PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms RYAN (Lalor—Chief Government Whip) (19:26): I too welcome the delegation to the chamber this evening, and I welcome them to Parliament House for the events that are planned to mark the 80th anniversary of the first nuclear detonation at Bikini Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Our modern Pacific is very different to the Pacific that saw that event 80 years ago.

I stand here as a chairperson of the Parliamentary Friends of Pacific Island Nations, a role that I take very seriously. I stand here as a representative. In my electorate, in the city of Wyndham, there is a 10,000-strong Pacific community whose relationship with me and whose relationships here in Canberra are critically important to the way we work.

Acknowledging this 80th anniversary is really an important part of that relationship. The work that this government is doing in re-energising our relationships with the Pacific is incredibly important, and your visit is part of that. The experience of the Marshall Islands eight decades ago remains a powerful reminder of the human cost of nuclear weapons, and I would go further and say it also reminds us about how the relationship in the Pacific has changed.

We have proudly acknowledged that here in recent weeks. Today I pulled together a list of prime ministers from the Pacific, and it is now the sovereign states of the Pacific with whom we're in a relationship, rather than the space that was reflected 80 years ago, which was the colonial past that the member for Indi referred to so beautifully. Recently, of course, we've had the Solomon Islands prime minister, Matthew Wale, here, and today in the chamber we had Prime Minister Jotham Napat from Vanuatu with us.

In my role, we have welcomed many, many leaders from the Pacific coming into our parliament. So what is this motion about tonight? I will be cut short, so I will go quickly.

A sustained international commitment to practical measures that reduce nuclear risks, strengthen the global non-proliferation and disarmament architecture, and lower the chances of nuclear weapons ever being used again is critical. The Australian Labor Party has a proud and longstanding history of championing practical international efforts on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, and we remain steadfast in support of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation and disarmament architecture.

As a government, we acknowledge and welcome the advocacy that's present in the room this evening, and we want to stand with the Pacific in making sure that our world here has changed and that we work together as sovereign cousins, if you like, to ensure the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons internationally. The Pacific has a loud voice in this space. I welcome that, and I welcome it here in Canberra this week.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Fernando ): The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:30