Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise on behalf of the Australian Greens to add our condolences to what will be another shattered family, mourning and trying to come to grips with the loss of this fine young soldier who has died trying to make a bomb which was so clearly unsafe safe for himself and his fellow soldiers and Defence Force personnel. It is added to the death of Corporal Mathew Hopkins, which we mourned earlier in the week and which we now mourn in the knowledge of who he is and his circumstances and of the terrible tragedy that has befallen his family, his associates and loved ones. War is always horrific and it affects much more than the people who are sent by a nation in its interests. I reiterate that, while the Greens believe our Defence Force personnel should be brought home to Australia, we are 100 per cent behind the Defence Force personnel who are in Afghanistan. They are in the service of the country at the request of our government and for our nation, and our hearts go out to the families who were so grievously affected this week.