Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak against the motion put forward by the Australian Greens. As has been pointed out already in the debate, there will be many opportunities throughout the course of today and throughout the course of the week that the Australian Greens could take to properly put this on the Notice Paper and have it debated in the Senate, but, again, as has been noted in the debate today, it's Monday morning and they have clearly decided to pull a stunt, and that is where we find ourselves this morning, instead of moving on to the items listed on the Senate Order of Business for today.

An honourable senator interjecting—

But in reality—and you can hear the heckles in the background—what is this a suspension motion all about? Well, it's about one thing, and one thing alone: the Australian Greens are putting forward this motion because of their eternal opposition to Australia's close military alliance with the United States and with the United Kingdom. In fact, if ever proof of that were needed, we only had to see their reaction last week to what was, without a doubt, a significant moment not just in Australia's history but in the history of the United States and the United Kingdom, with the formalisation of the AUKUS deal to purchase eight nuclear powered submarines.

In terms of those on this side of the chamber, we support the government's commitment to Australia's military alliance with the United States, and I am certainly proud, as I know my colleagues are, of the work undertaken by the former prime minister Scott Morrison and the former defence minister Peter Dutton in creating the AUKUS deal.

An honourable senator interjecting—

In contrast—and, again, you can hear the heckles coming from the Australian Greens at this point in time; they are without a doubt on a unity ticket with former Labor prime minister Paul Keating, and that is obviously something with which those of us on the side of the chamber disagree—one thing that we are incredibly proud of on this side of the chamber is the alliance with the United States and, in particular, with the United Kingdom. This proud alliance has existed for more than 100 years—100 years of cooperation.

When you look at the decision to send troops into Iraq, which is the basis of this motion, it was made by the government of the day—and, as Senator Birmingham has pointed out, the government of the day had the executive power to make that decision—and was based on the best available advice at the time. It is important to remember what that decision was about. The action was against Saddam Hussein. He was a brutal dictator who subjugated his own citizens, invaded neighbouring countries and used chemical weapons against his own people. Australian troops, without a doubt, served their country with honour and fought with dignity in Iraq, and they deserve to be recognised for the important contribution they made in the removal of the brutal dictator.

It is clear that mistakes were made in the course of the war; however, we should not be abandoning our strong alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom. Their soldiers have stood side by side with the Australian diggers for over a century. We on the side of the chamber do not shy away from our strong support for the United States and the United Kingdom. We are proud of the strong alliance with these nations and we are strongly committed to the alliance going forward.