George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

On 3 May this year the Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organisation nominated Dr Francis Gurry, an Australian, to become the next Director-General of WIPO. The nomination awaits formal appointment by the WIPO general assembly at its next meeting in late September. On behalf of the opposition, I want to offer our congratulations to Dr Gurry, a very illustrious Australian intellectual property lawyer, on this prestigious international appointment—although, I must say, sadly, the circumstances giving rise to the need to make this appointment have been somewhat regrettable.

The vacancy in the presidency of WIPO arose with the resignation from that office last November of the pre-existing president Kamil Idris, a Sudanese national, in circumstances of great scandal. It was revealed that Mr Idris had been forced to resign as Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation because of significant fraud in his credentials. Among other things, it was revealed that Idris had misstated his age by some nine years—not something that anyone in this chamber would be guilty of, Senator Faulkner.

John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He didn’t try to make himself younger, did he?

George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He tried to make himself older, in fact. Had he stated his true age, he would not have been considered eligible for appointment either to a more junior position with WIPO or to the director-generalship of WIPO in the first place. Secondly, it was revealed that in his application he claimed to hold a masters degree in international law from Ohio University. It has since been revealed that the degree he holds is a masters degree in African studies. Be that as it may, a campaign led by the United States and Switzerland for the removal of Idris culminated at the end of last year with him accepting a termination payment of more than $300,000 and full pension benefits.

I make those observations because quite commonly people on my side of politics are chastised for criticising the United Nations and its agencies. But here is a very clear case of a fraudulent appointment to a very senior body and the expenditure of a great deal of money in order to get rid of this plainly dishonest and unsuitable man. Let it never be thought that the United Nations or its agencies should be above criticism, when scandals of this kind occur with wearying regularity. Nevertheless, the disgrace of Kamil Idris has created a vacancy which, we are delighted to say, has been filled by an Australian.

Dr Gurry has a long and distinguished curriculum vitae. He was awarded his undergraduate degree in law by the University of Melbourne in 1974. He served articles at Arthur Robinson & Co.—as Allens Arthur Robinson was then known. In 1976 he completed his master’s degree, also at the University of Melbourne. He studied for his doctorate at Cambridge, at Gonville and Caius College, for which he was awarded a high distinction. Dr Gurry had the signal and rare honour for an Australian of being awarded the Yorke Prize from the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge. From 1979 to 1984, he was a senior lecturer in law at the University of Melbourne, and he was also a visiting professor of law at the University of Dijon in France.

He joined WIPO in 1985, initially as a consultant and senior program officer with responsibility for development cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. Over the next 20 years he rose steadily through that organisation with roles including head of the Industrial Property Division, Special Assistant to the Director General, Legal Counsel, Assistant Director General and Deputy Director General since 2003. This is an illustrious appointment for an Australian. Dr Gurry is obviously a man of both integrity and eminence, and the opposition welcomes his appointment and congratulates him.

Question agreed to.