Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I met with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia. He told me the Ukrainians are very grateful for the support they have already received from the government and the Australian people. The government has provided Bushmasters and ammunition, and the ADF is involved in training Ukrainian troops in the United Kingdom.

While grateful, the ambassador assured me that there is a real and desperate need for more help right now—not tomorrow. The counteroffensive is on and the Ukrainians are fighting hard but with heavy losses of life every day. When the Prime Minister announced the package for Ukraine last year, he said that Australian support for Ukraine will continue 'for as long as it takes for Ukraine to emerge victorious'.

I've got the perfect date for the government to announce more help for Ukrainians, including 90 Hawkeis and more Bushmasters. That day is 24 August—Ukraine's day of independence. I have to say: stop going in half-pregnant, and give it everything you've got because it's the only way you are going to give those Ukrainians a fighting chance to win this war. No more half-pregnancy—get in there and go hard.