Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was my privilege to join the delegation of eight members who visited Iraq from 22 to 27 October. During that time we visited Dubai, Kuwait and parts of Iraq: Al Muthanna province and the international zone in Baghdad. It was a particularly interesting time. The visit was difficult for us as a delegation because of the security involvement and the danger that was present. I commend those people who escorted us. I think of the leadership of the team, including Commodore Geoff Ledger, who was in charge of operations in Iraq at that time; Captain Trevor Jones, who was on duty protecting oil terminals north of the Arabian Gulf; Lieutenant Colonel Roger Noble; and our ambassador in Baghdad, Howard Brown. I would like to pay particular tribute to the members of the protection unit, including Kurt Black Sinclair, Luke, Fletch, Cliff Bell and Adrian Beard. They were outstanding young men who did a wonderful job in protecting us, and we thank them very much for their assistance and cooperation.

I was impressed by the professionalism of the Australian defence personnel, male and female, right across the board. I was surprised by the high morale among the troops, despite the very difficult, dangerous environment in which they were located. They are on rotation for a limited period. They exit after three months and return to Australia after six months, so that assists morale. We can all be very proud of the young people we have there. In the way they outlined the details of their operation, they were articulate, impressive and professional. All of them were people you would hire for any job in an Australian corporation. We should be pleased with their approach. I was also very impressed with their flexibility in thinking. It was not a stereotyped, gung-ho approach but one that indicated their sensitivity to the different cultural environment in which they were placed. We thought the way they related to people and their cooperation in the local area, particularly in Al Muthanna province, was excellent. It is a credit to them and the way they operate that, until the death of Private Kovco in the last few weeks, none of our people was killed during activities in Iraq.

We did a number of things. There was a visit to look at air operations. Flying over Iraq was very interesting and impressive. We visited the Kuwait facilities, looking at supply headquarters and mixing with the troops there, and then we visited a number of people in Al Muthanna province. There were great briefings from an impressive group of people doing a worthwhile job.

We met with some of the Japanese defence force leaders, who were also a very impressive group. Our job in Al Muthanna province is to provide defence for them, and it certainly seems to have worked very well. It was interesting that there was an Australian with them who speaks fluent Japanese to be able to communicate. The Japanese people who met us for lunch and talked to us about their role were a very personable lot.

In Dubai, we visited the naval vessel HMAS Newcastle. It was patrolling the area around the gulf oil platforms, which produce 80 per cent of Iraq’s wealth. It is involved in boarding various vessels. We also met with Air Force personnel and, as I mentioned, visited Al Muthanna province and Camp Smitty.

It was also our privilege to meet the Speaker of the Transitional National Assembly of Iraq, Mr Hajim Al-Hassani. Mr Al-Hassani is a Sunni who left Iraq under the former regime and studied in the United States. He was particularly interesting as he talked about the challenges that lie ahead and how Iraq would like the cooperation of Australians, particularly in relation to agriculture and the programs they would like to see for dryland farming and desalination of soil. He was very complimentary about the quality of the troops that we sent to Iraq and spoke of Iraq’s wish to see them stay there on a long-term basis.

No matter what our views may be on the various sides of the chamber regarding the question of whether it was appropriate to go into Iraq, there is no question that we should be involved in the rebuilding of Iraq. They have enormous challenges in terms of infrastructure, and I was proud to see the role that Australians were playing. It was also interesting that the Australian troops in Al Muthanna province had been involved in the rebuilding of some infrastructure there. We saw the Aussie kangaroo on a number of projects there, which identified that those were projects in which Australians had been involved. We were well regarded because of that. It is an interesting approach in that not only are we providing defence but we are also involved in the rebuilding activities and in providing aid.

The Governor of Al Muthanna province was very complimentary about the Australian troops and our involvement. He also called for the involvement of Australians in providing expertise in dryland farming. He said that during the days under Saddam Hussein the area had been totally ignored, as the injection of money had gone into the areas surrounding Baghdad. They were left somewhat decimated in terms of their agriculture, and they want to rebuild the area. It was also interesting that it seemed to have quietened down very much in that area, so there is hope that at some stage in the not too distant future they may be able to withdraw troops from the area.

