Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party, Chairman of the Scrutiny of Government Waste Committee) Share this | Hansard source

I followed the member for Oxley's contribution and agree largely with what he had to say. Sitting here and listening to the last few speakers, there has been a consistent theme that members have pursued, from different perspectives, of course. The member for Forrest gave her usual heartfelt contribution to this debate, and prior to that the member for Kooyong gave a genuinely decent assessment of the strategic challenges post-September 11, including his feelings from the day. I think that is what this motion is about: giving members an opportunity to express how 11 September, 2001 impacted on their lives, because it was, I think, the defining moment of our generation. It changed our lives quite considerably in multiple ways, and it made a huge impact on the psyche of those of us who live in developed countries, in democratic nations, in free lands, who look to the United States of America as the leader of the free world and as a fundamentally good nation that leads our freedom, that defends the freedom that we all enjoy and that has played a significant part in ensuring that people can live their lives as they wish to.

The people who conducted those attacks on the United States in September 2001 do not believe in freedom, and the disgraceful and disgusting sect of Islam that they follow is not about freedom; it is about control. It is about making people live in the way that they believe people should live. Reflecting on the last week or so, I thought that John Howard, who was there on the occasion of the September 11 attacks—I think it was his first visit to the United States after the election of President Bush—summed up brilliantly the feelings of the Australian people in a letter he wrote on that day to the United States on behalf of the Australian government. He said:

Dear Mr President,

The Australian Government and people share the sense of horror experienced by your nation at today's catastrophic events and the appalling loss of life. I feel the tragedy even more keenly being here in Washington at the moment.

In the face of an attack of this magnitude, words are always inadequate in conveying sympathy and support. You can however be assured of Australia's resolute solidarity with the American people at this most tragic time.

My personal thoughts and prayers are very much with those left bereaved by these despicable attacks upon the American people and the American nation.

Of course, they were attacks also upon the democratic societies which make up our Western world, and they also impacted on people who follow the same faith as those attackers, who claimed to follow the Islamic faith. It was a horrific day and I think those words reflected the feelings at the time.

The point that John Howard made when he said, 'You can … be assured of Australia's resolute solidarity,' was brought home just a couple of days ago in a letter from the President of the United States, President Obama, who confirmed in his letter that, for the 10 years since those attacks, Australia has been the best friend it could be to the United States of America. We have stood by our friend and partner, and we have done the right thing in doing so, in following and hunting down those who undertook the attacks—the al-Qaeda organisation and its affiliates. You would have to say, 10 years on, that that organisation is now an extremely diminished organisation with far less capacity to undertake attacks on the Western world than it had, obviously, in September 2001. But it has been a difficult journey and there has been much pain along the way. We again remember the attacks on Madrid, the attacks on London and, of course, the attacks closest to Australia—the attacks on Bali, which undoubtedly were targeted at Australians and, unfortunately, successfully, killing 88 of our citizens.

So there has been much pain since September 11, but there has also been much ground made in the battle against these extremists, the battle against those who would do us ill. Only a few months ago now—and I pay tribute to President Obama for the courageous decision that he made in ensuring it—Osama bin Laden was brought to justice for all the evil that he spread throughout the world. It was a courageous decision of President Obama's and he did dedicate resources from the moment he was elected President. I think that was a truly good thing that President Obama was able to do.

We have also had—and I think the member for Oxley was right to reflect on this—a substantial change in the way that we live our lives because of the attacks of September 11. No doubt before September 11 security was important, but now security is paramount. You only have to look around this building to see the impact on security and the impact on the risk management decisions that now have to be made by organisations. The impact on airports was, of course, quite significant, though, as we all know if we have travelled to the United States, the impact here was nothing like the impact in the United States—but, still, an inconvenience for travellers and an additional cost for people.

These things do cost a lot of money and they have a lot of impact in terms of both time and money, but, again, there is the risk management element: people are not willing to risk the threat of attack. But we do have to balance those security measures—the extraordinary laws and powers that we have given our law enforcement agencies—with our right to live our lives in the freedom that we enjoy. We do not want to allow those extremists who we fight against to win by controlling our lives to such an extent through overt or covert powers being handed to people who are designated to protect. That is a loss of our liberty and it is a loss that we should make sure that we do not hand to those who seek to do us harm. So there is a balance there, and I think that, after 10 years, we need to continually reflect upon that balance—the human rights element of our liberty versus the importance of ensuring the laws are strong enough to protect us. It was, as everyone has reflected in this debate, one of those moments in time that we will not forget. I was sitting at home by myself watching the old Channel 7 Talking Footy program when the news cut in. I remember turning to Channel 10 and seeing Sandra Sully. I do not think many people could forget the distressed look on her face as the second plane ploughed into second tower in New York. It was frightening, and I think it frightened most people. People woke up the next morning to it. It was an attack which caused the biggest loss of life in United States history on the mainland. It was brought home to us and it changed the way we look at our lives. In that respect, it will continue to be a very significant anniversary.

As I began my remarks, the United States of America is a force for good in our world and long may it reign as the leader of the free world. We want and need the United States of America to be the primary force of good in our world. They need our support to maintain that, and we should stand here and support them in that desire, that aim and that goal. They have proved to be a very good friend of Australia; we have proved to be a very good friend of the United States.

It is sad that it took an occasion like that to bring our friendship even closer but it did. We stand today together as close as we have ever been. People use a religion for very evil purposes and, on this occasion of the 10th anniversary, it is right for us to reflect upon those matters. We think about the people who gave their life on that day, whether they be Australian, American or otherwise. We reflect on those people who have given their life since that time, whether in terrorist attacks across the globe or our servicemen who are fighting against these people. We reflect on the great freedom that the United States represents, that Western democracies represent, and we reflect upon how important it is to maintain that freedom that we so enjoy.

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