Labor’s Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Robert McClelland, has committed to end band-aid approaches to regional governance and security challenges and to restore Australia’s credentials as a good international citizen.

Date:  25 July 2007

Central to this strategy, a future Labor government will re-invigorate our multilateral engagement to bolster our ability to tackle climate change and regional security issues. To these ends, Labor has committed to a number of important initiatives. Labor will sign the Kyoto Protocol and will support a viable carbon trading scheme to provide economic incentives for reducing emissions, while ensuring that Australia can reap the available economic, environmental and social benefits. To bolster our commitment to regional security, Labor will create a brand new Australian-based institution to coordinate peace-building and governance programs in Asia and the Pacific. Labor will support an international convention to criminalise support and incitement to suicide terrorism. Last, Labor use International Criminal Court (ICC) instruments to investigate President Mugabe’s actions in Zimbabwe. Australia must rebuild its international reputation to meet these shared global challenges.