Senator BOB BROWN (Leader of the Australian Greens) (10:21 AM) —Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement.

The PRESIDENT —Leave is granted for two minutes.

Senator BOB BROWN —My understanding is that both the government and the opposition oppose this motion. Not since 2002 has a motion supporting global democracy been before the Senate and at that time it was also voted down. This motion refers to a meeting of parliamentarians in New York which is aimed at establishing a parliamentary democracy for the world’s people based on the principle—

Honourable senator—It’s called a world government.

Senator BOB BROWN —I have a senator injecting ‘world government’. We have a world government in the United Nations, which this country took a role in establishing. What I do not understand—and maybe I will make this a matter for some more deliberative debate in the future, Mr President—is why, each time global democracy is brought up in this place, both the big parties oppose it. We go to war over supporting democracy in countries elsewhere around the world. The opposition certainly supported the invasion of Iraq on the basis of extending democracy to that country. When it comes to a principle of democracy being given to the nearly seven billion people on the planet, it seems that there is no willingness to support that ethic of democracy whatsoever. I find that inexplicable, so at a future time in this Senate I will move for a debate on the matter so that we can evince whatever the reason can be for this widespread opposition to democracy when it comes to a planetary point of view.