Senator BROWN (4:56 PM) —I thank Senator Mason for that very well informed contribution in opposition to the motion. He has made a most constructive contribution to the debate. We ought to be debating this matter in this parliament. I have a great fear that we will be debating it after events have overtaken our armed services personnel and the rest of the world at a rate which we may live to regret.

One thing that Senator Mason said was that a democracy has not been defeated by terrorism. In the international arena, the closest thing we have to a democracy is the United Nations. It was established to give each nation a say and to give each nation a voice. While there will always be those countries that we do not like—we do not like their systems and their dictatorships—they are not in the majority in this situation; they are in a very small minority. The point I make through this motion is that we would be much safer including that community of nations that wants to see the terrorists brought to justice working through the United Nations, rather than through the power of the United States alone. Senator Mason has referred to a couple of occasions when the United Nations was actually the vehicle for giving the go-ahead, although the United States had the firepower.

These are very dangerous times. They are a great challenge to democracies—there is no doubt about that. It is very important that this matter be handled by parliament and not just the government of the day, particularly as we move to an election. Senator Knowles said that this is a world of grown-ups and cannot be run by young Australians. The probability is, though, that it will be young Australians who get sent off to hostilities in the pursuit of the terrorists. That is what concerns me. They ought to have a say in that and the parliament ought to have a say in that. (Time expired)

Question put: