Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I applaud the Prime Minister for his statement to the House today on the developments in Iraq. In doing so I put on the public record my full support for us to do whatever is required to assist the humanitarian needs. However, I wish to go a lot further. I think that appeasement and containment is never going to be enough for people who have extremist views, who wish to dominate the world, and to dominate what our western values are. If we wish to protect western values I would ask the Australian government that I am part of to use our position on the Security Council to advocate to the Western world to say, once and for all, that we will stay the course as long as these extremists do. They have no intention to have a holding pattern, or to put people back into a box. Their aim is to destroy everything that we stand for. Unless we give an unequivocal demonstration that we are not just about humanitarian relief, not just about containment, but we are also here to eliminate this threat, we will continue to have Australians moved to these places to be radicalised and in doing so they can and will disrupt our life.

The Western world stands at a crossroad. Now is the time for us to act decisively, to act with strength, to act with commitment and to act together. That is the way we will protect our values. That is the way we will protect Australia, and nothing less will do.