Motions

United Nations Anniversary

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. J.S. Lee:

That this council—

1. Congratulates the United Nations for celebrating its 70^th Anniversary in 2015;

2. Acknowledges the significant work and commitment of the United Nations in global development and respecting the principles of equal rights and self-determination of all peoples and international co-operation in solving economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems around the world;

3. Recognises the local South Australian branch, namely United Nations Australian Association-South Australia (UNAA-SA), and the longstanding commitment made by their committee, volunteers and community leaders in bringing global concerns to the forefront of South Australia’s community; and

4. Congratulates the United Nations South Australia Branch for its remarkable efforts in organising many innovative and visible community events to commemorate its 70^th Anniversary in 2015.

(Continued from 18 November 2015.)

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (17:22): I rise to speak in support of this motion. Seventy years ago, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco to draw up the United Nations Charter. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by representatives of 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter was ratified by the majority of signatories.

Australia played a key role in the formation of the UN through the leadership of Dr Herbert Vere Evatt. Doc Evatt, as he was known, is particularly recognised for the prominent part he played at the San Francisco conference in 1945. Doc Evatt went on to become the third president of the UN, from 1948 to 1949, and helped draft the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The underlining principles and purpose of the UN are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relationships amongst nations, and to achieve global cooperation. These principles are consistent with the values of the South Australian government and in particular with the government's policy on international engagement and multiculturalism.

It should be noted that every day the UN feeds the hungry, shelters refugees and vaccinates children against deadly disease. Every day, the UN defends human rights for all, regardless of race, religion, nationality, gender or sexual orientation. The UN played a key role in dismantling colonialism, bringing freedom to millions. It was at the forefront in mobilising the world to defeat apartheid. UN peacekeepers are on the front lines of war; their mediators often bring warriors to the peace table.

Despite the best efforts of the UN, there has still been genocide, war and immeasurable atrocities suffered by far too many people. Ban Ki-Moon, the eighth and current Secretary-General of the UN, tells us the conflict has forced more people to flee their homes today than at any time since World War II.

In this critical time of world history, people and nations of the world should be striving to support and strengthen the UN. In this respect, we must pay special tribute to the South Australian division of the United Nations Australian Association ably led by John Crawford and supported by Vice President Lidia Moretti and John Langton.

The United Nations Australian Association plays an important role in supporting the work of the UN. Fifteen years ago, the UN adopted the Millennium Development Goals. These goals have not all been met. They are credited with contributing towards significant global gains in halving the number of people worldwide living in extreme poverty, providing greater access to education and health care in the developing world and a reduction in hunger.

The UN's annual General Assembly has recently launched the sustainable development goals that are designed to galvanise and guide the world's effort to eradicate poverty and end hunger and address climate change by 2030. It is worth recognising a South Australian link to this landmark General Assembly of the UN.

On 25 September 2015, Ms Sowaibah Hanifie was among four young Australians who attended the Global Youth Summit—a side event on the UN annual General Assembly in New York. Sowaibah is a journalist student at the University of South Australia and an event organiser for the Islamic Society of South Australia. Earlier this year, Sowaibah impressed us when she addressed guests at the Premier's reception to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Old Parliament House.

When considering the United Nations Australian Association, South Australia Division, it would be remiss not mention the contribution of Ms Heather Southcott. Heather died in November last year, having provided decades of leadership in the South Australian division. She was President from 1984 until 2012—a remarkable period. In 2007, she was honoured by UNESCO for her work in human rights and, in particular, her commitment to refugees. She and other dedicated members of the United Nations Australian Association, South Australia Division have done much to make this world a better place.

The association has a reputation for holding visible events to draw attention to important issues. Earlier this year, for example, it held a remarkable event at Joe's Kiosk, Henley Beach, to mark the 70^th anniversary of the UN. The theme was 'Strong UN. Better World.' which was aptly tied with the celebration of multicultural Australia through a painting by the surrealist installation artist, Andrew Baines. The painting featured prominent South Australians of diverse backgrounds standing in the icy Henley Beach water in multicultural costumes. They included:

the Hon. Hieu Van Le AO, Governor of South Australia;

the Hon. Zoe Bettison MP, Minister for Multicultural Affairs;

the Hon. Grace Portolesi, Chair of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission;

the Hon. Chris Kourakis SC, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court;

Mayor Angela Evans, City of Charles Sturt;

Ms Laura Adzanku, representing the African community;

Mr Joe Scalzi, President of the Italian Carabinieri Association;

Mr Jock Zonfrillo, native food chef and restaurateur at Orana;

Ms Sarika Young, Indian dancer and director of a modelling academy; and

Sonia Feldhoff, the well-known ABC 891 radio presenter.

