Senator QUIRKE (4:24 PM) —On behalf of Senator Cooney, I present report No. 25 of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, entitled Eight treaties tabled on 11 August 1999 , together with submissions, the Hansard record and minutes of proceedings, and I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report.

Leave granted.

Senator QUIRKE —I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

I seek leave to incorporate Senator Cooney's tabling speech in Hansard .

Leave granted.

The statement read as follows—

The Report I have just tabled deals with eight treaties that were tabled in the Parliament on 11 August 1999.

This group of proposed treaty actions covers a range of subjects from double taxation agreements to the Food Aid Convention to the Articles of Agreement of the IMF to the adoption of uniform technical prescriptions for wheeled vehicles, equipment and parts.

In all cases, we have recommended that binding treaty action be taken as proposed.

We have also made some additional comments on some of these treaties. I understand that my colleague, the Honourable Member for Lyons, will make some comments on consultation in the treaty-making process in his remarks on this Report.

Two of the proposed treaties tabled on 11 August have not been included in this Report because we want to continue our inquiries. They are the proposed termination of the Social Security Agreement with the UK, and the revised text of the International Plant Protection Convention.

We will report on these two matters later in the year, and I have advised the relevant Ministers of this situation.

Report 25 is the eighth report we have tabled this year. One of these, on the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment, was a large Report on a significant international issue. Another dealt with a seminar the Committee conducted on the role of Parliaments in treaty-making. The other five have examined treaties or groups of treaties, tabled in the Parliament from time to time.

It is likely that there will be another three Reports tabled before the Parliament rises this year. It is appropriate to say a few words about how the process of reviewing treaties seems to be operating.

The Committee continues to provide an opportunity for interested organisations and individuals to make comments on the texts and National Interest Analyses tabled for each proposed treaty action. We send out a goodly number of copies of this material after each tabling.

We hold public hearings on all the treaties that are tabled in the Parliament. If we find that there are issues that need further attention, we delay tabling the results of particular reviews. This is what has happened to the two other treaties tabled on 11 August 1999.

This Committee receives considerable assistance in its work from Ministers and their officials. That does not mean, I am sure, that they agree with everything we say in our Reports.

I would like now to talk briefly about two of our recommendations.

While it is negotiating double taxation agreements, the Australian Taxation Office now consults with members of a panel that represents government, the accounting professions and business. We believe that there would be value gained by including country-specific business councils in the panel's deliberations. These bodies are in contact with companies that do business overseas, and we think that business councils have a contribution to make in the formulation of double taxation agreements.

We also believe that the operations of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, have changed significantly since they were set up in the middle 1940s.

These changes seem to have led to some duplication of effort and higher costs that are passed on to developing countries via loans. Administrative overheads should be reduced to ensure that more of donors' funds are available for assistance to developing countries.

We have therefore recommended that the Australian Government should actively support reform of these two important bodies, with a view to reducing duplication and waste and amalgamation as a longer term goal.

We are asked to report on proposed treaty actions within 15 sitting days of their being tabled. Depending on the program of Parliamentary sittings, this period can be as little as five or six weeks.

Today is in fact the fifteenth sitting day since these eight proposed treaty actions were tabled on 11 August: less than seven weeks ago.

During this review, we held two public hearings and received a number of valuable submissions in response to our requests for comment. On behalf of the Committee, I would like to thank those who have offered their views believing that, without them, our Report would be the less.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues, in both Houses and all Parties, for their contribution to the work of the Committee. It does have a significant workload, and the rest of 1999 is unlikely to be less busy than it has been to date.

I commend Report 25 to the Senate.

Senator QUIRKE —I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.