Department of Peace Proposal

The Hon. Dr ARTHUR CHESTERFIELD-EVANS [3.19 p.m.]: On 18 October this year in the British Parliament John McDonnell, MP, held an event to publicise the creation of departments of peace in many countries. About 40 people attended, many of them members of parliament from around the world. The Australian Democrats sent the New South Wales Divisional President, Biannca Pace, to the event as our representative. I was privileged to be invited to attend. However, the Legislative Council was sitting and I could not be there. However, I sent a message, which I will read into the parliamentary record. The message reads:

I would like to thank John McDonnell and the organisers of this Peace Summit for doing a great service for the world in taking a new initiative that will hopefully lead to a new approach to government and international relations. This initiative has great potential, which we must all nurture.

A Department of Defence prepares for war. A Department of Foreign Affairs does not look at aid nor at prevention of international harmony or discord. Great wars are studied in detail, but great peaces and the negotiation of them get far less attention.

Modern economics theories of free trade should make wars less likely but currently some nations are still imposing economic sanctions and trade restrictions on others. This has severe consequences for the wellbeing of citizens in these countries and makes extremism more likely.

A Department of Peace, which looked at how peace could be achieved, could change the approach. Policies that lessened the chance of war could be advocated, with benefits in foreign policy and the total well being of all nations.

Currently the West talks about Freedom and democracy, but does little to practise it. It often favours dictators who make economic deals against their citizens' interests and in return are propped up by Western powers. It ignores countries like Rwanda or Zimbabwe where there is not immediate economic benefit to the West.

Western Middle East policy has been to keep the Arab States divided so that Western Companies can extract their oil. Freedom and even unity of the Arab states need not lead to war, as they will still want to sell their oil for money.

Australia has historically had a fear of being a small western country in Asia. But this fear is not entirely rational, and is less felt in the new generation. Many countries have more powerful neighbours, but are not threatened. In a globalised world, racial differences need not lead to conflict. Injustice will.

Australia has a sad history of going into wars to please dominant world powers when our own interests are minimally involved. Our current Prime Minister put us into the Iraq war without even consulting the Parliament. He knew that he did not have the numbers in the opinion polls. 75% of the population did not want the war. He probably did not have the numbers in the Senate either.

If there were more of a culture of peace, he would not have dared to do this.

Australia has many war memorials, but few peace memorials. We talk about wars, but not long periods of peace. Australia has a proud record at the UN, in its early founding, and in defending human rights, and as peacekeepers in many lands. We can do this because one of our less recognised achievements is that we have accepted a greater percentage of our population as migrants than any country and we have done this without racist strife. There is a real understanding in Australia that people have different cultures and if you go to another land, you must expect them to be different and adjust accordingly. Not all peoples manage this simple concept as well as we. But you would not know any of this from our current foreign policy. Our proud history of tolerance and human rights is being undermined and we need to change from the foolish path of our present government and be drawn again into the concepts of peace and human dignity that are here at this forum.

I can speak for all Australians when I say that we want peace and the concept of a 'fair go', which is an Australian expression for equal opportunity and a reasonable chance of a good life. We are with you in your launch and we live for the day that we too have a Department of Peace, and a World at Peace.