Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to move a motion to suspend standing orders and advise the House that the Manager of Opposition Business and I have agreed that an absolute majority is not required pursuant to standing order 47(c)(ii). I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent:

(1) the Prime Minister moving a motion in relation to Afghanistan and speaking for 10 minutes;

(2) the Leader of the Opposition speaking in reply for 10 minutes;

(3) the Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Minister for Defence and the Member for Gorton speaking to the motion for 5 minutes each;

(4) debate on the motion then being adjourned, and resumption of the debate being made an order of the day for a later hour; and

(5) any variation to this arrangement to be made only by a motion moved by a Minister.

Question agreed to.

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with the resolution, I move:

That the House:

(1) notes with great concern the urgent and dangerous situation in Afghanistan and the uncertainty ahead for the Afghan people;

(2) acknowledges the role of Australia's service men and women during the last 20 years within the coalition forces, working with our allies and others, in the cause of fighting terrorism, promoting freedom and seeking to support the people of Afghanistan;

(3) honours the sacrifice of the 41 Australians who have died in Afghanistan in the service of their country, and acknowledges the terrible loss suffered by their families;

(4) recognises the service of the more than 39,000 Australian Defence Force men and women who served their country in this, our longest war, and the sacrifice of their families in supporting their service;

(5) acknowledges the work of thousands of diplomats, aid workers, members of the Australian Federal Police and other government officials who have contributed to our efforts;

(6) recognises the sacrifice of our coalition partners and our allies, who have seen their service men and women give their lives for the work they undertook in Afghanistan;

(7) recognises the sacrifice of the people of Afghanistan, particularly those who have died in war or in conflict;

(8) acknowledges and expresses gratitude for the important ongoing role of ex–service organisations in supporting veterans and their families;

(9) commits to the continued work in providing support to all current and former service personnel and their families, and to those who work to serve Australia's interests at home or abroad;

(10) acknowledges and commends the ongoing work and dedication to duty of those Australian personnel and officials who are providing and have provided assistance and support to those in Afghanistan in an extremely dangerous situation;

(11) notes the Government is continuing to take urgent action to evacuate from Afghanistan Australians, Afghan visa holders and others, along with their families, in cooperation with other coalition partners, in extreme conditions;

(12) notes more than 8,500 Afghans have been resettled in Australia since 2013, including more than 1,900 locally–engaged staff and their families;

(13) notes the Government's work since April to bring out more than 430 locally–engaged employees and their families to be resettled in Australia, and that this number is increasing as further evacuations are now undertaken;

(14) notes the Government is committed to providing at least 3,000 places for Afghan resettlement in 2021–22, with further commitments to increase the intake in following years; and

(15) calls on any future government of Afghanistan to respect the human rights of all its citizens, especially women and girls, and for the international community to hold any future Afghan government to account.

For almost 20 years, tens of thousands of Australians have served in Afghanistan under the authority and direction of successive parliaments. It is right that here in our national parliament we give an account of recent events, as well as begin a more considered reflection on almost 20 years in Afghanistan. Liberal democracies do not shy away from history. Debate, accountability and responsibility are fundamental to who we are.

The situation on the ground in Kabul and across Afghanistan is dangerous and changing rapidly. The National Security Committee of cabinet has been meeting daily on Afghanistan, and Australia is working closely with our allies and partners. Our priority is the safe and orderly departure of Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders, including former locally engaged Afghan employees. I can report that, with the assistance of partners in the United Kingdom and the United States, we've been able to evacuate more than 1,000 people in 12 flights from Kabul since last Wednesday. The first people evacuated from Afghanistan landed in Perth, via Al Minhad Air Base, early on Friday morning, and another flight landed earlier today in Melbourne. The evacuation flights will continue for as long as we can continue to operate and get people out.

This is an urgent and dangerous mission. The member for Herbert said it best when addressing the soldiers from 3rd Brigade departing on the first rescue mission last week:

You are going into the belly of the beast, a place where the rule of law does not exist, on an operation that is dangerous, serious, and it's in our national interests for you to succeed.

As we speak, more than 700 Australians are playing their part in this mission from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of Home Affairs, the Australian Border Force, and the Australian Defence Force. Many of these people have been deployed directly to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. We currently have two C-17A Globemasters, two C-130J Hercules and one KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft deployed to the Middle East conducting and supporting evacuation operations. These evacuations are both dangerous and complex. Landing slots in Kabul are limited and the on-ground time is also limited. Access to the airport for those seeking to be evacuated is a major limiting factor and the approaches are very dangerous.

