Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): Tonight, I would like to raise the issue of the Syrian Civil War. Today is the fifth anniversary of the protest against the Assad regime that was met by gunfire. It started as a protest movement and developed into a full-blown conflict. At least a quarter of a million people have died and the vast majority of those involved in this conflict are civilians. Half of Syria's prewar population of 22 million is now displaced, with many forced to flee either to neighbouring countries or, now, around the globe in search of security. Since 2011, life expectancy in Syria has fallen by 15 years. Six thousand schools in Syria have now closed, and almost three million Syrian kids are now without a school or a formal education. It is now on record that people are starving in many of the besieged cities.

The Syrian government, with its brutal crackdown on peaceful protests, bears primary responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded. Syria has become the breeding ground for extremism and the ideology of hate. The barbaric rule of ISIS in eastern Syria and north-western Iraq has brutalised, enslaved, tortured and murdered thousands. It is dreadful to think that this is all occurring under our watch.

Labor has provided the government with bipartisan support for Australia's intervention in Iraq against ISIS, or Daesh. We have a responsibility to work alongside the international community to protect vulnerable citizens from mass atrocities. At the invitation of the Iraqi government, I think that does give us a sound legal basis upon which we are operating both in Iraq and now with what we are doing in Syria. Australia is already one of biggest per capita contributors to the military effort with our troops in Iraq. Australia has sent, effectively, one soldier per 24,000 citizens. We are helping the government of Iraq protect its own people and its territory from strikes being made from across the border—from Syria—and from within Iraq itself.

While providing this bipartisan support, Labor has consistently called for a parliamentary debate of our involvement in Iraq and Syria, and, effectively, the Middle East. This is something that does require the attention of parliament and, more so, the attention of all the members that make up this establishment. Decisions about Australia's national security have to always be above party politics, but under no circumstances should it ever be beyond our scrutiny.

Labor believes that Australia can, and should, be doing more in helping victims of the Syrian conflict. At the 2016 Supporting Syria and the Region conference in London, our Liberal government offered a mere $25 million. This compared with a UK government that pledged $2.6 billion. It does seem to many that, as the Syrian crisis has worsened, Australia's contribution to the humanitarian relief has lessened. A measure of a government's compassion is how it responds to the global call for help. Labor stands with the Australian people in calling on the government to play its part in meeting this humanitarian crisis. There is an urgent need for more food, medical supplies, shelter, fuel and other emergency relief for the people of Syria. The people of Syria need all of that, but they need more—they need peace. The humanitarian emergency will only end when this war ends.

The diplomatic and political efforts towards ending the civil war in Syria are difficult—no-one can deny that. The path to peace is complex and certainly may be slow. Overnight, tentative peace talks began in Geneva. The Russian President, it has been reported, has announced that he will be beginning to withdraw troops from Syria. We cautiously welcome these developments. Only an inclusive political and diplomatic solution will bring security and safety to the people of Syria—that safety and that security that they and all people everywhere deserve and are entitled to.