Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 6 Apr 2022

The wrong juror. At the outset I would like to compliment you and the Cancola for what you organised today and indeed off camera and in a private room downstairs where you were entertaining the ambassador and some refugees. Your empathy with people on the ground was remarkable and I want to compliment you personally on that. It was really wonderful to see. Now we've had lots of fine words about the situation in Ukraine and we have provided some support to the people in Ukraine. I have to say that I agree totally with my colleague Cahill Berry. We need to provide what weapons we have to allow them to defend themselves and that's something that we have to come to terms with and come to terms with fairly soon. Cahill Berry, I can't let today pass without talking about the United Nations Security Council. We lauded the election or the winning of the seat which I totally disagree with anyway. But the United Nations Security Council is sitting on their hands while tens of thousands of people, in fact we were told this morning 10 million people have been caused to leave their homes in Ukraine. If the United Nations Security Council cannot provide peace and cannot bring about peace enforcement in Ukraine, then it's time to scrap that useless waffle shop. We've seen wars all over the world where all we hear are fine words and what needs to be done and nothing is ever done. We see it on our TV screens every day now. The United Nations Security Council is a waste of time as long as the permanent members have a veto. Finally, today, my colleague Senator Byrne is bringing in a bill to this House about the restriction of names with respect to the Defence Forces. This, I believe, is a test for all Democrats in this House. The use of the term Oagly-na-Hearn belongs to only one organisation in this country and I expect to see 100% cross-party support for that. And I compliment the Senator for bringing that bill forward. Finally, what Senator Byrne just said, 100% I've had phone calls myself from down around the country of people who, for example, arrived here and only got a three-month visa. I have one woman who is absolutely petrified that she'll be gone in three months. So you're 100% correct. Thank you. Thanks for bringing that up. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.