I thank our key international partners, the United States and the United Kingdom, who are helping to secure Hamid Karzai International Airport, and our close friends in the United Arab Emirates, who have been generous hosts for Australia's evacuation efforts. We deeply appreciate their support. I was pleased to pass on our thanks directly to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince MBZ for his support. And I also thank our state and territory leaders for the reception arrangements they have so quickly and instinctively put in place, without having to be asked, to support the returning evacuees.

Since April this year, we've been able to bring out more than 430 Afghan locally engaged employees and their families, who have been resettled in Australia. This is not a simple process. It has taken many, many months, both in preparation for the uplift at that time and since. This number continues to grow as each evacuation flight makes its way from Kabul back to AMAB. As mentioned, more than 1,000 people have already been evacuated on those flights since last Wednesday—as many as four flights going in every evening—including locally engaged Afghans and their families. They will add to the more than 8½ thousand Afghan nationals that have been resettled in Australia since 2013, including more than 1,900 Afghan locally engaged employees and their families. We're committed to doing the right thing by those who have stood with us, and that's what we've been doing for some period of time, and we're doing absolutely everything we can do right now to help them.

I also want to address our humanitarian intake. Australia will welcome an additional humanitarian intake of some 3,000 Afghan nationals by next July as part of our annual program. I expect that this will increase in the years ahead. I commit our government to continue to increase our intake of Afghan nationals at elevated levels into the years ahead. At this stage, the 3,000 will come from our existing 13,750-person annual humanitarian program. But I want to stress that that 3,000 is a floor; it's not a ceiling. If we need to increase the size of the overall program to accommodate additional persons then we will. We will be resettling people who have legitimate claims through our official humanitarian program. We will not be providing a pathway to anyone who seeks to come here by any other means or changing the status of others who have come by other means.

Next month, it will be 20 years since the September 11 attacks. Al-Qaeda, using the safe haven provided by the Taliban, attacked our way of life. Those attacks on freedom were subsequently mimicked by other extremist groups, such as Jemaah Islamiyah, in the years that followed. In 2001, when the Taliban refused to hand over al-Qaeda terrorists, Australia supported a US led operation to root them out and eliminate the capacity to stage more attacks against the West from Afghanistan. That we have hampered, interrupted and curtailed mass casualty attacks on so many occasions since then should be in no doubt and is a testament to all those who have served. That determination to keep the world safe from terror attacks has not changed and will not change.

Together with our allies and partners, we also laboured long and hard to help the Afghan people secure a better future—to restore a broken state. We invested in schools, in health care, in power generation and more. We saw to the education of women and girls. Heartbreakingly, the fruits from those seeds of hope are now very uncertain. We must recognise with realism and humility the limits of our power and resources to secure the outcome so many Afghans, not least millions of women and children, yearn for. But let no-one say this noble endeavour was anything other than a sign of what marks Australian sacrifice for the good of others—the cause was and always will be a just one.

It's been said that memory is a place where our vanished days gather. For all our veterans, police officers, diplomats, aid workers and others who have served in our name and in our cause, there is already a gathering of days. Today we recall the cost of this, our longest war. As the member for Canning might say, we're looking sacrifice right in the eyes. As former Prime Minister John Howard has reminded us, 'There is no hierarchy of sacrifice,' and I would add to that 'amongst those who fall in our name, in our uniform, under our flag, standing up for our values'. We honour the sacrifice of the 41 Australians who died in Afghanistan in the service of our country, and we acknowledge the terrible loss suffered by their families, whom I know that so many in this chamber know personally, as do I, and would have spoken to in these last days especially. We must acknowledge that for every name inscribed along the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial there are thousands more who also paid a terrible price for their service: painful memories that cannot be shaken.

I know many of you are asking a simple question: was it worth it? Yes, it was. We did the right thing. You did the right thing. As with any war, of course there were errors and miscalculations. History won't shy away from that, and neither will we as a free people. Yet, because of you who have served, your skill, your fearlessness and your courage, Australia is safer today because of your efforts and your sacrifice. Australia is better because of you. None of us can give a full answer to the questions you are asking yourselves and each other, and none of us can predict what lies ahead, but be assured of this: you are not alone. Be assured of this: Australia is proud of your service. I am proud of your service. Your families and all those who so dearly love you are so proud of you.

