Senator BOB CARR (New South Wales—Minister for Foreign Affairs) (16:49): Mr President, I seek leave to make a short statement on the boycotts, divestments and sanctions campaign. The PRESIDENT: Leave is being sought in respect of general business notice of motion 913, on which there has been a previous vote in the Senate. Leave is granted for one minute to Senator Bob Carr to make a statement on that. Senator BOB CARR: The Australian government strongly opposes the boycott, divestments and sanctions campaign. The government does not support boycott movements that seek to ban exchanges with Israel and policies that impede legitimate trade between states and that unfairly target lawful Australian businesses. Indeed, the Australian Labor Party fought a campaign in the state division of Marrickville on this very principle and won against the Greens party. The government opposed the motion for two reasons: firstly, the government has a long- established practice of not attempting to navigate foreign policy matters through Senate motions and, secondly, the motion moved by Senator Sinodinos politicises an important issue through criticism of individuals. We fiercely, unequivocally, strongly oppose BDS and, unlike the armchair purists— (Time expired)