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

I will continue where I left off last night where I listed the terrorist incidents that have occurred around the world in the last month alone. The point I was making was that the suggestion that we somehow have Islamic extremism under control or 'contained'—the word used by the US President—is highly mistaken and dangerous.

We know that ISIS currently control a land area greater than the size of the United Kingdom. They are supported by an almost ecstatic enthusiasm. Every single day they are attracting hundreds of willing fighters all over the world. Only this week the US State Department issued a worldwide alert about the risk of a terrorist attack. We need to admit and acknowledge the problem that we face. When the French President said that we are at war with Islamic extremism or ISIS, that 'we' is not just France. That 'we' refers to everyone who believes in freedom, democracy and liberty.

Our fathers' generation defeated communism; our grandfathers' generation defeated fascism; our great-grandfathers' generation defeated German militarism. It is the task of this generation to defeat Islamic extremism. But I have some great concerns that we are not taking this problem seriously. In thinking about the tasks and how should we go about tackling and defeating this scourge, we should perhaps look to our history—and our history has told us that appeasement does not work.

WH Auden wrote a poem that was titled September 1, 1939. He did so while reflecting on the growth and strength of fascism and how, during the 1930s, the democratic nations had appeased the totalitarians and allowed them to grow strong. He wrote:

I sit in one of the dives

On Fifty-second Street

Uncertain and afraid

As the clever hopes expire

Of a low dishonest decade:

I am concerned that we might look back in 10 or 15 years time and have those words quoted back to us: the low and dishonest decade. Yes, we have some clever hopes—hashtags and hugs and flowers—but they are not going to defeat an enemy that is bent on worldwide domination.

As I mentioned in my previous contribution last night, there was a warning from a former German member of parliament, who wrote a book, Inside ISIS. He warned that we in the West are dramatically underestimating the risk. He said:

The IS fighters are much smarter and more dangerous than our leaders believe. In the Islamic State, there is an almost palpable enthusiasm and confidence of victory, which I have not seen in many war zones.

He warned that their plan is for hundreds of millions of people to be eliminated in the course of religious cleansing. He also warned that all moderate Muslims who promote democracy are also targeted to be killed because, from the Islamic State's perspective, they promote human laws over the laws of God.

In considering how we tackle this scourge, we should learn from our history. We know that appeasement does not work. We also know that sometimes our peace, our freedom and our democracy have to be won and protected at the point of a gun. It is perhaps worth considering a quote attributed to Martin Luther King, perhaps one of the greatest pacifists of all time. He is quoted as saying:

… if your opponent has a conscience, then follow Gandhi. But if your enemy has no conscience, like Hitler, then follow Bonhoeffer.

He was referring to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a religious man and a pacifist all his life who knew that when you see extreme evil you are entitled to use extreme violence to defeat it. These are the lessons that we should learn from our history.

I am also greatly concerned that there has been foolish talk which compares the strength of the Islamic State with conventional military. I will give an example of why this is both foolish and dangerous: the attacks on Paris involved eight terrorists and an estimated expense of maybe $20,000. For that, they killed over 130 innocent civilians and caused billions of dollars in economic damage. That is why you cannot look at this challenge in those types of military terms and compare their strengths to our strengths. For very little manpower and for very little resources, they can cause enormous damage.

I will conclude my contribution with a quote from Merv Bendle, an Australian historian. He has warned of the danger of appeasement to Islamic extremism. He has warned that we are currently on a long downhill road. He said:

Comparisons with the fall of the Roman Empire are apt. That empire rotted from within, from the head down, it's leadership … decadent and unable to face the ferocious barbarian invasions that looted it, decimated it's population, destroyed it's invaluable cities and infrastructure, and ultimately left it a shell. Europe was condemned to a thousand years of darkness.

History will repeat itself unless we in the West say that our freedoms, our democracy and our liberty are worth saving and worth protecting, because that is what will give us the courage to fight, and fight we must.

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