And we are proud of your families, who have also carried the burden of your service, as only you can know, and we are deeply thankful to them. We are proud, too, of our defence personnel and officials working day and night right now to evacuate Australians in Kabul, and the many Afghans who have worked with us. And in keeping with the good and decent country you sought to serve, Australia will resettle thousands upon thousands, as we have already done, of Afghans who courageously stood with us. So, to the living, I say this: we will remember and honour your service. And to our fallen, we say: lest we forget.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not how Australia wanted it to end. The events in Afghanistan have been devastating for the Afghan people, dangerous for Australian nationals who remain in Afghanistan, traumatic for veterans of the conflict and terrifying for Australians who have relatives back in Afghanistan. It is also potentially lethal for the many Afghans who have worked with Australian troops and officials, over many years, and have not yet been given safe passage out. And it will have profound implications for the standing of democracy in the world, for global geopolitics and for our own national security which will reverberate for the decade to come. But, as Greg Sheridan wrote in the Weekend Australian:

No one has been hurt as much as the 39 million people of Afghanistan, especially women and girls, who will be forced to live under an Islamist terrorist theocracy with a history of extravagant and often depraved violence.

These have been testing times—times when genuine leadership matters most. While a full and dispassionate reflection on Australia's experience in Afghanistan will need to come, our focus now must be on the current crisis. Labor strongly supports the work of the Australian interagency team on the ground in Kabul. They must be given every form of support they need. They've been presented with an almost impossible task, one made all the harder because this effort was launched far too late. Providing support to those who supported Australians on the ground is more than just a moral obligation; it is a national security imperative.

I do not understand why a team of the kind that we only recently deployed was not in place in Kabul the day the government announced Australia's intention to leave nearly three months ago. As we evacuated our own personnel, why didn't we evacuate Australian nationals at the same time, as well as loyal Afghans who had worked for Australia and whose lives would be in jeopardy as a result? The confusion over the fate of the 200 embassy security guards who were told on Saturday to contact a migration agent—it is almost unbelievable in its sheer callousness. It contrasts starkly with the leadership being exemplified by veterans who served in Afghanistan, who have rallied behind their Afghan mates. It also contrasts with the appeals of community organisations, MPs from both sides and former prime ministers Howard and Rudd. The very real risk that some will not be able to be reached is something that could and should have been avoided. This is particularly difficult for the families of the fallen and those who served alongside them. Today I pay tribute to those 41 Australians who made the ultimate sacrifice. Today, once again, we honour you—those who are still wondering about the arbitrary lottery that determines which is the wrong place and the wrong time, the twist of fate that has left them here among the living while their mates now belong to memory. As the flame burning eternally across the lake reminds us, we cannot and will never forget them.

Let me say this: the debt we owe to our men and women in uniform who have served in Afghanistan is beyond measure. We are safer because of you. We honour those who went, those who never came home, those who never came home the same and those who are there now, trying to salvage some good out of the chaos of Kabul airport. However, there is no evading the fact that this is an occasion when gratitude and pride must stand alongside sorrow. As I said, this is not how Australia hoped it would end. It was never going to be easy. Afghanistan has long been a leveller of great powers. Ambitions have crumbled and giants humbled there. We saw early success in the mission to prevent Afghanistan being used as a base by al-Qaeda to launch acts of terrorism. But, as the mission turned to the long-term task of building an environment where terrorism could not find new opportunities, it was always going to be difficult, and government attention was quickly drawn to other events.

As the grim tide of the Taliban floods back in, we must try to draw some solace from the thought that the vast majority of Afghan lives touched by Australians were touched very much for the better. As they carried on with this mission, even during those times when they were dogged by misgivings, the men and women who served in Afghanistan in our name reminded us what courage and honour truly are. The ADF, our diplomats and aid workers made a positive difference in the lives of the Afghan people. They made a difference for all those women and girls who were released from the darkness in which the Taliban had kept them. We can be proud that Australians created the beginnings of what should have been a brighter future, and we hope we have helped in planting the seeds of what might still become that better time in the future.

Our veterans are not bronze sculptures on a cenotaph; they are flesh-and-blood human beings, left to shoulder superhuman burdens. Let us work to lighten their burdens. I say to our veterans: no-one who has served as you have can pretend to feel what you feel, to know what it is like to live back in this world, in this familial life, but to have part of yourself that still dwells in that one. You have the gratitude of the nation.

As a nation, we cannot turn our backs on the truth of what has happened here, no matter how hard. We will work our way through the findings of the Brereton report commissioned by this government and all the lessons to be learnt. If freedom, democracy and the defeat of terrorism have been our cause, then it is a vitally important way to honour those who have fallen in the prosecution of that cause by attending to these values, both at home and in the wider world.

