The Galaxy poll in today's Herald Sun showing most Australians want our troops brought home from Afghanistan should be heeded by the Government and Opposition, Greens Leader Bob Brown said.

"The growing public feeling in favour of bringing Australia's defence force personnel home will be central to this year's parliamentary debate on Afghanistan," Senator Brown said in Canberra.

"This level of opposition is higher than during the Vietnam War," Senator Brown added.

FADT Committee 30 May 2011

Senator LUDLAM: This question relates specifically to DMO because I presume you are the ones procuring or finding cluster munitions. Can you confirm for us that Defence wants to be able to purchase and retain live cluster munitions for training and I presume disarmament purposes?

CHAIR: That is a Defence question.

Senator LUDLAM: If that is the case, is it something you have been asked to procure, provide or locate?

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown today expressed great sadness at the loss of two Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

"The Greens join all Australians in gratitude for their service to the nation. We offer condolences to their family and friends, and wish their injured comrades a speedy recovery," Senator Brown said in Canberra.
Twenty-six Australian soldiers have now been killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown today expressed great sadness at the loss of Sergeant Brett Wood and the injuries to his fellow soldiers.

"The Greens join all Australians in our gratitude for the service to the nation and offer condolences to his family, friends and community," Senator Brown said in Canberra.

Sergeant Wood of Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment, and originally from Victoria's Ferntree Gully, was serving with the Special Operations Task Group when he was tragically killed yesterday.

NOTICE OF MOTION General Business No. 246
12 May 2011

Senator LUDLAM:  This motion relates to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which Australia is proposing to sign. It is a good convention. It has been negotiated in international forums over many, many years, and Australia is about to make an extraordinary mistake in enacting the provisions of the convention in domestic law in ways we think were carelessly drafted and very badly thought through.

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (19:29): On 17 January 2008, a two-year-old child, Dokthjan Saynaydet, was playing with his brother and seven other boys in their home town in Laos. They chanced upon an unexploded cluster submunition, or bomblet, left over from the years of fighting that ravaged their country. The war was long over, but this relic remained. The submunition exploded, killing the child's brother and three of the other boys, leaving him and four other bloodied children screaming in pain and terror from shrapnel injuries.

Brown calls for explanation from former Prime Minister Howard

Greens Leader Bob Brown today backed a call by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) for a full inquiry into the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) detention practices in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The documents obtained by PIAC under freedom of information law raise some very serious questions about the ADF's knowledge of, and indeed Prime Minister Howard's knowledge of, the events at Abu Ghraib," Senator Brown said.

Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown gave a press conference from Brisbane where he is attending the senate inquiry into Koala habitat.

He said it's time to rethink Australia's deployment to Afghanistan.

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia)

(12.45 pm)—I rise to add the Greens’ support to this condolence motion. We concur with the other speakers and with all senators in sending our condolences to the family, the friends and the colleagues of Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, who died tragically in a foreign land.

Sapper Jamie Larcombe died in Afghanistan.

He was there serving his country. His body has now been brought home to this nation, which he served so bravely and courageously. Sapper Larcombe was only 21.