Bob Carr (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

All right, it is marginally different. Let me answer that: absolutely not. In fact, I was not seeking that. I did not imagine that as a possibility. The position I canvassed in the first part of the question was whether I would have been able to have said, back in September—before 18 October—that we would not oppose a bid for Palestinian status. I did not say that. And, not even being able to say that, I certainly was not able to say that we would vote yes. That was not even a question.

So I can underline for the benefit of the Senate that we won on 18 October, having been silent to the request from the Palestinian delegation expressed in a letter to, I think, our ambassador seeking our support or, at any rate, seeking our position on this. We did not respond to that letter. There are no settings where we gave any other indication.