And what of those brave Afghans who repaid our soldiers' courage with their own, putting their lives on the line to help us help their compatriots? They believed in the promise we held of a better future. So many Afghans have risked it all. They have struggled and sacrificed to create a better country for themselves. Now we are witnessing scenes where, for some, clinging to the outside of a departing aircraft somehow represents greater hope than staying to face the new reality.

There are many Australians today who are desperate and anxious about their family in Afghanistan, who have been waiting months and in some cases years to get their partner visas or family reunification visas issued and have their families join them. MPs have been besieged with hundreds of desperate requests and stories that just break your heart. We need to look beyond the current evacuation to ensure that Australia plays a role in the global and regional humanitarian and refugee response as well as the ongoing political challenge that has become necessary following the Taliban's return.

The Taliban have said that they have changed and will be more respectful of human rights, but the violence and chaos around Kabul airport does not augur well. We must continue to speak up for our values. For the Taliban leadership and as the alternative Prime Minister of this country I would say this: the Afghanistan you now claim to rule is radically different to the one you had enslaved 20 years ago. If you say there will be no retributions, you will be held to that by the international community. If you say that women and girls will not be treated as second-class citizens, you will be held to that too. If you say you are somehow different to the Taliban who provided safe haven to Osama bin Laden to conduct the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed Australians, then the international community will hold you to that as well. I also say this to the Taliban: If you are claiming to be different, then one simple, practical proof is to create a safe and orderly humanitarian corridor to Kabul airport right now for anybody who wants to leave, instead of threatening children with guns.

We in Australia should demand nothing less. Together with the international community, we must pay close attention to ensuring that Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for terrorism. As other countries have done, let us step up and do the right thing by those who assisted us. Our international reputation is at stake—our national security demands nothing less—and so is the way that we see ourselves as a people, as a nation and as the bearers of values that we believe are worth looking up to. Let us be worthy of the hope that we gave.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Afghanistan; Afghanistan wars—a foul flame for moths of the most arduous and brutal battles noted through history, whether by Darius I, by Alexander the Great in 330 BC or in the evacuation of Kabul and the engagement by Soviet forces in 1979 for a decade. And now, for us, Afghanistan has been a moth to the flame of nefarious and evil purposes availing themselves of the cover between mountains, between tribes and between powers. In that cover they have managed to promulgate the fear and the terror which they have put forward on other people within the world.

I commend the comments of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, with a few minor exceptions, which I hope to address. The first question has to be: why did we get involved? We got involved because of the fact that a terrorist organisation drove two planes into the World Trade Center. We got involved because a terrorist organisation drove a plane into the Pentagon. We got involved because they tried to drive one into the Capitol—or maybe it was into the White House. They failed only by reason of the exceptional actions of those who were on the plane, who put forward their own lives to crash that plane.

We got involved because of the actions of terrorists—like at the Sari nightclub, where 88 Australians were murdered. We got involved because of the bombings at the embassy in Jakarta. We got involved because of the bombings at the Marriott hotel. We got involved because of the 56 lives that were lost in the buses in London and the terrorist attacks there. We got involved because of the bombings in the African embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

The role of the infantry corps in Australia is to seek out and close with the enemy, to kill or capture him and to repel attack by day or by night regardless of season, weather or terrain. It's to seek out and close, to protect Australians. Our troops sought out and closed with the enemy in Afghanistan so we did not have to engage with them in Sydney, or in Melbourne or in Adelaide. These people sought out and closed with the enemy because of the protection of the Australian people. These people sought out and closed with the enemy because we honour our agreements, and in the 70th year of the ANZUS treaty we showed the worth of our mettle by standing with our allies in the United States to make sure that we did not let this obscene form of terrorism go unchecked.

Right now there are members of the Australian Defence Force who continue to put their lives on the line. We are making sure that we offer the people the same sort of protection and the same sort of freedoms that we have here. We honour those who worked in the diplomatic service. We honour those who, right now, are trying to give to people the same life, the same freedoms and the same protections which we in this nation take as a birthright. We recognise that we have parliamentarians—the Minister for Defence, the shadow minister for defence, the shadow minister for veterans' affairs and the Minister for Veterans' Affairs—who are making sure that we see this task to the end.

To the 39,000 Australians who served, to the 41 who died, to the hundreds who were maimed and to those who continue on that path to deal with the torments of what they experienced, we want you to know that we will always respect you. To those who died, we will never forget you. Lest we forget.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I acknowledge the fine words of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Prime Minister, and I acknowledge the members for Canning, Herbert and Solomon, all of whom provided service in Afghanistan.

