Julian McGauran (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the 110th report of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties on treaties tabled in November 2009 and February 2010. I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I seek leave to have the tabling of the statement incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

Mr President, I present Report 110 of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The report reviews the following significant treaty actions:

• an agreement with the Republic of Lebanon regarding Cooperation on Protecting the Welfare of Children;
• amendments to Australia’s existing agreement with Singapore on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income;
• an agreement with the Republic of Poland on Social Security;
• a treaty with the Republic of India on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters;
• an extradition treaty between Australia and India;
• the amendment and extension of the existing agreement with the United States of America concerning Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications Facilities; and
• the Measure 16 (2009) Amendment of Annex II to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty.

The Report also deals with two minor treaty actions.

Mr President, the Committee supports all the treaties examined in this report. 

Mr President, the Treaty to which I wish to direct my remarks is the Amendment and extension of the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America concerning Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications Facilities.

This treaty marks the 50th anniversary of treaty-level cooperation between the United States of America and Australia in space vehicle tracking, and extends the life of the Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the United States of America concerning Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications Facilities.

Mr President, while the Exchange of Notes will provide significant benefits to Australian science, the Committee has some concerns about how the process for seeking Committee approval was administered. 

The Exchange of Notes was tabled in Parliament on 2 February 2010, only twenty four days before the Exchange of Notes needed to take effect.

Because of the importance of the relationship between the CSIRO and NASA to Australian scientists, the Committee agreed to meet the requested time frame, and Report 109, supporting the Exchange of Notes and recommending binding treaty action be taken, was tabled in the Senate on 22 February 2010.

Mr President, this is one of a spate of recent requests by the Government for the Committee to expedite consideration of a treaty. 

There were, in each case, grounds for expeditious consideration by the Committee, and in each case, the Committee was prepared to accede to the request.  Nevertheless, in all of these cases, it would not have been necessary to make such a request if the treaty making process had been planned in a more timely way by the sponsoring agencies concerned.

Mr President, the Committee’s inquiries provide an important contribution to treaty making by subjecting treaties to parliamentary and public scrutiny, thereby lending legitimacy to the treaties.  The value of the Committee’s work is undermined when there is insufficient time to properly consider a treaty or allow public input to the Committee’s inquiries.

The Committee needs to point out that a request for expeditious treatment is an unsatisfactory solution to poor planning on the part of some departments.

In an effort to remedy this problem, the Committee has recommended that the Minister for Foreign Affairs should remind other ministers of the need to include time for proper consideration by the Committee when planning to enter into a treaty.

Mr President, the Committee considered and supported a number of other treaties in this Report, which I will briefly touch on.

The Agreement between Australia and the Republic of Lebanon regarding Cooperation on Protecting the Welfare of Children establishes formal procedures to assist Australian and Lebanese nationals whose children have been abducted by a parent to either Lebanon or Australia, or where difficulties with contact between a parent and child have arisen.

The Agreement establishes a cooperative regime where one did not exist before, as Lebanon is not party to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

The Second Protocol amending the Agreement between the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Government of the Republic of Singapore for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income will update the exchange of information provisions in Australia’s taxation agreement with Singapore to bring those standards into line with agreed OECD standards.

The Agreement between Australia and the Republic of Poland on Social Security is one of a number of international social security agreements negotiated by Australia.  These bilateral treaties address gaps in the coverage of certain social security payments to immigrants in Australia who are entitled to receive payments from another country.

The bilateral treaties between Australia and India on extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters will simplify the extradition process and improve the quality and timeliness of cooperation on criminal matters between Australia and India.

Finally, Mr President, the Measure 16 (2009) Amendment of Annex II to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is intended to enhance protection of the Antarctic environment in a number of ways, including through improving processes for listing Specially Protected Species, introducing permit requirements for the taking of native invertebrates, and strengthening controls on unintended introduction of non-native species and diseases.

I thank the numerous agencies, individuals and organisations who assisted in the Committee’s inquiries.

I commend the report to the Senate.

Question agreed to.