Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Wills for his comments, the latter part of which I substantially concur with. There were other aspects, which I might take up at another time. But I want to speak today in support of the Prime Minister's statement on Iraq. He made the statement earlier this week outlining the commitment that Australia has made to supporting an international approach to combat the advances of a group that poses the greatest threat to life and liberty in Iraq and the Middle East in recent memory. The situation in Iraq is nothing short of dire, and I regret that in the week that has passed since I last spoke on this matter no light at the end of the tunnel has been realised for millions of Iraqis and the matter has, regrettably, continued in a very dark direction.

The self-styled Islamic State, which neither represents Islam nor is a 'state', as the Prime Minister has said, is purely a jihadist group that seeks to gain power through torture, oppression, rape, slavery and summary executions. I have never witnessed innocent women and children treated in the brutal way that we have seen. I have never witnessed people who have been detained being summarily executed in the way we have seen in the case of the several journalists from the United States to date. This group acts in contrast to the teachings of all substantial religions. It seeks to destabilise the fledgling democracy in Iraq.

President Obama has called the situation a potential genocide, and I do not think this terminology should be cast aside as some form of hyperbole. Time seems to erase, at least from our immediate memories, the horrors of the world that we have witnessed. When we search our memories, we recall some of these atrocities. I am very familiar with what happened in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge. I was in there shortly after that genocidal regime was deposed. And the Rwanda genocide: I witnessed many of the churches with ceilings shot out, many families that had been so terribly affected. And the Srebrenica massacre: I have been to that area of the Balkans. The list goes on. We lament what we have seen, but I have not seen, even among those situations that I have mentioned, anything as appalling as we are witnessing now.

The situation in Iraq is one in which we may, if the jihadists are able to go on unchecked, find ourselves lamenting very much our own failure to have done something to address it. We must not allow that to happen. The Prime Minister announced that Australians have been involved in providing humanitarian relief and logistic support. These requests have been met primarily through the work of the men and women of our Australian Defence Force, and for that we are very grateful. I firmly believe that no Prime Minister comes into office with a desire to send our Defence Force personnel into an overseas theatre of war to be at risk of potential harm. But there are times when this is absolutely necessary. The Prime Minister has acted only on the very best of advice, with the support of his colleagues in this place—perhaps except for the Greens. He has made a decision that would arguably come as one of the toughest that a leader ever has to face. I would stress that these decisions are not made lightly. The decision to commit our forces to this international effort has been backed by the United Nations chief, Ban Ki-moon, who has said:

… without addressing this issue through certain means, including some military and counter-terrorist terrorist actions, will just end up allowing these terrorist activities to continue.

I think these words should be heeded by us all. I know that there is some concern that any return to Iraq will see a long war without positive results. It may engender something even worse. I understand this concern, but I would note that, from the events that we have seen, this incursion is very different to the last time that Australian forces entered Iraq. I do not believe the world has ever seen an organisation before that has acted with such barbarism. Never before have we seen a group so cruel not only to its enemies but also to its own people. This is not a situation that the world has responded to in previous times. It is not a situation, in my view, that calls for a delayed response.

For the Greens to be suggesting that these are not terrorist acts and that we should find some other language is, I think, one of the cheapest political arguments that I have ever seen. It is quite deplorable. I find it difficult to understand. To date the Labor Party has been very strongly supportive of the measures that have been taken and of seeing the importance of us having a sense of unity in dealing with this absolutely appalling situation. No person in a position of responsibility could ignore the advice being received. The plight of those currently in Iraq demands our help. I think it should be offered. Australia has, as a strong and prosperous nation, a responsibility to help defend the defenceless. We must, as a nation that desires peace—a thriving democracy that is an example to the rest of the world—support other nations to grow in peace and prosperity, and to have the same tolerance and understanding of different people, different races and different religions in the way in which we, here in this country, appreciate. I do not think we can afford to falter on this matter. We cannot stand by idly on the sideline and lament another genocide.

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