Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

As, unfortunately, I will not have the opportunity to have a proper meeting with the Australian Prime Minister, I have been asked by the Green Party in Australia to ask the Taoiseach if he will question the Prime Minister about his record. A letter from Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Green Party in Australia, who speaks for many Australians states:

First of all thank you for speaking up about Australian Prime Minister on his visit to Dublin. Here are some items from his record. John Howard has signed off on the greatest raid of destruction of Tasmania's forests and wildlife; locked innocent refugees — men, women and children — behind razor-wire for years in Australian desert camps; backed Indonesia's military control of West Papua — though 77% of Australians believe West Papuans should be given a vote on self-determination; sent Australian troops to Iraq without the authority of the Australian Parliament and condoned Guantanamo Bay abuse of international law; ramped up uranium exports to boost the global nuclear industry; rejected an apology to Australia's stolen generation of Aborigines; this month's federal budget ignored more than 1 million Australian pensioners while removing all taxes from wealthy retirees' superannuation; and allowed Australia to be labelled the world's worst per capita greenhouse gas emitter among OECD countries pouring huge sums into coal mining while stripping funds from scientists researching solar energy.

We know of the Prime Minister's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Has the Taoiseach questioned him about his record? Did the Taoiseach not almost boast yesterday about facilitating the illegal invasion of Iraq by turning Shannon Airport into a foreign military air base or did I hear him incorrectly? Does he need to be reminded that more than 100,000 people marched in this city alone——

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