David Norris (Independent)

It is ironic that the House's consideration of the Road Traffic and Transport Bill 2006 coincides, as I understand it, with a meeting of the Joint Committee on Transport. It is a pity that Members are disadvantaged by not being able to be part of the deliberations of that committee. Meetings of that committee are often scheduled to coincide with the Order of Business in this House. There should be a rebellion — Senators should make it clear that they will not attend unless this matter is examined and rectified.

I am grateful to Senator Brian Hayes for speaking about the status of No. 28, the Civil Partnership Bill 2004. I had intended to raise the matter but it is much better that it has been raised by the leader of the principal Opposition group in the House. People on the other side of the House agree that this matter, which has been long-fingered, needs to be addressed. I hope the Leader of the House will be able to make time available for a full debate on the issue. As a result of the various technicalities which arose when we had a row about the Bill, just five minutes are remaining in the Second Stage debate on it. Perhaps some machinery will be made available to the House to allow for a full debate, particularly in light of the ongoing High Court case and the fact that I have amended the Bill to take account of the various points which have been made. More than five minutes would be needed to address the matter adequately.

I would like Senators to be able to debate the situation in the Middle East. After the business of the House ended for the summer, an appalling situation developed in Lebanon. There was a massive abuse of human rights. The international community held back from demanding an end to the assault on Lebanon. In that context, we should review the policy of allowing CIA flights to pass through Shannon Airport, given that Mr. Bush has admitted that torture has been widely used — the CIA has been widely involved — and acknowledged the existence of secret detention and torture camps. If the President of the United States can acknowledge that, I fail to understand why my colleagues on the Government backbenches who have a close identification with Shannon Airport are unable to face up to it. I would also like to highlight the report from the intelligence chiefs, which indicates that torture has increased since the Americans attacked Iraq, that there has been an increase in terrorism globally and that the Anglo-American attitude and policy has actually strengthened al-Qaeda. In a week when the US Congress, to its eternal shame, has passed a Bill that purports to legitimise torture, it is important for those of us in the West who are proud to belong to so-called old Europe to put on the record our values, as distinct from those values which are tragically becoming American under a Presidency which has sadly managed to make America the most hated nation on the globe.