Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I begin some comments on our drawdown in Afghanistan, I want to acknowledge all of the veterans serving in this place. We've got a few in the room and on the television screen—the member for Braddon, the member for Herbert, and the minister at the table, Stuart Robert, who is also an ADF veteran. In fact, we're approaching something like a platoon strength now between this House and the other, which is wonderful to see.

It's important to start with what is most important, and right now our absolute focus is on the evacuation of Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders, including those who have helped us in Afghanistan. That is absolutely our focus. As we speak, approximately 700 Australian personnel—ADF personnel, members from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of Home Affairs, and others—are there, alongside our coalition forces, helping with those evacuations. In fact, just last night 650 people were evacuated, with 1,700 during the last week. They are in addition to more than 8½ thousand Afghan nationals who have been resettled in Australia since 2013. This includes 1,900 locally employed Afghan members and their families. This is a mission we have been on for quite some time, albeit that it is certainly ramping up at the moment. We've been committed to doing the right thing and we remain committed to doing the right thing for those who have stood by us. It's also been announced by the Prime Minister that there will be at least 3,000 further Afghans settled as part of our humanitarian program. That is a floor not a ceiling. I would like to commend at this time the relevant ministers in Defence, Home Affairs and Immigration as well as electorate offices right around the country. In my own, Lachlan Parish has been tireless in engaging with our constituents who have families who are also part of those we are seeking to evacuate. So that's the first thing we're focused on.

It is also, though, an opportunity to reflect on our involvement in Afghanistan. We do this just briefly, because we are focused on the evacuation operation and there will be further time for reflection subsequently. But it is worth noting that, back in 2001, our aim was to assist the US, NATO and the international community in Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden and those responsible for the September 11 attacks. We achieved that and, in doing so, also eliminated and degraded al-Qaeda's opportunities and capacity to use Afghanistan as a staging area for additional mass terror attacks.

Next month will mark 20 years since the September 11 attacks. Al-Qaeda, using the safe haven provided by the Taliban, attacked our very way of life. I'm sure that everybody here and those listening can vividly remember where they were that day. It was a moment in time for this entire generation as we saw the vivid images of the World Trade Center towers exploding, burning and then collapsing. We saw people jumping from windows and falling to their death. We saw the smoke and the debris. We heard the sirens. I'm sure many of us have had the sombre experience of revisiting New York and seeing the very moving memorial there. I remember being a young platoon commander stationed up in Darwin. I hadn't yet been on my first military operation. I was dressed in my PT kit ready to head into the base and get the day started, and I saw some of those images. And, of course, as things unfolded that day, all of us started to recognise and realise that our way of life had been deeply impacted and would remain touched by this event, as it has for the past 20 years. So, in 2001, we went into Afghanistan, along with allies, to root out those who had challenged our freedoms and to degrade the capacity for more attacks to be staged out of Afghanistan. Indeed, the ability to stage these attacks has been hampered, interrupted and curtailed on many occasions, and those mass casualty attacks have absolutely been prevented. This is testament to all those who have served in the various theatres, including Afghanistan.

We also saw, over the last 20 years, Australians alongside allies working hard to try and improve the status of those living in Afghanistan. We saw some great improvements in terms of education, particularly for young girls, and in terms of health care, power generation and much more. What we had been able to do for the last 20 years was to make a huge difference to a whole generation of those living in Afghanistan. Hope is never wasted. We've absolutely made a difference in those peoples' lives and, for anyone who may question whether our involvement has been worth it, in terms of protecting freedoms—both our own here in Australia and those of the people with whom we share this planet—and the hope that we give, that effort is absolutely never wasted.

Australia today is safer because of those who have served, and today we honour the sacrifice of the 41 Australians who died in Afghanistan. Along with everybody else in this House, we especially extend our condolences and ongoing heartfelt wishes to those families who, of course, continue to suffer those losses. We also acknowledge the role of the 39,000 Australian men and women of the Australian Defence Force who have served in Afghanistan as well as those Defence officials and civilians who have served in Afghanistan over 20 years in the cause of fighting terrorism, promoting freedom and seeking to support the people of Afghanistan.

War is a sobering reminder to us all that freedoms are hard won and easily lost. We see the Australian spirit, more than anything, having been channelled through all of those who have been involved in Afghanistan. I made comments in my first speech that I had come to this place seeking to simply do as much good as I can, and that was certainly what drove me to sign up at the ripe old age of 17 to the Australian Defence Force and to give, as I was discussing with the member for Braddon, the very best 20 years of my life across full-time and then part-time service. It's a thing that I know all veterans reflect on. It is absolutely a sacrifice. But I want to make some comments here on behalf of many veterans. I don't seek to comment on behalf of all veterans, because there are different sentiments, but the last thing I think we need in this place is to try and paint veterans as victims. I want to say on my own behalf that I'm extremely proud of the operations I participated in in my career, and I know my wife, also as a defence veteran, is extremely proud of what she has been able to achieve. I just want to reinforce, here in this House and for those listening: please don't feel sorry for our veterans. Whilst some of them absolutely need our help from time to time, they also bring back to society a range of skills, experiences and attitudes that are of massive value to our society, to our businesses, to our families, to our community groups and to our nation.

Today, not only do we honour the sacrifices of those who have served, those who have fought and those who have died in Afghanistan, but I say to all veterans and to all partners and families of veterans: thank you deeply for your service, for protecting the freedoms that we are all so very passionate about. With that, I commend this motion to the House.

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