DELEGATION REPORTS
Senator O'NEILL (New South Wales) (16:11): by leave—I present the report of the Australian parliamentary delegation to the 152nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly and bilateral visits to Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkiye, which took place from 6 to 19 April 2026. I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the report. Leave granted.
Senator O'NEILL: I move: That the Senate to take note of the document. As I table this report on the bilateral visits to Malaysia, Bangladesh and Turkiye and on the participation of Australian parliamentarians in the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, I acknowledge the leadership of the delegation by none other than the Speaker of the Australian parliament, my good friend and a great representative of this nation, the Hon.
Milton Dick, the member for the seat of Oxley in Queensland. I also acknowledge my fellow delegates on this bilateral program and attendees at the IPU conference: Ms Sharon Claydon, the Deputy Speaker and member for Newcastle; Senator Andrew McLachlan CSC, senator for South Australia; Senator Tammy Tyrrell, senator for Tasmania; and Mr Basem Abdo, the member for Calwell.
In undertaking this work on behalf of the nation and seeking to further parliamentary relationships between our nation and other nations around the world in support of the democratic project, I acknowledge the great support of the chief of staff of the office of the Speaker and also of our delegation secretary, Dr Jane Thomson, who was ably assisted by Ms Fattimah Imtoual.
They are all fine Australians doing their part in the international environment to make sure that important discussions are held between our nations. There were a series of critical themes discussed in the bilaterals as well as at the IPU, about clean and green initiatives operating in Australia, about civics and, critically, about democracy—also, how we include youth engagement through a youth parliament, and gender equality and representation.
And we had some conversations with our fellow parliamentarians around financial transparency. When we travelled to Malaysia, which was the first point at which we contacted our parliamentarian colleagues, we covered issues of mutual interest—strengthening those parliamentary ties, particularly talking to the civil society, and how democracy works. We had a roundtable to discuss the topic of Malaysia's institutional governance reforms.
It is very important for us to understand that development in Malaysia. We then travelled to the People's Republic of Bangladesh with the objective of strengthening those parliamentary engagements. The focus of these meetings was on parliamentary systems, good democratic governance and discussions to support Bangladesh's ongoing democratic transition in light of recent national elections, which were held in February 2026.
Another pertinent topic of discussion during a meeting with the speaker, the deputy speaker and other members of the Bangladeshi parliament was of course regarding the parliamentary committee structure that we have here in Australia and the functions that they provide in strong democracies. In visiting the Bangladesh parliament, our delegation also discussed ways to strengthen parliamentary democracy, including by enhancing legislative independence and increasing transparency.
Our final bilateral visit of the trip was to Turkiye, where we paid our respects to the fallen Anzac soldiers at the Haidar Pasha Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. As part of the general debate at the IPU, Mr Speaker, Mr Abdo and I all contributed on important topics. Mr Speaker spoke about his personal mission to advance youth engagement and his support of civics.
Critically, Australia co-sponsored—through the voice and active engagement of the Speaker of the Australian parliament—a proposal for an emergency debate focused on the need for parliamentary efforts to preserve ceasefires and support peacebuilding in the Middle East and elsewhere. Mr Speaker did a sterling job for our delegation, expressing our support for the role that parliamentarians collectively have in supporting regional and global peace initiatives.
We were very successful in having that carried by the 152nd IPU gathering. Finally, I want to indicate that I did some work as the co-rapporteur on the Standing Committee for Sustainable Development, and the assembly endorsed the work of the committee, which was undertaken with the support of my co-rapporteurs, Senator Rojo Edwards from Chile and Ms Jacqueline Sabao from Zambia.
The resolution, which was accepted unanimously across the assembly, was about building a fair and sustainable global economy and a minimum taxation inside countries to make sure that all countries benefit from the profits that are made by multinationals in their jurisdiction. I commend the report to the Senate. I seek leave to continue my remarks.
Leave granted; debate adjourned.