Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the opposition defence spokesperson be admonished for calling into question the integrity of Lieutenant General Angus Campbell.

I think everyone in this place would be well aware that I have not been slow to criticise this government and previous governments when it has come to the decisions they have made about the use of the Defence Force. I of course was especially outspoken about the decision during the Howard government to join in the invasion of Iraq, for what I thought were fraudulent reasons. I was very critical of the decision more recently to keep our troops in Afghanistan much longer than they should have been there, and my outspoken criticism of the current government's abhorrent response to asylum seekers I think is well known. When it comes to asylum seekers, I think we should be acting like a rich and civilised country and as a signatory to the refugee convention. We should be taking people in, giving them protection, hearing their claims and giving them refuge if their claims are found to be accurate. Those whose claims are found not to be accurate should be sent back from where they came.

But in all of these instances I have been very careful not to criticise the men and women of our security services and in particular of the Defence Force and of the intelligence services. I think a line was crossed yesterday when the opposition defence spokesperson called into question the integrity of General Campbell. General Campbell is a classmate of mine and someone I know a little, and I know that he is a good person and I know that he will do a good job following the orders he is given by the government of the day, as unpalatable as those orders are. I want to make this absolutely clear: I am in no way speaking in support of the government's abhorrent response to asylum seekers. I am criticising, though, the shadow defence spokesperson, who went too far yesterday by calling into question the character of one of Australia's most senior military officers. He has been given shocking orders to carry out, but I am sure that he is carrying them out to the best of his ability and he is doing it as honestly as he can. So I call on everyone in this place to support this motion: that the opposition defence spokesperson be admonished for calling into question the integrity of Lieutenant General Angus Campbell.

See this speech in context