Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak on this debate moved by the member for Sydney, but I must admit I am a bit confused. This seems to be a debate about having a debate. If the member for Sydney has, or any members of the opposition have, any criticism of Australia's current policy in Syria and Iraq, then surely this is the time to bring it up, rather than saying we want to have a debate about having a debate. If they have some criticism about it, please—you have the opportunity. Raise your criticisms here during this debate rather than come in here saying, 'Let's have a debate about having a debate.'

If we are to have a debate on the issues of Syria, the first thing we need to admit is the past mistakes that have been made. We also need to admit that we here in Australia are not going to solve the Syrian civil war by debating it in our parliament. We in Australia are going to do very little to solve the problems of the Syrian war, except that we can act in concert with our allies.

Firstly, I will turn to some of the past mistakes that we have made. The mistakes go back to those heady days of the Arab Spring, when it was thought—mistakenly—in many Western nations that we could simply transform the Middle East overnight into some sort of democratic utopia. It makes us realise how fragile democracies are and how hard they are to build. You cannot just install a democracy in a country overnight; you first have to build up those democratic institutions that we in Australia have been so lucky to inherit from England. We also need to admit the mistakes that have been made in countries such as Libya. We tried to topple Gaddafi, but all that did was create a vacuum for chaos.

What have we seen in Syria so far, supporting the so-called moderate rebels? This has been an utter disaster. We have seen at least a quarter of a million Syrian deaths. We have seen 11 million people forced from their homes. We have four million people who have actually fled the country—perhaps the largest refugee exodus in modern times. We are seeing the chaos in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of people—close to a million people—on the move. It will potentially transform Europe forever. We have also seen—of most concern—that we have created the ground for ISIS to increase their influence.

If we are going to continue a debate about Syria, I say that the first policy should be about defeating ISIS. That should be the very first, No. 1 policy of this government, of the United Nations and of our friends and allies. We also need to be very suspicious of the Russians and their actions in Syria. It is very clear that the Russians are only interested in looking after their Mediterranean ports in Syria, rather than actually defeating the terrorists in Syria.

There have been many mistakes that have been made in the Syrian crisis. As I said, we need to work on defeating ISIS first. But what we have done as the government is to take humanitarian steps in this crisis—something I think all Australians should be proud of. To take 12,000 refugees from Syria—yes, in the overall numbers of refugees in Syria, it is not a lot, but 12,000 is still a significant number. We will change those people's lives. It was heartening to see our Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Minister Dutton, over there in Syria, when he was notifying people from Syria that they had been granted a visa to Australia. I remember one gentlemen standing there—I am sure we all saw it on television—who said, 'I have won the lottery.' To be granted a visa to come to Australia is like winning the lottery. That is something we should all remember every single day, whether we were born here or whether we migrated to this country. We have won the lottery in life. We get to live here in Australia, the greatest country in the world, and not in the tragedy that we see currently going on in Syria. Also, we have been proud to announce an extra $44 million in humanitarian assistance for people displaced by fighting in Syria and Iraq.

Finally, we should give support to our troops currently serving in Syria. As we approach Remembrance Day, we should remember that we have troops actively fighting on the ground today. (Time expired)

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