There is no doubt that the United Nations Australian Association, South Australia Division, is recognised for many things that really matter to our world and then does what it takes to bring those matters to the public attention.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (17:30): I rise to offer support to this motion on behalf of the Greens, congratulating the United Nations for celebrating its 70^th anniversary in 2015, and acknowledging the significant work, not only at a global level, but also the work of the local South Australian branch, the United Nations Australian Association-SA, and the long-standing commitment that volunteers and community leaders have made in bringing global concerns to the forefront of the South Australian community's workings.

I particularly want to add my congratulations and echo the words of the motion: 'congratulates the United Nations South Australia Branch for its remarkable efforts in organising many innovative and visible community events to commemorate the 70^th anniversary'. South Australia was in no way alone, in fact the world turned blue for the United Nations 70^th year. It has been 70 years since the United Nations inception, when it was, of course, born of the horrors of World War II, after the failure of its predecessor, the League of Nations. The United Nations heralded the dawn of a new era, an era that gives a promise that peace-loving nations will join together to ensure international peace and security, development and human rights. In many ways the United Nations has filled that very big promise.

The United Nations Association of Australia-SA Branch is known to me through being my work neighbours when I worked for Amnesty International in the late 1990s and early 2000s and when I went on to work for the YWCA, which is the world's oldest and largest membership human rights organisation for women. The United Nations Association of South Australia is driven by that premise in a quote that is often attributed to Margaret Mead, that is, 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'

Heather Southcott, AM, the former president and stalwart of the United Nations Association of South Australia was, indeed, one of those thoughtful committed citizens, and I echo the words of my colleague, the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars, in congratulating and commemorating her work. She has, sadly, passed away, but her legacy will live on. She was certainly someone who I have long looked up to and learnt from as I embarked on a working career in the human rights field and in the women's sector. She is an amazing South Australian icon and a woman of whom South Australia should be very proud.

Other members of the UNAA-SA that I have had the pleasure to know of through my work at Amnesty and at the YWCA include John Crawford, Rosemary McKay, Justin McCarthy and Ruth Russell, but there are so many more. Their work really does strengthen the wonderful work of the UN.

My closest contact with the actual physical UN was when I had the privilege of being the YWCA of Australia delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women (Beijing +10) conference at the United Nations from February to March 2005. It certainly was an experience where I saw human rights made real and human rights in the amazing Star Trek-like building of the UN in New York. That experience changed my life but, of course, the UN and its work changes so many more lives in a much more meaningful way than having had that experience.

In terms of the connections that I made through my involvement in that particular United Nations conference, I always remember the wonderful Libby Lloyd. At that time, Libby Lloyd, who was of the then UNIFEM, now UN Women, had a gleam in her eye for an idea, and that was the idea of White Ribbon Day, and she was talking to me about who she might approach to be an ambassador, and she had the idea that Andrew O'Keefe, then known more for probably his personality on television, than indeed his quite substantial human rights work, where he was involved with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in New South Wales for some time, was a fine choice for that White Ribbon ambassadorial role.

The work of White Ribbon Day comes from one of the principles of the discussions that focused our minds at that particular conference, and that is, the role of men and boys in addressing violence against women. Back in 2005, it was actually still quite a radical idea that men and boys would take leadership on the issues of violence against women and their children.

At that time, the movement was very small, and I must say it has been amazing to watch, particularly the White Ribbon movement in this country and across the world play out, and the role of men and boys in standing against, and not accepting, violence against women. That is down to, again, a few small, thoughtful citizens working through processes and institutions such as the United Nations to effect incredible and profound change.

The United Nations, as it reaches its 70^th birthday, has had eight secretaries-general, all of them men. As Ban Ki-Moon's tenure comes to an end there is, if you observe the United Nation's website at present, a growing sense and urgency that it is time for a woman to lead the world body. For the first time since its conception, almost 25 per cent of the member states of the UN, in fact, believe that the next secretary-general should be a woman; and 42 countries have signed a document declaring that the time has come for a woman to hold the highest position.

The movement has powerful backers with a new Group of Friends in favour of a Woman for Secretary General, including two of the largest contributors to the UN budget, being Japan and Germany. I must pay tribute to the campaign to elect a woman UN secretary-general campaign, chaired by Krasno, which has compiled a list of some outstanding women who they say are qualified for the job of secretary-general and I would concur.

Some of the names being put forward include Irena Bokova, head of UNESCO; Kristalina Ivanova Georgieva, an economist and EU commissioner; Michelle Bachelet, the President of Chile and former head of UN Women; and more known to us in South Australia and in Australasia, the former prime minister of New Zealand and current head of the UNDP, Helen Clark.

