I move the amended motion:

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) the costs of political unrest fall disproportionately on the rights and wellbeing of women, and

(ii) the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan (SAWA)-Australia was established in 2004, and that SAWA-Australia (South Australia) was set up in 2010 as its first state branch;

Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be asked to justify his remarks excusing torture in Sri Lanka following the success of an Australian Greens motion today.

The motion by Senator Penny Wright and Senator Lee Rhiannon called on Mr Abbott to retract his comments that 'we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen' and was passed with the support of the opposition.

"There are absolutely no circumstances where torture is justifiable," Australian Greens spokesperson on Human Rights Senator Wright said.

We move that the Senate

1.       notes that

a.       10 December is Human Rights Day, proclaimed by the United Nations' General Assembly in 1950;

b.      on 15 November 2013 the Prime Minister said, regarding reports of torture by Sri Lankan security forces, that 'we accept that sometimes in difficult circumstances difficult things happen'; and