I was pleased to hear about the work that we have been involved in, Australia having committed $173 million to Iraq’s rehabilitation and reconstruction; $47 million to the UN and World Bank Iraq trust funds; $70 million to reconstruction with a focus on governance and rehabilitation of the agricultural sector, supported electricity generation and distribution, water sanitation and food supply distribution; and approximately $8 million to assist refugees and internally displaced persons. We have since March 2003 deployed over 30 technical experts to help establish government services and directed assistance to capacity building for police and officials from the trade, human rights, agriculture and foreign ministries and the Board of Supreme Audit.

The ADF deployment of 1,400 people helping to restore Iraq’s security obviously has a key function. Particularly interesting is that we are also providing opportunities for Australian companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Iraq. Australian firm WorleyParsons is undertaking a $US800 million oil rehabilitation project, and Woodside Energy Ltd has signed a two-year agreement to identify oil and gas projects in northern Iraq. So there are spin-offs in terms of our involvement in the area, including the ability to search for oil and be involved in rehabilitating the oil exploration and processing projects.

SAGRIC and CSIRO are partners in an agricultural contract valued at up to $155 million. We had high-level visits to Iraq by the Prime Minister, Mr Downer, Mr Vaile and the Minister for Defence, and the Iraqi ministers for trade and agriculture have visited here. Australian companies have reported securing 43 Iraqi contracts, valued at over $460 million, in the last financial year, and it is hoped that the number will be greater in the foreseeable future.

On our visit to Iraq, my colleagues and I were impressed by the professionalism of our troops. Of course, there is a challenge ahead for the Iraqi people in terms of rebuilding the country. There are many challenges but we will not walk away from those challenges. Rebuilding remains pre-eminent. We will work with the Japanese for as long as they are involved in Iraq. All of us, from all sides of the chamber, who were part of our delegation recognised the challenges as well as the great opportunities to develop a special relationship with the people of Iraq, to work with them towards a future which provides greater promise and the potential to live in a democratic environment with institutions which will reflect greater human rights than ever experienced under Saddam Hussein. I commend this report to the House.

Cameron Thompson (Blair, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, it is a privilege to speak in the House on this debate, particularly after having been so greatly informed of the situation in Iraq when I joined the member for Cook and members from both sides of the parliament for that visit to Iraq in October last year. It was a tremendous privilege to go to that country and to see the tremendous work that is being done on our behalf by Australian service men and women. It is extremely impressive.

The comments from my colleague the member for Cook need to be reiterated. The high degree of professionalism and the outstanding nature and calibre of our service men and women really puts them head and shoulders above everyone else in that theatre. I am not exaggerating when I say that. During the time we were there we had briefings from corporals—not colonels or people at the top of the tree but just people there to do the job, corporals operating some of those wonderful ASLAV vehicles and those sorts of things—that you would really expect from someone out of a staff college. They were that well informed on the performance of the vehicle, the requirements and the safety aspects. It was really impressive that that is the average standard of people within our Defence Force, that they are able to present so effectively and to be so ‘situationally aware’—I think that is the military term. They are absolutely familiar with the environment in which they are fighting. They are absolutely committed to the goals that they are seeking. And they are absolutely confident of their own abilities and the abilities of the equipment they are using to achieve those goals. That was the overwhelming experience of everyone who went on that trip, regardless of what side of the House they came from.

Like the member for Cook, I would like to give thanks to Commodore Geoff Ledger, Captain Trevor Jones of the HMAS Newcastle, Lieutenant Colonel Roger Noble and Howard Brown. I would also like to give thanks to that very well-drilled military police close protection unit that followed us through the theatre and looked after us all the way there. During the time we were there we got to experience first hand the activities of people involved in the P3C surveillance of the gulf and overland Iraq. I got to fly with the member for Swan on a P3C for eight hours over that environment. Having looked at it through the high-tech gizmos and equipment that exist on that aircraft, I can say it is incredibly powerful in its ability to offer surveillance and to pass on effective intelligence to people on the ground. I think my understanding of that theatre has been greatly boosted by my experience on board that aircraft.

I also met members of the security detachment based in Baghdad whose job it is to protect our diplomats and people who might go there representing the people of Australia. They do a magnificent job. They are very well drilled in the operation of the Bushmaster vehicles and the ASLAVs. They are using them in an environment that is very hazardous. But, as I said earlier, the equipment that they are provided with, the ASLAVs and the Bushmasters, is head and shoulders above the Humvees and the Land Rovers that people from other forces are driving. Our troops know it and they are very pleased and proud to be operating with that degree of force support from Australian taxpayers and with the good wishes of the Australian people in general.

