Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Kerr, I might say how the hell are you and how long are you going to be here? Where the hell will you be next week? We know where he will be next week: flitting off to New York to be one of Australia’s parliamentary representatives to the United Nations General Assembly, the lucky dog! I have to say that, whilst this is not quite the subject of the legislation before the House, you will be able to attune yourself to the bureaucratic malaise that might or might not exist within the United Nations. You will be able to acquaint yourself with the rather Byzantine processes of consultation, communication, discussion and even decision making. You will enjoy the fraternity of some very good people working with the Australian mission, and of your colleague Mr Baird, who I understand is travelling with you. No doubt you will enjoy the company of many New Yorkers.

As someone who is lucky enough to have been at the United Nations in this role, I can tell you that it is a most rewarding and educational experience. I am sure you will come back much more informed—not necessarily better informed—than you currently are about the way in which the United Nations works and the politics of decision making. It puts what we do here into a very different perspective, let me tell you. The way in which decisions are made in the UN makes lobbying here look fairly amateurish. Sometimes big bats are used to belt people in a not too subtle way to make sure that they vote in a particular way, with countries using all sorts of pressure points to get a decision that they feel comfortable with. You will be watching nations come together, no doubt talking about maritime transport and offshore facilities security at some point or other. Certainly, they will be interested in aspects of this discussion—

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