Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The fundamental point is this. The Australian public, without being asked to vote on the actual ramifications of this political deal, are being saddled by both major parties with a $360 billion, 30-year commitment to a nation that in the post-World-War-II period has demonstrated again and again that it does not have good judgement. It cannot and does not make decisions in relation to issues of war and peace in anybody's interest but its own. The people of Vietnam, the people of Iraq and the people of Afghanistan know that America is a very bad house guest. They begin a conflict in their national interest and they end it in their national interest.

The Australian people deeply understand the recklessness of that nation and have always been reflexively of the view that we should chart our own path, supportive of peace and independence in our region, precisely because we understand that the Americans, on these questions, will always act in their own interest and their interest alone. Once they are done with the Asia-Pacific, once this posturing no longer serves their purpose, they will leave. For the United States of America, the Asia-Pacific region is an area of current strategic interest. For Australians, it is our home. For the nations of the region, it is their home. Australians across the country are uniting in a common call for peace in the face of this reckless political deal that was cooked up by a man we rejected and that is now being continued by a government without the courage to call it out for what it really is and join the Australian people in that common cause for peace.

Question agreed to.