Senator MARGETTS (12:59 PM) —I believe that we should not be setting up a new frontier for conflict and weapons. According to Reuters Business Briefing of 26 August this year, entitled `USA—new space race', the US Department of Defense, despite paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade its own satellite capabilities, is still only able to pass one-third of the data required to meet projected demand. With plans to spend a further $7.8 billion on refurbishing and on leasing commercial satellite time over the next years, it is under pressure to make more use of commercial satellites and commercial launch facilities.

Is this why Australia's space industry is going to be relied on? Are we to be the United States military's low cost, offshore option? We believe the United States are our allies in many ways, but just how closely do we want to be integrated into the global military industrial network? Where has it gone in recent years? We have seen the Gulf War. Where now? In the aftermath of the Gulf War, we do not have the guts to stand up to America and say, `Enough is enough.' With regard to Iraq, where the Iraqi people are starving, we still have a situation where I believe, for commercial reasons in relation to oil, the United States are keeping up the blockade. It is not because of famine or drought or some other natural disaster but because of politics and the politics of a boycott.

The more we tie ourselves into this commercial military machine, which is building a multimillion dollar industry based on the needs of this military machine, the more difficult it will be for us to assert an independent position on issues like Iraq or on any other issues for that matter. It is time for us in Australia to assert our real independence, to take a principled stand and to say no to war, no to the military uses of space and no to weapons of any kind in space. We are not talking about nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction but about all weapons. Who would we be shooting at in space?

This is an opportunity similar to the position taken by New Zealand in banning nuclear armed ships. It is a bit like that for us today. We could say that we are a small nation, one that could make a lot of money by joining in the war game. And, besides, someone else would do it if we did not. But we are prepared to give that up for a more important principle—the principle of space as a no-go area for weapons and space as a zone of peace.

The notion to take the ban on weapons one step further is one that recognises that we are not just part of the global military overkill—and I use that word advisedly—if we participate in a whole range of military activities in space, including targeting systems, command communications in the event of military strikes and military intelligence gathering. We do not necessarily want to stop Australian troops from using mobile phones or geopositioning technology, but there are other exemption conditions in this bill for defence and national security. It does not specify what it is to be used for.

Section 16 excludes the Commonwealth or a member of the Defence Force. We want to ban the use of Australia's commercial facilities for launches for other people's military purposes, such as spying by friendly nations, positioning of weapons and all other military uses. This again would send an important signal to the international community about Australia's determination to make space a weapons free zone and a zone of peace.

I urge the Senate to support this amendment. The amendments by the Greens (WA) seek to achieve the same end as those of the Democrats. Obviously we are fully supporting amendments which have a similar basis to our own. We do believe that we leave ourselves open to being involved in the commercial use of military technologies of quite unspecified types as a result of the passing of this legislation.