Page 34 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 12 February 1991
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the state of that party opposite us. They are divided. They are divided on this issue. Mr Berry has failed to endorse his Prime Minister - his Federal Prime Minister - and his Labor leader.
Mr Speaker, my mind now turns to the role of the Socialist Left in this debate. Saddam Hussein has a Baath party. Some of the attributes of the Baath party, such as universal education, the allowing of women to go about without the chador, and other aspects, could be termed as part of the Socialist Left agenda, and we all acknowledge that. In Iraq, if you go there, you will see that it is, arguably, or was, arguably, one of those less fundamental states. Therefore, one would think that Mr Berry would be able to give some sustenance or support to those good-thinking members of the Left in Iraq who would want to throw off the oppression and mantle of their fascist leader. So, there is an inconsistency within the Left on this issue, Mr Speaker.
I go on now to Mr Berry's statement that the motion moved by my colleague Mr Jensen was poorly drafted. Mr Speaker, Mr Berry then went on to read out a number of other issues and initiatives that could be taken, forgetting, of course, that the motion, in the third paragraph, reads "supports the efforts of the United Nations". Those of us who are following events know that the current efforts of the United Nations include the examination of the very issues that Mr Berry read from the script that, no doubt, he had to use at one or other of his branch meetings to sway his colleagues.
Mr Speaker, the ACT people live in a federation - we are the eighth part of the national federation - and our Constitution is drafted in such a way as to give the Federal Government, through the Federal Labor leader, as he presently is, exclusive responsibility for defence and foreign affairs. Mr Speaker, an ordered society gives support to its leaders. It gives support to its leaders to show a resolute face to oppression, especially from the Left. There are other members of the Left in Iraq who are living under oppression. Saddam Hussein has not just punished the Chaldeans, the Nestorians, the Assyrians and the others; he has done more than that. He has oppressed his own Left. He has really done that. The reports of Amnesty International for the past 15 years clearly show that. The Left in Iraq has been screaming for assistance.
What did Mr Berry do today to speak in defence of the suffering Left? Nothing. That shows the poverty of the Australian Labor Party on issues such as this. I do not deny that there are genuine members of the Federal and local parliamentary Left in this country. They are people of conscience. My own colleague Dr Kinloch is a man of conscience and he lives that way. But, Mr Speaker, I found nothing in Mr Berry's speech that added up to any consistent line of opposition to oppression. The real thing that Mr Berry said was, "Look, let us be weak". We
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