Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution to this most important matter. I acknowledge the previous contributions made by Senator Conroy and Senator Dastyari and join with them in their sentiments.

Today is the day that South Australia swore in a new governor, Governor Hieu Van Le, who came to these shores in 1974. He entered Darwin and then went on to educate himself. He has made a wonderful contribution. Indeed, Senator Dastyari's own life story is compelling for his family's efforts to escape tyranny, terrorism and abject poverty. The way they have made their way here is no different to what we see playing out in the Sinjar mountains in northern Iraq right now.

Senator Ludlam, I understand you have these fears; nobody likes going to war. But I can also recount many stories of people who have been touring in places like Cambodia, now, and who have visited the killing fields of Pol Pot. I can also recount the stories of people who have been to Auschwitz and other places of oppression, terror, tyranny and genocide. There are still ramifications throughout the Balkans of the genocide that occurred there in the 1990s.

Are we going to ignore again all the hallmarks of genocide, or potential genocide, again in northern Iraq? That is our question. Nobody likes putting our soldiers in harm's way, but that is indeed why we have soldiers and that is indeed what they do. They go and they serve and they defend our country. This is a terribly complex issue. There are centuries of complexity in this region. In 1922, the League of Nations—I think they called it the British mandate—drew some boundaries and said, 'We'll have Syria, we'll have Iraq and we'll have Afghanistan.' That, then, was supposed to provide stability to the region. I would argue that it probably has not provided the stability that the world would have liked. Indeed, north-western Syria now is under siege with Sunnis killing Shiites and Shiites trying to kill Sunnis. Kurdistani people are in fear and Christians in northern Iraq are being persecuted. These are undeniable facts. This is what is going on. I know it is undeniable because I was recently in the region and I have received privileged briefings. I have travelled with members from the other side and I know that we have an understanding of this.

Senator Ludlam, in your contribution you wondered how we know where these arms are going. We do know where they are going because for every drop that is made there is an eye on it and there are protection forces on every drop that goes there. I can assure you of the professionalism of our Australian Defence Force and I can assure you that they are working at the highest levels with our coalition partners. We have people embedded in places within that region who are privy to the best intelligence. They do know. They have eyes on all the conflict zones. They have eyes into these issues, and I feel sure that they give the best advice to the people in executive government who are making decisions.

Senator Ludlam also made the statement that we had crossed the line with humanitarian aid. We did supply humanitarian aid, but now we are going to supply military aid because the situation has escalated. We do not have time to run a democracy in a place where people are being hunted down and murdered. We do not have time for it. We have to act. We have to act within a time in which we can save people's lives. The Peshmergas in northern Iraq are simply better placed to deal with this threat against the tens of thousands of people who will be put at risk by this oppressive and opportunistic regime that is sweeping through northern Iraq and north-western Syria. This regime is taking advantage of the fact that the Iraqi government has not come into full formation—but it will. In this next week or so we have an obligation. Yes, we do. We have seen that the US, the Canadians, the French, the people of the United Kingdom and the Italians have all joined forces to protect these people. We have rallied to the call. I think it is a little disingenuous to interpret somebody's Sky News interviewsin this casethe Iraqi ambassador's—without the ability for us to refer to those comments. I did not see the contribution from the Iraqi ambassador, and I am sure that Senator Ludlam is not misrepresenting what he thought he took away from that interview, but I feel that, if we are going to be making something objective of that, we should all have the opportunity to review it and come back in here and talk about it.

Australia is not resiling. I note Senator Gallacher on the other side, in the opposition, and I hope that he makes a contribution on behalf of South Australians because we feel strongly about this. Also, Senator Wong is waiting patiently to make a contribution.

Senator Whish-Wilson interjecting—

They will appreciate the $5 million that we are supplying to the Iraqi government. That is our humanitarian aid—we have not stopped giving it. And we have offered 4,400 places to the Yazidi people, who have been terrorised over recent weeks. We look to resettle these people in the short term so that we can take them out of harm's way.

We also note that there are Australians fighting in these areas. There are about 160 Australians fighting—more than we there have ever been—for the Islamic State. This will cause us a great deal of concern in the future if these people are to seek re-entry to this country.

We are not in a position to lay idle. The Persian Gulf, the Suez Canal and those straits around the Horn of Africa—they know these areas. There is one known as the 'hash highway' or the 'smack track'. These are places where we not only look to ensure that people's lives are not put at risk; they are also regions where lives from around the world are destroyed by drug importation and people-trafficking from Somalia. These are the things that we are looking to act upon. I do not know whether you can ever countenance tolerance of a group of people who will strap an explosive-laden vest with ball bearings to a seven-year-old boy and walk him into a market place and detonate him. These are the types of people who have no respect for life. They have no respect at all. They have no respect for women—they trade in women; they trade in children. These are not people whom we are going to be able to sit down and have a cup of tea with. I do not know why it is that Senator Ludlam thinks that the Islamic State plays by Queensbury rules. They do not. They are not to be tolerated in any way, shape or form in a civilised society.

I understand that the issue is complex. I understand that the issue is distressing. I understand that putting our Australian diggers in harm's way is a big decision. However, we need to do whatever we can to support humanity in this region. It is not something where we can just idly sit by and let another chapter of this world's history write down that we ignored a genocide. I thank you for the opportunity, Mr Acting Deputy President.