Mr FORREST (12:31 PM) —I have great pleasure in presenting the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to Canada and China, 17 to 30 November 2002. This was a whirlwind delegation from one side of the world to the other. I was very proud to be a member of this delegation, along with the members for Melbourne, Cowan and Eden-Monaro. The delegation was ably led by Senator Alan Ferguson, with the accompaniment of Senator Lees. We are very grateful for the support we received from Michael McLean, the delegation secretary. We visited two countries of important interest to Australia but completely different in their cultural make-up and interests.

Firstly, in Canada the delegation were pleased to attend various committees at the seat of the federal government, the House of Commons in Ottawa. Discussions proceeded around important issues at that time. Some of them are still the same. There was a lot of discussion about the situation with Iraq, and there were interesting comments and discussion about the position of orderly marketing agencies here in Australia and also in Canada, genetically modified organisms, Indigenous issues and stem cell research. The delegation was visiting not long after the discussions and debate in this chamber and our parliament.

One of the things that I was left with an incredible impression of—and I am grateful for the opportunity to have visited it—was the seat of the national assembly, the seat of provincial government in Quebec City. Over the years I have read a lot about the strong French cultural distinction that the eastern side of Canada has. But I think you have to visit and talk with the people there to understand just how strong those sentiments are that lead to discussions about secession. That is an ongoing debate, although we did notice that it is on the backburner in Canada as they watch what is happening in Europe and other places that are trying to find political ways to strengthen and enlarge their economic base rather than create small divisions of it.

The conclusions in the report refer to the great parallels between Canadian and Australian history. It is not surprising that we found that members of parliament in Canada are grappling with identical issues that we face here in Australia, particularly with regard to the welfare of their very large indigenous populations. A lot of discussion was conducted on that, and the similarities and parallels are quite obvious. They are different types of people but have the same health and social issues.

China was a completely different story. There is no doubt that now I understand so much more the great motivation that exists in my own constituency to build cultural, social and economic ties with this huge population not far from us. There is no doubt that there are immense opportunities in Australia continuing to engage socially, culturally and economically with this huge market in China. A huge amount of reform is being undertaken in China, particularly in the last decade, in opening up their economies and in their accession to the World Trade Organisation. They too see enormous opportunities for them in mutual economic trade between our two countries.

We also had an opportunity to see Australian aid operations in China. We were grateful for the facilitation of a visit to a large provincial centre in inland China at Chongqing. The Prime Minister had to cut short his visit to China and missed out on an opportunity to see what is happening in Chongqing. We met Australian AusAID agents in Chongqing providing vocational education and training support, which is something that we do very well here in Australia, particularly in those rural, isolated locations. It was very good to see a positive Australian aid project being well received. (Time expired)