I want to talk about the fact that we visited the Al Muthanna task force area at Camp Smitty. We got to see the troops and the wonderful work that they are undertaking there in direct consultation with the local community. We met the Governor of the Al Muthanna province. His vision for the future of that area is stunning. This is a person who wants to see crops in the ground again and wants to see them flourishing. As we found out when we hopped on the helicopters and flew from Camp Smitty up to Baghdad, this is not a country that is all desert. It is a country that has a huge area of irrigable land. There is huge potential for Iraqis to grow crops of their own. There is great potential only if the jackboot of Saddam Hussein is permanently removed from their necks and they are able to proceed in a democratic fashion with the liberation of their country and the sharing of the tremendous wealth among the people of that country.

In our time in Baghdad we met the speaker of the parliament, Hajim Al-Hassani, and the two deputy speakers. I was very impressed that we got to see those people and members of the Iraqi Transitional National Assembly’s foreign relations committee. I would be proud to have those people as members of our parliament, because their strong belief in democracy, their fervent desire to see it delivered to their country, is a wonderful beacon for those of us in Australia who may from time to time become jaded with the benefits of democracy. That is not the case in Iraq. Those people strive for and desire democracy. It is wonderful that our troops are setting out to go and help them deliver it.

I mentioned the speaker and the deputy speakers. I want to note that one of the deputy speakers—we met the two of them—Hussain al-Shahristani, is a very impressive man. He is a nuclear scientist who was jailed and tortured after refusing to design an atom bomb for Saddam Hussein. He has been promoted in the ministry that has just been announced and has been declared the oil minister for Iraq. I congratulate him. I congratulate the people of Iraq on the formation of this wonderful new government to take them forward.

We arrived in that country immediately after the referendum. It was put to the people of Iraq: ‘Do you want to proceed with this democratic process?’ They all put their thumbs on a bit of paper, saying, ‘Yes, we do.’ Fifteen million of them turned out and said, ‘Yes, we do.’ That is an incredibly powerful commitment to democracy by the Iraqi people. Three times now they have turned out, in the face of insurgents, terrorists and people who are trying to deny them the freedom of democracy and have put their thumbs on a bit of paper and have gone ahead. The vote that we were there for was the referendum to proceed. Now we are seeing the government of Iraq forming, establishing itself. It is a wonderful time. If people get that self-determination, if the principles of democracy finally take hold and start to flourish, there will be such a strong advance in benefits for the people of Iraq. All our troops in Iraq are going to be so pleased when that happens, because the long fought for freedoms and benefits that Iraqis seek will at last manifest themselves.

In the face of that, one of the things that absolutely bamboozles me—and I really feel upset and concerned about it—is the failure of the United Nations to actively participate in this process, particularly now that the Iraqi people have turned out three times and said, ‘Yes, this is what we want.’ They are not getting the international commitment to democracy that I think they are entitled to expect. Where is the commitment of the United Nations, of the international community, to people like Hajim Al-Hassani, who is prepared to put himself up as the speaker of the parliament? Where is the commitment to that person who stared down Saddam Hussein when Saddam Hussein wanted him to build him a bomb? That person has gone on to become the oil minister. These are good people who are striving to do good things in a country that really can provide tremendous benefits to its people, if only they are given the opportunity to share in its wealth. That is the opportunity that presents itself now.

I would like to finish by talking about our view from the chopper. When we took off from Al Muthanna province and flew all the way to Baghdad at 60 feet from the ground, what did we see out of the window? We saw an incredible expanse of irrigated crops—very small crops, just the size of someone’s backyard. We went for two hours at that altitude and all we saw was water and irrigated crops. The potential in that country is not just date palms and oil and that’s about it; it is hugely complex. Iraq has a highly trained and skilled workforce. It has great underlying opportunities, and it is about time that the international community banded together and allowed the Iraqi people to realise the country’s potential. I am very proud that our country is participating in Iraq. I am very proud that we took the stand that we did in the first place and that—thank heavens—the Americans and the British did the same thing. Now is the time for the world community to come out, get behind it and help drive it forward.

Barry Haase (Kalgoorlie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to vehemently support the report handed down on our visit in October 2005 to meet with Australian defence forces supporting the rehabilitation of Iraq. I say I am proud to stand in support of this report today because it was one of the most emotional and enlightening experiences that I have enjoyed over my seven years in parliament. The intensity of commitment by the Australian defence forces in Iraq was exceptional. ‘Exceptional’ is an easy and perhaps glib term to use, but there is no other word. The amount of training, the commitment and the level-headed objectivity of our ADF personnel employed throughout that operation were consistently impressive. I am proud to admit that their performances constantly stood out by comparison with others. Their leaders, who are quite obviously well briefed, well trained and well suited to the task, had nothing but praise for the men and women under their command.

