Anna Reynolds is international advisor to Greens leader Senator Bob Brown (pictured).
Readers expect the Lowy Institute to reflect its own goals to 'produce fresh policy options for Australia's international policy' and to 'promote new ideas and dialogue'. Mr Shearer's recent attack rants on the Greens for daring to have different ideas to former Liberal staffers is not becoming of this fine mission.
In the 750 or so words that have been allocated to me, I won't be able to provide a complete rebuttal of the dig at a range of Greens policies during the last week. Nor, probably, can I persuade Mr Shearer of the need to fast-track our Millennium Development Goal commitment to increase aid to 0.7% GNI as soon as possible, as the Conservatives in the UK have done.
Nor can I expect to convince Lowy columnists that nuclear energy is not a solution to climate change; or detail that, for good reason, the platforms of all Australian political parties raise some concern or caveat about the social and environmental impact of free trade agreements.
But what I can do is to provide your readers with a better insight into the valuable role that the Australian Greens actually play in debating Australian foreign policy in our national Parliament. This is important, as it's the Greens electoral success and elevated role in the Parliament that has stirred Lowy's columnists to warn of the 'pretty scary' prospect of Greens playing a more significant role in Australian foreign policy debates.
So it's appropriate for your readers to weigh these shrill warnings against the practice of Greens decision-makers.
Far from being 'eccentric positions', the Greens are vocal on the issues that concern Australians, and many of our policies concur with the majority of public opinion. We can see this reflected in the Lowy Institute’s own public opinion poll published in 2010. Our focus on raising concern about practices of the Chinese Government meets the desire of the 'sixty-six per cent who disagreed Australia was doing enough to pressure China to improve human rights'. Similarly, our concerns about Australian involvement in Afghanistan are shared by the 'fifty-four per cent of those who say we should not continue to be involved militarily in Afghanistan'.
During the last Parliament, Senator Bob Brown proposed 30 motions for the Australian Senate to debate and vote on a range of foreign affairs issues. These motions covered a wide range of issues including the blockade of Gaza, the civil war in Sri Lanka, Australia's involvement in the war in Afghanistan, and the actions of the Chinese Government in suppressing human rights of people in East Turkestan, Tibet, as well as the use of the death penalty.
In contrast, the Minister representing Foreign Affairs in the Senate was less willing to bring new issues and debates to the Chamber. Indeed, most of the words spoken by the Minister representing Foreign Affairs in the Senate over the past three years were in response to questions or motions placed on the agenda by Greens Senators.
Other Greens senators are similarly active in taking a leadership role in considering and discussing foreign affairs.
In the last session of Parliament, Senator Hanson-Young moved 11 motions and asked many questions on issues including West Papua, the death penalty in Iran and Vietnam, human rights abuses in Western Sahara, and AusAID funding for women's health services. She is also the Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Group on Population and Development and the co-deputy chair of the Australian Parliamentary Association for UNICEF.
Senator Scott Ludlum is an active member of both Joint House and Senate Foreign Affairs committees and he established a new cross-party Parliamentary Group for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. In the last parliament, Scott moved 13 motions, made 12 speeches and asked countless questions on issues including the UN Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, selling uranium to Russia, Iran's nuclear program, defence spending, human rights abuses in Burma and the need for an independent reviewer on terrorism laws. He also organised a special public hearing into the War Powers Bill that heard from a range of defence experts to explore the issues around getting parliamentary approval to send Australian troops to war.
The Greens’ record in Parliament demonstrates the party is a credible champion for dialogue on foreign affairs. Surely this is a role that a body such as Lowy should welcome and not deride if it truly wants to promote wider discussion of international issues and Australia's role in the world.
Photo by Flickr user publik16, used under a Creative Commons license.
