants and animals that have evolved here. We have not seen that from the federal government. Sadly, the ACT Liberal Party seems to share that indifference. Take their stance on the legislation that came up in the house last week about restricting cats. There is so much evidence that shows that cats, especially feral cats and uncontrolled cats, are a real danger to those cute, cuddly creatures that we put on our postcards and that we use to try to get tourists here.
The ACT government has a role in standing up for the environment and against the immoral vandalism of the federal government. Sadly, the ALP federal opposition is not doing this enough. We have to acknowledge the federal government is driven by values—
MR SPEAKER: The member’s time has expired.
MR QUINLAN (Molonglo—Treasurer, Minister for Economic Development and Business, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Sport and Recreation, and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (12.14): From what I have heard from the opposition today, the theme that has come through is effectively a negative commentary, a negative view, held by our Liberal opposition of their own federal colleagues. The thesis that has been put forward today, particularly by Mr Mulcahy, is that federal ministers are so small-minded as to take disagreement on any issue as a personal affront and to allow those differences
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