The Government announced last Monday that it plans to seek UN Security Council support for a series of measures to deal with current pressing security issues.

Speaking on behalf of prime minister Tony Abbott and foreign minister, Julie Bishop, Senator Brett Mason said, “we have big plans”.

The first would be a collective effort to agree on ways to discourage violent extremism.

The second would be the first ever Security Council session – and resolution – on peace keeping issues.

A third would be intensive work to improve the UN sanctions regime to make it more effective.  Senator Mason said that substantial work on this had already been done in cooperation with Greece, Finland, and Sweden.