After the September 11 attacks on the United States, Australia's participation in Afghanistan was an act of duty to the alliance. But it was always so much more than that. On that day, almost 20 years ago, 10 Australians lost their lives. The following year, on 12 October, another 88 Australians perished in the terrorist attack in Bali perpetrated by a number of people who had received their training in terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. For us it was always personal. The objective was always to try and deny Afghanistan as a base for international terrorism. I'd like to believe that the achievement of that objective will endure.

The international community sought to do more. Through our Defence Force, through our development assistance and through our aid, we sought to help Afghans recover from being subjected to one of the worst regimes of the latter part of the 20th century. In the nineties the Taliban's treatment of women was simply the worst in the world. Women were unable to be in public other than in the presence of a man. Girls were forced into marriage at ages as young as 12. Teenage women were prevented from having an education. Against that backdrop, the achievements of the last 20 years have been amazing. From almost nothing, by 2017 almost 40 per cent of eligible girls in Afghanistan were in secondary school: 3½ million girls were studying, with 100,000 of them going on to university. The maternal mortality rate fell by 64 per cent. The average life expectancy for Afghan women increased by a full 10 years. And that's just the start. Education is so powerful. Those women are still there, and, whoever is running Afghanistan in the future, I am certain that those women will ensure their country is forever changed for the better.

But as we acknowledge those achievements and then watch the harrowing scenes of the Taliban retaking Kabul, all of us, particularly the veterans from Afghanistan, and, I suspect, Vietnam, are in a desperate search for meaning. What was it all for? I genuinely believe that the service of our men and women in uniform has made a difference to Afghanistan and the safety of the world. But what I know is that their service has made a difference to Australia, because at the core of serving in the Australian Defence Force is an idea of selflessness. Without any say in the decisions that we get to make here, the men and women of our Defence Force give their service and their sacrifice to our nation and to our fellow Australians without condition and without question.

When Mark Donaldson runs across an open field exposed to heavy fire, knowing exactly what that's going to mean to him, in order to try and to save the life of a wounded interpreter, he obviously makes a statement about himself, but he says something about what the very best of Australia looks like. He, the 39,000 others who served in Afghanistan and the 41 who paid the ultimate sacrifice provide an example to all of us and to future generations about what the very best of the Australian character can be and about who we seek to be as a nation.

When we remember Gallipoli, we don't do so because of the military significance of that campaign for the First World War. By all accounts it was a disaster. But we remember Simpson, a man who, day in, day out, knowing that each day might be his last, put himself in the face of fire to save his fellow countrymen until the day that was his last. We remember it because, despite the futility of the 3rd charge at the Nek, a group of Australians leapt out of that trench knowing that they would die because of what the idea meant to them, what it means to us now and what it will mean for future generations to be a member of the Australian family. So, yes, I think a difference has been made to Afghanistan, but whatever the future is for that country the deeds of our servicemen and women now belong to Australian history. They honour all of us. They will be a source of pride forever and for that, to them, we are eternally grateful.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join the fine words of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. Many of us in this place remember vividly the debate that took place 20 years ago, the presentation given by Prime Minister Howard after having been in the United States at the time of the strike against America with those planes going into the World Trade Centre. Our nation felt it deeply at the time. Anybody in this chamber, and many thousands around the country, can recall where they were at the time of that attack. It was an attack on us, as it was on America, our allies and those that share our values around the world.

We took the right decision to go into Afghanistan. We took the right decision over a long period of time to stay in Afghanistan. There are many to whom we owe a very significant debt: Sergeant Andrew Russell, Trooper David Pearce, Sergeant Matthew Locke, Private Luke Worsley, Lance Corporal Jason Marks, Signaller Sean McCarthy, Lieutenant Michael Fussell, Private Gregory Michael Sher, Corporal Mathew Ricky Andrew Hopkins, Sergeant Brett Ian Till, Private Benjamin Ranaudo, Sapper Jacob Daniel Moerland, Sapper Darren James Smith, Private Timothy James Aplin, Private Benjamin Chuck, Private Scott Travis Palmer, Private Nathan Bewes, Trooper Jason Thomas Brown, Private Tomas Dale, Private Grant Walter Kirby, Lance Corporal Jared MacKinney, Corporal Richard Edward Atkinson, Sapper Jamie Ronald Larcombe, Sergeant Brett Wood, Lance Corporal Andrew Jones, Lieutenant Marcus Sean Case, Sapper Rowan Robinson, Sergeant Todd Matthew Langley, Private Matthew Lambert, Captain Bryce Duffy, Corporal Ashley Birt, Lance Corporal Luke Gavin, Sergeant Blaine Diddams, Lance Corporal Stjepan Milosevic, Sapper James Martin, Private Robert Poate, Lance Corporal Mervyn McDonald, Private Nathanael Galagher and Corporal Scott James Smith. These names, and in addition Corporal Cameron Stuart Baird and Lance Corporal Todd Chidgey, and the 39,000 who have served in our country's name in Afghanistan deserve our honour.

