Mike Kelly (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The motion that we are speaking on here is very poignant. It is about one of the great tragedies of our times, from which so many consequences have flowed. In fact, I would not be standing here today as the member for Eden-Monaro had these events not taken place. For many people, 9-11 began a chain of events that led to many things. A lot of suffering and a loss of life began with the well-recorded events of that day, with its tragedy and poignancy, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. We all remember the phone calls that were later replayed and the messages and heartrending comments and scenes that took place on that day, as well as the incredible and inspiring bravery of those on United Airlines flight 93 who prevented the plane from being flown to Washington to cause further damage. Their memory in particular will live on as an example to all of us.

There was a great deal on this anniversary of 9-11 to remember and to commemorate, and a great deal about which to condole the families who still remain. So much suffering was caused by this attack not only to those who lost their lives or were injured but also to the families who had to deal with the consequences. The futility and the pointlessness of it really strikes us. These people, who were living their lives innocently and not wishing anyone ill, were made the subject of this assault, which is one of the most horrendous acts we have witnessed in our time.

That day I was serving at the UN headquarters in Dili, and I knew that our lives in the military would be changed forever and that there would have to be an answer—and certainly a great deal followed. We all rallied behind the effort in Afghanistan. There was no question that denying the opportunities that the entire state of Afghanistan offered to al-Qaeda and like-minded organisations to deploy their assets and abilities was a just sacrifice of the treasure and the blood of the international community. So much evil had emanated from Afghanistan over so many years that it was just and meet that we should attempt to deal with the situation in Afghanistan and deny it to al-Qaeda and like-minded organisations as a base of operations. They had the ability to raise funds and even the ability to create regular formations, they were doing research into chemical and biological weapons in order to cause even more heartrending scenes of devastation around the world, and we knew that Australia too was in the crosshairs of these people. We should regret the lost opportunities of Afghanistan. If the blood and treasure that was diverted from our effort in Afghanistan into Iraq had been deployed in Afghanistan, we would not be discussing Afghanistan today. We went into Iraq on a tangent from our main mission and pursued the lie of weapons of mass destruction. We went in there in defence of a sanctions regime that, little did we know, was being broken behind our backs in our own country by the Australian Wheat Board—with the knowledge, it later transpired, of those in the administration of this country. We sent our soldiers to war to fight a dictator into whose war chest $300 million was being placed through those actions. It was a shameful experience and a shameful waste of lives and money—$1 trillion from the US alone over that period of time. As I said, we would not be discussing Afghanistan now if we had not been diverted.

I certainly had no problems with dealing with the issue of Saddam Hussein. Having once deployed into Iraq and having spent a year there, I certainly came to appreciate the full horror of what he was inflecting on his population. I visited mass graves including one gravesite alone that contained the bodies of 10,000 people. There were also the vile tortures that were taking place in institutions like Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. But it was a mission that came too early. We needed to get done what we had to do in Afghanistan. It was not only that we went into Iraq based on a false premise; it was also so badly planned and handled in the execution. In that effort in Iraq, I lost a lot of friends and colleagues whose spirit I carry with me today and who motivated me to work in their honour, on their behalf, to improve our approach to security policy. And of course it was what led me to stand for Eden-Monaro. In honour of their memory, we have improved our approach to the challenges we face in this world of complex counterinsurgency and multidimensional operations, and in particular the challenge of Islamist extremism.

I think that one of the great victims of this terrible tragedy, the day of 9-11, was the religion of Islam itself. This is a time when Islam is going through a period of struggle with where it wants to go, and the vast majority of Muslims in this world are peaceful, peace-loving people. There are a small minority, a small cadre, that would like to hijack that religion and turn it into something much more vile. It is similar to the struggle that went on during the Reformation within Christianity. We are engaged in a battle for the soul of Islam, and we need to do all we can to help in that struggle to promote interfaith dialogue and to promote understanding.

One of the things we need to understand in this country is that our greatest defence against the threat of terrorism is our own Muslim community. Our own Muslim community will be our first line of defence, because in order for these organisations to operate and to succeed, they have to have a base from which to operate. Certainly we have seen home-grown versions of this sort of terrorism occurring, for example in the UK. In order for us to avoid these sorts of consequences and to succeed in our effort against Islamist extremism, we need to make sure that we are inclusive, that we work with our Muslim community in this country and that we continue to draw on their strengths, as supporters of this country and as decent citizens, to make sure that there is no base for operations by these sorts of terrorists.

I do not want to get political in a motion like this, but there are voices in our own parliament that are not assisting with that effort. I will not name names here, but I would encourage those people who are driving an agenda that alienates the Muslim community in this country to think about that very carefully and to think about the sorts of people they engage with internationally who are also not assisting in that agenda. I would ask those who are in a leadership position and who deal with those members to pull those members aside and have a good long, hard talk to them and understand how security is achieved internationally and in this country.

I would like to finish by paying tribute not only to the victims of 9-11 but to all those who have suffered and lost their lives since that time. In particular, at a time like this and on a day like 9-11, I think of my friends and colleagues who died in the subsequent struggles, who gave their lives faithfully for their country in this effort. Sometimes their effort was not set upon the proper path, but they gave their lives in good faith. I carry their memory with me every day and I continue to serve in their honour.

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