Address to Parliament- Statements on Indulgence - Vanuatu General Election

Recently the member for Tangney and I were asked to oversee the Vanuatu election process, which took place on 13 October. It was a short, sharp 10-day campaign followed by a snap election being called. Vanuatu has a 52-seat parliament serving a population of 300,000. Australia stood tall in these elections to help that process. I know the member for Tangney and I were very proud of Australia's involvement. Indeed, the Vanuatu Election Commission, normally staffed by just eight full-time officers, was assisted by contract staff as well as technical support offered by both Australia and New Zealand.

A major logistical operation was put in train, to support more ballot papers, overland by vehicle and small boats to coastal villages. I want to point out to the chamber the role that the Royal Australian Air Force played using C-27J Spartan. On many of those airstrips, which were barely wide enough to take the landing of such heavy aircraft, those pilots landed brilliantly, to make sure that the ballot papers were delivered to very remote islands. You had to see it to believe it. 'It is a bit difficult in Vanuatu,' the electorate office chairman Edward Kaltamat said. He added, 'We have many islands and not many roads.' I can tell you, Mr Speaker, and the member for Tangney would back me up here, many of those roads are simply impassable. They are unusable. But they got the ballot papers out.

We have a new parliament. Vanuatu's new Prime Minister, Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau, said:

I want to thank the government of Australia, who assisted us with swift support and facilitated smooth transportation of ballot boxes to remote places in Vanuatu,

Indeed, we also collected those ballot boxes. Gloria Julia King became the first woman to enter the country's parliament in 14 years. We should honour that, we should exalt it and we should absolutely be promoting it to other Pacific nations, for them to do the same. The Pacific has the lowest rate of female representation in parliament anywhere in the world, according to World Vision, but Ms King is going to lead the way, and we praise her for that. The Vanuatu Election Commission listed the names of 219 people contesting the recent election, with only eight females. So well done to Ms King for being elected.

On the day, I went to polling stations right across Tanna Island, also known as Mount Yasur volcano island. I commend the member for Tangney for his bipartisanship. I commend him for the role that he played in this. I also want to especially thank First Secretary, Development, Kirsty Dudgeon, the High Commissioner to Vanuatu, Heidi Bootle, and the member for Tangney for his role and participation in making sure that the election was as democratic as it could be.