Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's great to see you behind those petitions. I'm sorry I'm not close to you. But it is what it is. Can I acknowledge the previous speaker for his contribution and say to him and to all veterans: thank you for what you've done for this country and continue to do. I also want to acknowledge contributions made by others in this debate. It provides me with an opportunity to reinforce the statements of support we've just seen of our defence personnel who were engaged on our behalf for over 20 years in Afghanistan. Of course, I particularly want to express my sorrow at the loss of 41 brave Australians who gave their lives for us in Afghanistan. We should honour them, and will honour them, forever.

Over the last day or so, I've reflected on our decision to support the international effort in Afghanistan post 9/11. Of course, as others have said, it was the right thing to do, it was a mission we should have been involved in, and I'm glad we were. It is important that, despite the chaotic and depressing events evolving currently, we see that our contribution in Afghanistan has actually made a material difference and had a significant impact, despite what we now see. Because of the length of time I've been in the parliament, I've been involved in debates about war and Australians going overseas in uniform, but it's worth pointing out, I think, that we were distracted from our mission in Afghanistan by the Howard government's folly in supporting the Bush presidency's invasion of Iraq in 2003.

As I observed in a speech to this parliament in August 2006—and at this stage, of course, things were progressing:

Things may well be different in Afghanistan now had the commitment the Australian government had shown to putting troops in in the first place been retained and if we had pressured the United States government not to enter the folly of Iraq but to maintain the focus on Afghanistan, rooting out those terrorist elements working with al-Qaeda and others involved in the region.

There is a valid discussion to be had about whether the outcome in Afghanistan would be different had we not been diverted in our mission by misguided support, devoting our scarce resources in the quagmire of regime change in Iraq, based as it was on the lie of weapons of mass destruction. It's worth having that discussion, but not today.

We know that our defence personnel, whether it was in Afghanistan or Iraq, were required to go to war on our behalf, and we in this country need to fully comprehend what that means. When ADF personnel sign up, they are agreeing to fight for this country and possibly die for this country. So, when we reflect on Afghanistan, on the sacrifices made, we need to acknowledge that our ADF personnel were doing precisely as they were required to do as a result of decisions taken by governments, by us, by the politicians. But they made a huge difference. In October 2010 I said in this chamber, in relation to Afghanistan:

We are creating a situation where the ordinary Afghan citizen can be confident that the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan national security forces are making headway. We know that the Taliban suppressed free speech. There are now 400 print media publications, 150 radio stations and 26 television stations in Afghanistan. In the past nine years we have seen more than two million girls enrolled in schools. We have seen basic health care being extended from 10 per cent to 85 per cent of the population.

Our sadness today is that these gains have now been undermined by the Taliban takeover.

We must feel for the Afghan community here in Australia, for all those wonderful people who took advantage of the gains which were made as a result of our presence to better themselves and get an education—particularly young women. But it points to our obligation to do all that is humanly possible now to get our Australian citizens and any visa holders out of Kabul as well as our Afghan friends who worked with us in a variety of roles, whether they were interpreters, security guards or the like. I cannot imagine the despair, the sorrow and the hurt being felt by so many Afghan Australians. I know that so many of our veterans are frustrated and concerned, even angry, at what they are seeing unfold.

I want to reinforce the message given yesterday in this chamber by the shadow minister for defence, the member for Gorton:

If you want to do more to support the veterans' community in this hour, get our friends out of Afghanistan now.

Australians know the sacrifices that have been made for them by their ADF members. We must do all that we possibly can to get this done. I want to again express my gratitude to and admiration for our ADF personnel and our veterans who are no longer in uniform but who have in the past given so much.

I had the privilege, as the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, of visiting the Middle East area of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan on a number of occasions. I can personally testify to the professionalism, the dedication and the loyalty of so many Australians. I want to thank them for what they achieved and for their service to this country. We need to record our sincere appreciation, as the member for Gorton said yesterday:

… for the efforts and sacrifices of our defence personnel, our aid workers, our Federal Police and our embassy staff. Right now we need to help those who helped us. We need the government to focus on doing what it can …

Therefore, I really want to reinforce the message from the member for Blair in his speech about the obligation that this government has to make sure we get those people who helped us out of Afghanistan and to support those who need to leave that country because of the situation they find themselves in. I say to the Afghan community in Australia: we are with you in this. We are glad you are here. We want to see more of you.

See this speech in context