Certainly any of these women will be not just highly qualified but inspirational, and I must concur with the words of Mary Robinson, a former president of Ireland, former high commissioner for human rights, and a member of the Elders, an independent group of global leaders, who has said:

Women very often have a different way of leading, which could reinvigorate the United Nations as a whole, because there is more listening, being inclusive and working in practical ways to resolve problems. These are the kind of attributes that can very much help strengthen the role of the Secretary-General.

Merit should undoubtedly be the deciding factor in the selection of the next Secretary-General; however, the positive message that choosing a female Secretary-General would send to women and girls around the world cannot be ignored.

While the UN is home to agencies such as UN Women and advocates for gender equality in all streams of its work and, most importantly, in its MDGs, women hold less than a quarter of the highest positions within the organisation. A female secretary-general would tell the world that the UN practises what it preaches. Mary Robertson absolutely summed it up when she said:

In women's and girls' eyes, the symbolic empowerment of a woman top official, with responsibilities in peace, stability and development, is fundamental. It has a great psychological impact.'

With those few words, I commend the motion. I look forward to not only men and boys taking leadership on women's human rights issues and particularly on the issue of women and violence against women, but indeed a woman leader of the UN in the near future.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (17:40): It will come as no surprise, I would hope, that Dignity for Disability certainly welcomes this motion. It is fortuitous that it coincides quite nicely with the United Nations International Day of People with Disability, celebrated on 3 December each year around the globe—that is, of course, tomorrow.

The existence of the United Nations provides a raft of sanity in a sea of unrest around the world. We look to the UN for the big picture thinking that we need to achieve meaningful change in many important areas, particularly around human rights. South Australia would do well to take heed of the UN initiatives such as the sustainable development goals launched earlier this year. Dignity for Disability adds its thanks and congratulations to the United Nations, South Australia Branch for its long standing commitment to its work.

Each year the UN announces a theme for International Day of People with Disability and the theme for 2015 is 'Inclusion matters: access and empowerment for people of all abilities'. There are also three subthemes for this year and they are:

Making cities inclusive and accessible for all;

Improving disability data and statistics; and

Including persons with invisible disabilities in society and development.

There is so much more that we can do to improve our society. When the focus is on people with disabilities there is much to be gained throughout our community and that is because a city, town, suburb or country that embraces and celebrates diversity, including disability, makes itself more available, accessible and interesting to all.

Of course it would be remiss of me not to mention that South Australia and Australia as a nation is falling woefully behind in its obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability. Women and girls with disability can still be forcibly sterilised or coerced into sterilisation in this country, and have their right to natural parenthood denied on the grounds of disability. I will be moving a motion on this particular subject at some point in the new year where I will elaborate. I think it is fair to say that given that we would not know whether anyone at the age of four, five, or even nine or 10 would be an adequate parent in the future, we should not make that assumption purely on the grounds of disability or health condition.

People with disabilities still face significant barriers to finding and keeping meaningful work. There are still people with disabilities who are paid 20¢ an hour in what are crudely known as 'sheltered workshops' or 'Australian disability enterprises'. People with disabilities still face sexual and physical abuse and neglect at at least two times the rate of those without disability, and that sense of disability only increases with factors such as gender, experience, age and type of disability.

People with disabilities can still be indefinitely detained in prisons, even when found not guilty of any offence, purely because there is no adequate housing accommodation for them in the community. Those are, unfortunately, just a few of the examples I could give where South Australia as a state and Australia as a nation have fallen woefully behind in their obligations under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I will certainly be raising more of them in the coming weeks, but we have a long way to go. For that reason, I thank the Hon. Ms Lee for bringing this motion to the council and indicate Dignity for Disability's warm and wholehearted support for it.

The Hon. J.S. LEE (17:46): In summing up, I just want to quickly thank the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars, the Hon. Tammy Franks and the Hon. Kelly Vincent for their contributions in endorsing this particular motion for the United Nations. I just want to quickly say that I believe that the Hon. Mr Kandelaars mentioned the vice president's name for the South Australian branch as Lila Moretti; it should be Lidia Moretti. Also, on the 10 personalities who were at the photo shoot for the United Nations at Henley Beach, minister Zoe Bettison was supporting the particular activity, but she was not actually one of the 10 personalities. I just want to put that on the record as a correction.

I would like to acknowledge that it was great to listen to the Hon. Tammy Franks' experience as she shared her personal journey with the United Nations. I also endorse her comment calling for women to take the leadership. I think that is something that we all should endorse those comments for. Of course, to the Hon. Kelly Vincent: tomorrow is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and I concur with her views of the fact that we need to fulfil more obligations and more work needs to be done in those areas advocating for human rights for people with disabilities. With those comments, thank you again to the members who have endorsed the motion. I commend the motion to the house.

Motion carried.