There is an enormous amount that we've learnt from our battles in Afghanistan. We have learnt to treat the members of the Australian Defence Force better; to recognise the hurt, the pain and the suffering the loved ones of the names that I've just read endure to this very day and will for the rest of their lives. But it is important for us to recognise that their sacrifice has made a significant difference to the lives of those in Afghanistan, a generation of young women and girls who otherwise would have faced certain brutality, and there are many other gains that we've recognised.

I want to say thank you very much to the serving men and women of the Australian Defence Force and our other agencies in Afghanistan, in Kabul, right now. The stories of bravery will become obvious to Australians over the coming days and weeks. The stories that have been recounted to me already and the way in which those officers are saving lives now should keep every Australian in the safe knowledge that we are proudly and honourably served by those men and women. Their courage continues, and continue it must.

We took very sage advice from the Chief of the Defence Force only a couple months ago to withdraw our people from the embassy and from Afghanistan. We were ahead of the game in the sense that we were criticised at the time, but it was the right thing to do. At the same time, with the surge of activity, we were able to bring out people who had provided support to us, who had saved Australian lives over the course of this two decades, and that work continues today. We will make sure that we dedicate ourselves to helping those who have helped us. We are a better country for the way in which we have adhered once again to our values and to our beliefs. We do those a great service who have worn the uniform in our country's name over many, many generations. We stand proudly with the United States and our other allies today, and every day into the future, because we fight for what is good and what is right, and that is what is demanded of our country.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs (House)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I rise to speak to this important motion, following the contributions of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Defence. This is a very important national and international debate, but of course today our focus is on what's happening in Afghanistan. We continue to witness, as we debate in this House, the shocking events unfolding in Afghanistan. For some, these devastating scenes are felt more keenly. For the Afghan people, and especially for women and girls, this is an unfolding tragedy, with worse to come. The promise of a peaceful, stable, democratic, inclusive society has not been realised. For the Afghan-Australian community, who watch on in despair as their friends and family are faced with the awful truth of Taliban control, I say that our thoughts are with you.

Our remarkable veterans and defence personnel who've been beseeching the government for months to act have had one simple message for me to convey to this House: 'If you want to do more to support the veterans' community in this hour, get our friends out of Afghanistan now.' That is their simple message. There is, and will continue to be, analysis, commentary and debate as to the merits or otherwise of the 20-year mission, along with the understandable concern about the manner of the withdrawal. For now, though, we must focus on what can be done to help those who helped us and need our help now. We need to ensure every Australian citizen and permanent resident is brought home and that every Afghan national who worked and fought alongside our defence personnel, aided and protected our embassy, provided security to prime ministers and ministers—as I can personally attest—is afforded safe haven here or, for now at least, in a third country. Beyond that, we must play a significant role and do our fair share in the humanitarian response to provide refuge for those fleeing persecution.

For all of the criticism I've heard about the mission, I've yet to hear a simple plausible alternative to this UN sanctioned operation. To those who say, 'What was the point of it all?' I say, 'Diminishing the capacity for terrorists to wreak global havoc was cause enough.' But there was more. In 2011 I visited Afghanistan, as Home Affairs Minister, to thank the Australian Federal Police officers I'd farewelled in Canberra only months before for training hundreds and hundreds of Afghan national police in order to build the civil capability required of that nation. I saw girls join boys in walking to school in Kabul, which was unthinkable under the Taliban, and I met with women in professional roles that had been denied them so long. Those rights, however, should be afforded to every citizen of every country and those rights have disappeared within the blink of an eye.

For now we should record our sincere appreciation 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 do, in every conceivable way, to ensure that those who were told that they would call Australia home, if required, get that opportunity. There is more to say about this matter in the weeks and months ahead, but right now our focus, our thoughts and our efforts must be on the situation in Afghanistan, in order to ensure we do everything we possibly can to help those who helped us.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for a later hour.