Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

I am in no doubt that the commitment of Australian troops to combat missions overseas is always a difficult one for any government to take. And while it is a terrible equation to consider, we must balance the potential individual and personal costs for our serving men and women against our national interests in the collective good.

Having met and spent some time with some of our serving personnel, Australian troops who have served in Iraq and in Afghanistan, I am in no doubt that they are absolutely committed to the cause. They also recognise the importance of what they are doing, which is, and we should make no mistake about this, suppressing the threat of terrorism and helping to build a stable and safe society. That is why they deserve our support.

It is important that our troops know that we do support them, so I want to send my best wishes to all Australian troops wherever they are deployed. I say to them: you are serving this country with honour, with courage and with dedication and I wish you safety and success in your endeavours. My family and I, indeed all Australians, the entire nation, owes them a debt of gratitude, just as we do their predecessors and we will to their successors in our ongoing battle for freedom.

But one cannot acknowledge the commitment of our troops without addressing the true cost of sending them into combat zones. I am not talking about the dollars and cents that I have heard the Greens refer to, but about the true costs to individuals and to families. This is an aspect of war that makes us all reflect upon the potential implications of the loss of life. It hurts us all, and I know that so many Australians mourn when we hear of the loss of life of one of our serving personnel. In Afghanistan we have had 21 combat deaths. There have been 152 combat wounded. I have met with some of those injured, and their commitment to our cause remains undiminished. But I can only imagine how the families and loved ones of these troops must feel and I place on the record that I am in awe of those who are prepared to sacrifice so much for so many in defending our national interests and that of all Western societies.

None of us would be human if we did not reflect upon the circumstances of this war, and the mission of our troops. One aim of our mission is to ensure that a stable government can be established in Afghanistan. It concerns me that as our own troops risk their lives it has been reported that a member of the government of Afghanistan has been openly calling for the persecution and the deaths of Christians in Afghanistan. I refer to Abdul Sattar Khawasi, the deputy of the lower house. It concerns me, and many Australians, when we read about the widespread allegations of corruption and other issues which can make you wonder about the commitment of the Afghani government. Are they as committed to a free and stable democracy as our troops and the allied forces who are putting their lives at risk every single day? I do not know the answer to that question. But despite these concerns, even a flawed government is better than the Islamo-fascist society that prevailed under the Taliban. And make no mistake: Islamo-fascism is the greatest threat to Western values and democracy we have faced.

We should be under no illusions as to its threat and its potential implications. It faces every Western democracy, not just America, not just Australia, not just the United Kingdom. And the threat is one of fundamentalist Islam. Fundamentalist Islam is a totalitarian ideology that strips away individuality and subsumes the individual in a system that is completely incompatible with Western values. Fundamentalist Islam is a system of barbarity where people have three choices: conversion to Islam, live as a second-class citizen or be put to the sword. Fundamentalist Islam is a way of life that forces women to wear the cloak of nothingness, the burka. It is a way of life where homosexuals are persecuted, adulterers can be stoned to death and the innocent are slaughtered in the name of Allah.

Now if people choose to live under such a repressive and regressive cultural regime because they believe in it, that is one thing. But when the Islamo-fascists are intent on exporting hate and terror and their totalitarian ideology throughout the world, we have a responsibility to protect our national interests. Let me say that again: when Islamo-fascists are intent on exporting their totalitarian ideology throughout the world, we have a responsibility to protect our national interests. That is one reason why our troops are fighting in Afghanistan.

There can be no doubt that the Taliban regime was a training operation for pure evil. It is part of a movement that is responsible either directly, or indirectly through inspiring others, for acts of terror that have killed thousands of innocent people, including the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, in which 10 Australians died, the Bali bombings, which killed 88 Australians, and various other acts of terror in which eight Australians have been killed.

Fundamentalist Islam aims to export its culture of hate to the four corners of the globe, and I regret to say that Australia is not immune to this. Indeed, there are examples of it in our own country. Just recently, the fundamentalist Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir held an international conference in Sydney. This is a group whose spokesman, Uthman Badar, has said that ‘democracy is a bankrupt and irrational idea’ and ‘all indicators are pointing to the decline and inevitable collapse of Western ideology’. Make no mistake: that is their mission. These are the people who regard Israel as ‘an illegitimate state; an occupation’, claiming that it ‘has to be removed’. That sort of talk is happening in our country. It is happening right here. It is not something that is confined to the borders of the Middle East. It is not something that is confined to Afghanistan. While some may regard this as just talk at this stage, we must remember that violent movements all begin as just talk. The counterterrorism white paper stated:

The continuing resonance of the violent jihadist message within sections of Muslim communities in the Western world (including Australia) will lead to the creation and activity of new violent cells.

And as the Leader of the Opposition said in his speech on Afghanistan:

Ultimately at stake is the West’s ability to assert itself against deadly threats before they have materialised into another September the 11th-style atrocity or something even worse.

After nine years of fighting it can sometimes be difficult to clearly recall the reasons why our troops are in Afghanistan, but we should never lose sight of what our troops are fighting for. It is for the safety of all Australians and of billions of people around the world. We have to make sure that an ideology that is committed to the violent overthrow of Western democracies in the name of the so-called religion of peace can never be allowed to develop again. To abandon our cause is to abandon the hopes of billions of people around the world who aspire to live in peace, harmony and prosperity. Regrettably, sometimes there is a terrible price to pay for our freedoms and our causes, and hearts break all over the country whenever an Australian soldier is killed or is wounded. But the price of not engaging against such a dangerous enemy is far greater.

In expressing my support for our troops and the importance of the mission that they are undertaking for all of us, I wish them good grace and godspeed. I want them to know that Australians respect their continuing contribution to protecting our democracy and defending our freedom.