That the Senate calls on the Minister for Transport and Regional Services (Mr Anderson) to explain the sudden reversal of his decision in February 2001, repeated as recently as 4 December 2002, to support the Albury bypass.

That the Senate, noting the 61 per cent majority of Albury citizens who, in a referendum in 1997, opposed an internal freeway, calls on the Government to support the bypass option.

That the Senate—

(a) notes that 10 December 2002 is International Human Rights Day and joins with the many thousands around the world who are participating in events on this day to:

(i) condemn the ongoing abuse of human rights worldwide,

(ii) extend our sympathy to the victims of these abuses, and

(iii) support the defence of those rights both in Australia and overseas; and

(b) condemns the Government's appalling record in the field of human rights and, in particular, the Government's:

(i) failure to endorse the optional protocol to the United Nations (UN) Convention Against Torture,

(ii) contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to some asylum seeker detainees,

(iii) proposed contraventions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to be enacted under the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Bill 2002,

(iv) unwillingness to act in defence of Mr David Hicks and Mr Mamdouh Habib, illegally detained in Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, and

(v) in principle support of a United States impunity agreement in regard to Article 98 of the International Criminal Court treaty.

That the Senate—

(a) expresses its profound concern that Mr David Hicks and Mr Mamdouh Habib remain incarcerated in Camp X-Ray at Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, without having been charged or brought before the courts for trial;

(b) notes that Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that, “No-one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”;

(c) recalls the commitment that the Minister for Foreign Affairs made last year that, “If Mr Hicks has committed a crime against Australian law, the Australian Government will do whatever is necessary to bring him to justice”; and

(d) calls on the Australian Government as a matter of urgency to take whatever steps are required to return both Mr Hicks and Mr Habib to Australia to determine whether they should be freed or face trial, as is their right.