We were absolutely privileged to enjoy the opportunity, on a very thorough and intense itinerary, to view all of the aspects of the operation. We went into Al Muthanna; we visited Camp Smitty; we flew up the Euphrates valley in choppers into the centre of Baghdad and saw the operations of our embassy there; we looked at the deployed forces whose major responsibility is security of government personnel and others moving about Baghdad; we were well briefed by General Casey, who is in command of the multinational forces in Iraq. The conditions that we found ourselves in were exceptional for a thorough briefing on what was going on in Iraq. The overwhelming impression one got as part of that delegation was that our men and women serving in Iraq were incredibly proud to be doing so. Some were back on a second—and, in one case, a third—tour of duty.

It struck me whilst I was there—and I have reflected on it since—how contrasting their view is with an often held view of the general public in Australia that these personnel would want to return home as quickly as possible and felt under some sort of duress that they were operating in the war zone that is Iraq today. As I say, I was constantly impressed with the fact that nothing could be further from the truth. They felt confident because they were well equipped. We have heard in this place today some of the details of that equipment, but certainly the Bushmaster and the ASLAVs are superior vehicles and well suited to the operations and limited space available to operate in in some of the villages. Some of the other members of the task force there were equipped with more cumbersome, more heavily armoured vehicles and were not capable of putting in the performances that our troops were. The relatively small number of ADF personnel deployed in the Iraqi situation was almost belied by the overwhelming praise of the achievements of that relatively small force. It made me feel incredibly proud to be a member of that delegation.

Apart from the military and security efforts of the ADF, one of the outstanding achievements that ought to be recognised is that of the group responsible for the placement of the famous red kangaroo symbol that we saw on projects that had been constructed in Al Muthanna province. The red kangaroo is a symbol that has been placed there by the Army, the CIMIC group. They have spent, in Al Muthanna, for instance, a mere $2.25 million and the accolades received for the effort and that expenditure are absolutely overwhelming. The local governor had nothing but praise for the way the efforts of that group had been so effective. It is worth saying that it is an incredibly efficient way of spending developmental dollars on the ground.

It struck me at the time—and I think it was realised by all members of the party—that so often when taxpayer dollars are deployed into reconstruction in these war zones there are so many levels and so many palms to cross, if you like, that it becomes an inefficient method of spending dollars. By putting these dollars into the Defence Force, so much is done directly. Amongst other things, a laboratory for the testing of grain had been constructed in Al Muthanna province, and that was the pride of the locals and considered to be a great facility. I urge those who have the opportunity to influence more of those dollars being invested in a similar way to do so in a very positive manner.

The symbol of the red kangaroo is held in exceptionally high esteem and it is one that will be enduring in the minds of locals as a very positive contribution from the land down under. I might add that corrugated iron that was sent overseas during the Second World War persists in some of those locations with the orb symbol from Australia on it. Locals will tell you that that came from Australia and how pleased they are to have had that assistance. The governor of the Al Muthanna province, Mr Mohammed al Hassani, certainly made it clear that his people are anxious to see real development, and they are concerned of course that there be a foundation on which civilian security can be built. There is a great need for the training of both military and civil forces in Iraq so as to maintain law and order. But, having achieved that, and we hope to God that we will achieve that in a shorter rather than a longer time, there is so much infrastructure to be created—infrastructure that has been destroyed or did not exist in the first place. So much needs to be done.

One of the major things that have to be done is that irrigation water be made available so the Iraqi people in the Al Muthanna area can once again go back to the creation of productive crops. That water was cut off as an overt act to, presumably, flush out some of the enemies of Saddam Hussein. It was a purposeful act to create poverty and have the whole economy fail. One of the things that will be positively and permanently reversed when democracy is once more effectively restored to Iraq is that that water will flow again and those people who have produced good grain crops for many hundreds of years will be able to do so again. It is when we have achieved success in those sorts of activities that we can reflect and say there was no question as to why we gave the people of Iraq the opportunity for democracy. It is our belief today that those people deserve their shot at real democracy and they deserve to have the yoke of tyranny that has been imposed by Saddam Hussein permanently removed from their shoulders. I strongly recommend this report to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mrs May) adjourned.