David Norris (Independent)
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I think it would be very foolish to take a stand against passing motions. They have to be passed by a majority of the people present, and that is democratic. As long as I have been a member of the committee, and that has been since the beginning, we have always passed motions, some of which were significant motions on East Timor, military conflict, Palestine and a range of issues. If we do not pass motions, we will become in danger of rendering ourselves into a talking shop, a trips committee or whatever. We need to get our teeth into something. I am astonished that despite the good leadership the Chairman gives us and the important contributions of all the members, the proceedings of this committee are almost never covered by the media. We must have a hook. We can blather on as much as we like, make all our platitudes or informed comment, but what we have with a motion is a hook. It is important and supports Government in what it is doing or it raises questions about other governments. It is an intensely practical thing and I will be very sad if we set our face against it.