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

Let us ground this debate in the reality that 481 days have passed since Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, 481 days in which the Ukrainian people have confronted the most terrible violence at the hands of the Russian war machine, 481 days in which they have been subject to war crimes, 481 days in which they have been subject to the taking of their children and 481 days in which they have gone to sleep not knowing, many of them, whether their homes would be standing in the morning, whether their sons and daughters would still be alive and whether their nation would endure.

Well, for 481 days, the Ukrainian nation has endured. The Ukrainian nation continues. The Ukrainian nation pushes back. As we gather in the Senate this evening, we are entering the third week of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east. The fighting is most intense, according to the UK Ministry of Defence, around Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Oblast and Bakhmut. As towns are liberated in fierce fighting, what is revealed is the ruin of homes and of communities, places that will require incredible amounts of work to rebuild and people who will require and need so much support to heal.

So, as we consider as a Senate what more the Australian government could do in order to lend assistance to the nation of Ukraine, what more the Australian government could do to put tangible action behind its words of solidarity, I once again urge the government to look at the real need for an international program of debt relief for Ukraine. The Ukrainian nation, once it is victorious on the battlefield, cannot be expected to rebuild and to heal while paying back the incredible sums of money that have been required to finance this effort. We would be doing the people of Ukraine a great disservice if, as the ticker tape of the victory parade fades, we abandoned them to a life in the shadow of debt and austerity. We must work internationally to bring together nations for this program of debt relief so that peace can truly follow victory.