Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to speak in parliament on a meeting earlier this week that I had the great pleasure of attending, along with many of my colleagues from both the House and the Senate. I had the great pleasure and privilege of meeting South Korea’s foreign minister, Mr Ban Ki-moon, along with South Korea’s Ambassador to Australia, Cho Chang-beom.

I attended that meeting in my capacity as Chairman of the Australia-Korea Friendship Group and it was a wonderful opportunity for me as someone with a very strong interest in global affairs and international relations. Along with my colleagues, I met with Mr Ban Ki-moon to discuss his interest in and candidacy for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations. As we all know, the tenure of the current Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, comes to an end very soon. There are candidates for that position from countries ranging from India and Sri Lanka to Thailand, as well as South Korea’s foreign minister, Mr Ban Ki-moon.

In my capacity as a member of the government of the day in Australia, as Chairman of the Australia-Korea Parliamentary Friendship Group and as a citizen of this country, I warmly commend Mr Ban Ki-moon’s nomination to Minister Downer and to the Australian government. Mr Ban Ki-moon is a very impressive man. His academic credentials are substantial indeed. He is a graduate of the Department of International Relations at Korea’s most prestigious university, Seoul National University, as well as having spent time at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. But more than that, he has impeccable credentials in the world of diplomacy and foreign affairs. He has served his country in some of the most important positions in the US, in Europe and in Asia. He has also held very important, high-level positions right at the edge of the workings of the United Nations.

I commend his academic record. I commend his working history to the government, because I think this is a time when the United Nations needs someone in that very significant post who will bring the United Nations into the 21st century. We all know that this is a massive organisation. It is profoundly important to the peace, harmony and security of the world. It is of course very complex. It is very cumbersome. It has huge flaws, it has setbacks and it has difficulties. But, at this point in time, it is the only mechanism that we know of that has the capacity to make a difference. It is the only mechanism that can bring together all the nations of the world under one roof to not only discuss but address some of the major challenges facing our world.

Very briefly, I want to draw to the attention of the House five very important issues that I think will face Mr Kofi Annan’s successor—and, for my part, I hope it is Mr Ban Ki-moon. There is global terrorism. Recently, we saw the bombings in India. We have experienced terrorism in our own backyard with the Bali bombings. In 2005 there were the underground bombings in London.

Another very challenging issue facing the world, particularly the newer countries, is that of nation building. East Timor, which is right in our own backyard, is a very new nation in the international community. The economic security and place of Pacific countries in our world structure needs a lot of attention.

We hear the word ‘globalisation’. Globalisation needs the focus of the best minds of our world because it can bring enormous wealth, opportunity and economic benefits to the people all over the world. However, at the same time, globalisation frightens good, ordinary citizens of the world who do not fully understand it and who are not experiencing its benefits. There is also the issue of global poverty. We need to address poverty, particularly in Africa, so that everybody is safer. The UN is well placed to do this with the right man at the helm.

In relation to natural tragedies, there was the tsunami that gripped our part of the world. We as an international community should be working together to provide relief to those who were affected by such a catastrophe. The environment and energy are big-picture issues and it will require, as I said, the very best minds of our world coming together, with all the goodwill in the world, to try to address them.

We have war and conflict throughout our world. We must solve the problems in the Middle East, including terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah— (Time expired)