David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

'The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.' So said Edmund Burke, the well-known Irish philosopher, thinker and politician from the 18th century. He also added: 'When bad men combine, good men must associate'.

I rise to support the words and sentiments of our Prime Minister in his statement to the parliament in the preceding weeks. What the world has been witnessing with the ISIS movement in Syria and Iraq is indeed pure evil. One cannot justify it in any way, shape, or form. We cannot sit idly by and watch it on our computer screens and TV screens. It must be confronted or it will grow like a cancer throughout the world. As the Prime Minister said, it will reach out to us and our neighbours. Following the latest news in the last 48 hours, it looks like it may reach out even further into Turkey, rather than stopping at the border, or go south and east into Lebanon, because the ISIL movement got a foothold in Syria during the civil war that had erupted, and they feed on unstable situations. Not only could it reach out there locally; it could reach out to us and our neighbours. As we have seen, sympathisers of this warped philosophy—there are sympathisers in our suburbs—can surface and they are emboldened by the success of ISIS. Similarly, sympathisers in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia can also be emboldened by ISIS's success.

We, as a civilised nation, are a small country in the scheme of things in the world. We are not a major world power, but we are a very respected citizen of the world. Our actions—our early, clear commitment to humanitarian aid and involvement and our commitment to the struggle—were very much noticed and very much respected. It is like in other battles, whether it is on the sporting field or in physical mortal combat: when volunteers are asked for, the person that raises the first hand has the biggest responsibility. People take note. People did notice our early involvement. I am pleased to see now, at the latest count, there are 62 nations around the world that have joined the coalition of nations that are committed to degrading and destroying the physical military arm of this murderous philosophy. It is good to see that the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and other Arab League nations, and the nations of Europe and Africa—62 in all—are committed.

I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly compliment our local Australian Islamic leaders, who have been quite forthright in their condemnation of terrorism and this warped philosophy of death. We should take note and formally support our servicemen and servicewomen, who are now on call over in the UAE at Al Minhad and who may be called into more than what they are involved in now. Our security services—ASIO and ASIS, the Australian Federal Police and our local police—have been performing a wonderful function for our nation in our cities and suburbs and they are all to be commended and admired.

I would also like to comment about some of the opinions voiced in the commentariat around the nation. There are a portion of the commentariat that allege, imply or out-and-out state that the coalition government's recent actions and statements, thus far, have been a media and political beat-up for pure short-term political advantage. Never have I heard such absolute rubbish, which should be condemned for the silliness that it is. People must remember that the Jakarta bombings, the Bali bombings and September 11 all happened before our engagement in recent battles in Afghanistan and Iraq. As another famous philosopher, John Stuart Mill, said: 'Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.'

I am very proud that Australia has put their hand up in the room in the world of nations and is committed to confronting evil where it is and committed to help to the level and proportion of our abilities.

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