Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, I present the committee's report entitled Report 138: treaties tabled on 11 and 12 December 2013, 20 January 2014 and referred on 15 January 2014.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—today I present the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties report No. 138. The report contains the committee's views on five proposed treaties: Convention between Australia and the Swiss Confederation for the Avoidance of Double Taxation with respect to Taxes on Income, with Protocol; Arms Trade Treaty; Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay on the Exchange of Information with Respect to Taxes; Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam; and Exchange of Notes constituting an Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Australia to amend the Agreement concerning Space Vehicle Tracking and Communications Facilities of 29 May 1980.

I will single out the arms trade treaty, because of its significance to the international community and the leading role Australia played in the negotiation of this treaty. The arms trade treaty is the first ever binding international agreement governing the trade in conventional weapons. This trade is estimated to be worth $70 billion annually and represents a major barrier to the peace and wellbeing of people across the globe. The treaty will establish a common global standard for regulation of the international trade in conventional arms. It encourages state parties to trade conventional weapons more responsibly and more transparently, deterring their diversion to the illicit market and preventing their destabilising impact on peace and security.

Australia has been an active supporter of the development of the proposed treaty. In 2009, Australia co-authored and cosponsored United Nations General Assembly resolution 64/48, which called for a conference to be convened in 2012 to elaborate on a legally binding instrument on the highest possible common international standards for the transfer of conventional arms. Australia was also elected vice-chair of the preparatory committee tasked with preparing an Arms Trade Treaty in July 2010 and, finally, Australia's Ambassador to the UN in Geneva was appointed president of the conference convened in March 2013 to negotiate a final text.

The treaty will require signatories to develop national mechanisms to regulate the export of conventional weapons. Each signatory will be required to keep a national control list of weapons covered by their regulatory mechanisms. Weapons on the control list will be prohibited from being exported when the exporter would (1) breach a UN Security Council arms embargo or similar measure, (2) breach an international treaty to which the exporting state is a signatory or (3) occur where a party has knowledge at the time of authorisation that the weapons would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity and certain war crimes.

The committee recognises that this treaty is only the beginning of the process of controlling the proliferation of conventional weapons. The committee also recognises that the treaty as it stands has some further potential for more significant oversight. For example, major conventional weapons exporters, such as China and Russia, have neither participated in the developing of the treaty nor supported it. While the United States, the world's largest exporter of conventional weapons, has signed the treaty, the committee is aware that domestic US politics is pushing against ratification. In addition, the treaty contains no enforcement provisions, relying instead on improving the transparency of international arms trading as a mechanism for encouraging compliance.

Finally, the committee notes that the treaty does not include a fully comprehensive list of conventional weapons. Despite these limitations, the Arms Trade Treaty is an important step towards improving humanitarian conditions and the prospects for peace internationally. The Arms Trade Treaty represents a significant step as the first ever binding international agreement governing the trade in conventional weapons. The committee notes the important and active role Australia has played in the negotiation of this landmark agreement.

The committee recommends that binding treaty action should be taken. The committee has also recommended that binding treaty action be taken in relation to the four other treaties examined in this report. On behalf of the committee, I commend the report to the House.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does the member for Longman wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a future occasion?

Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.