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Thursday, 22 September 2011
Page: 6836

Senator FEENEY (Victoria—Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) (11:21): I seek leave to make a short statement.

The PRESIDENT: Leave is granted for two minutes.

Senator FEENEY: The government does not support dealing with complex foreign policy motions through simple Senate resolutions. That has been longstanding practice for the parliamentary Labor Party. Therefore, the government cannot support this motion.

Australia and like-minded countries nonetheless continue to urge Sri Lanka to address serious allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by both sides during the final stages of the Sri Lankan conflict. In particular, the government has asked Sri Lanka to test the findings of the UN Secretary-General's advisory panel's report against the work of its Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission as well as to take further steps to ensure that the LLRC's work conforms to international standards. Australia will closely examine the LLRC report, due in November 2011, as will the international community, before considering whether further options should be pursued, including in the UN Human Rights Council.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Rhiannon's) be agreed to.

The Senate divided. [13:35]

(The President—Senator JJ Hogg)

Question negatived.