Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House supports the Australian Government’s policy of:

(1)

remaining unequivocally committed to the Iraqi people’s aspirations to be a democratic and free society, with the continuing presence of Australian Defence Force personnel; and

(2)

standing completely resolute against non-state actors determined to commit (directly or indirectly) acts of terror and violence against free peoples and free societies.

It is common language today that 11 September 2001 changed the world in a way that few could have imagined on that day when two civilian aircraft flew into the World Trade Centre towers in New York and another aircraft crashed into the Pentagon. It was on that day that yet another aircraft crashed in Stony Creek township, Pennsylvania, killing hundreds of innocent passengers. It was on that flight, we understand, that the passengers signed their names into the books of courage in their country with their amazing attempt to overpower the hijackers and prevent potential catastrophic loss of life. So, on 11 September, the world mourned the loss of thousands of innocent lives in the United States—2,996, to be precise.

Since September 11, we have witnessed several other terrorist acts, killing more innocent people, from Bali to Madrid to London. This begs the question: what is it that drives men to commit such heinous acts of terror on their fellow mankind? The British Prime Minister expressed his thoughts very eloquently both in this parliament and elsewhere—the battlefronts in the Middle East. We in this country cannot fully understand it—perhaps we never will. One thing we can ask is whether we should accept this as part of the moral norms of our times, as part of evolution in the post-Cold War world or merely as part of the geopolitics of the 21st century. The Howard government says without hesitation and equivocation, ‘No, we should not accept this as acceptable international behaviour in the 21st century.’ Terror and terrorists have no place in the 21st century.

Since September 2001 Australia has been fighting the war against terror and since 2003 this has involved a direct military commitment in Iraq. Many still debate the original decision to go to Iraq. The opposition has accused this government and this Prime Minister of being poll driven. The decision to go to Iraq was extremely unpopular. It was the least poll driven decision that any government could have taken. Labor fails to understand this most elementary point—that governments govern in the national interest; they do not make decisions simply because they are popular.

Where no-one contested the evil nature of the Saddam Hussein regime—a regime that sanctioned mass murder, mass torture and mass rape—there is simply no contest on the fact that without the coalition of the willing invading Iraq, Saddam Hussein would still be there today. That is beyond question. There has been much talk about the coalition of the willing withdrawing from Iraq. To my mind, this is simply not an option. To the mind of the Australian government, this is simply not an option.

The Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party are now advocating the unconditional withdrawal from Iraq of coalition forces. I reject that notion absolutely. It is a manifestly irresponsible policy call by the federal opposition. The immediate withdrawal of our 1,200 troops would send the wrong signal to all the stakeholders in this war against terror and indiscriminate violence. It would leave us guilty of the charge of weakness, cowardice and political opportunism at a time when we need to demonstrate all the qualities that make the Australian nation respected internationally. We need to demonstrate our courage, our strength and our fortitude. We need to demonstrate that all the gains Australian troops have achieved in the last three years would not be wasted and that a vacuum would not be created or filled by other forces of extremism and violence.

The most significant achievement is of course the fact that, despite the brutal threats from insurgents in Iraq, millions and millions of Iraqis have turned out in three nationwide elections since the war began and voted overwhelmingly in favour of democracy. Twelve million Iraqis turned out in the most recent election when Prime Minister al-Maliki was elected. For the record, in Australia there were 13.1 million voters as of 31 October 2006. The Iraqi people should be an inspiration to all of us in this country. How can they not be an inspiration to us in this country, where we take so many things for granted? But, if the United States and the coalition forces were to withdraw, terrorists worldwide would receive a huge morale and propaganda boost from such a withdrawal. It would embolden terrorists across the world, including in our own region. We must remember that Australians are a critical part of the coalition presence in Iraq. (Time expired)

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