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

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the 20th anniversary of the illegal US-led invasion of Iraq as circulated.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in the name of the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me from moving a motion to provide for the consideration of the matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War.

The Greens move this motion today and put this matter before the Senate on this, the 20th anniversary of the illegal US-led invasion of Iraq. There is no more appropriate day to consider this matter than today, given that it is, in fact, a moment in time when there are parties in political decision-making positions who oppose the Iraq War and given that family members across Australia worry for the safety of their children who are still deployed to Iraq, to this very day, under operations Accordion and Okra.

The Greens move this motion as the first order of business for the Senate this morning with sorrow in our hearts. We move it with sorrow for the over 500,000 who have died as a result of the Iraq War and of the destruction of the infrastructure created by that war, sorrow for the 1.2 million people still to this day internally displaced because of the war in Iraq and sorrow because of the five million orphans created by that war—five per cent of the entire orphan population of the globe.

We move this motion today in solidarity with the 92 per cent of Australians who gathered together—hundreds of thousands—in cities across the country, who marched to oppose the Iraq war because they knew that the community was being lied to. They knew they were being presented with false intelligence. They knew that they were being marched to war by men who wished to see other people's children placed in harm's way to suit their political ends. We do this in solidarity with the organisers of those protests. I am honoured to work, to this day, alongside Damian Lawson, a key organiser of the anti-Iraq War protest here in Australia, which formed part of the largest global protest in human history. And we do so this morning with a renewed sense of determination, a commitment from every single Green in the Senate, every single Green in the House of Representatives, every single Green in the state parliaments and every single Green in the local governments of this country to oppose ever again being led into an illegal, immoral and unjust war at the reckless hands of the United States of America.

We do this in the full knowledge that the Australian people, at the time and to this day, knew full well that we should not go to Iraq, that it would be a humanitarian and foreign-policy disaster. They knew it, they protested and the Prime Minister ignored them point-blank because there is no requirement in this country to seek a vote of the parliament before the deployment of ADF personnel. ADF personnel from this nation were asked to go into harm's way in Iraq and in Afghanistan, yet not a single member of the government or opposition was required to vote before that occurred. Shame on this chamber for, to this day, opposing this reform that is supported by 86 per cent of the Australian people. Shame!

Finally, in closing, let me say this: those mothers and fathers that, to this day, are kept up at night for fear of the safety of their children deployed to Iraq still under Operation Accordion and Operation Okra deserve to finally have that fear come to an end. Twenty years later, Australia must end its deployments to Iraq. We must finally bring our troops home and work for an independent and peaceful foreign policy that sees that never again are we called into a war based on a lie led by the United States of America.

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

T (—) (): Firstly, I want to state clearly once again for the record that Labor opposed the Iraq War at the time, and our position has not changed. As Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd brought Australia's combat troops home. But, on this anniversary of the commencement of the war, I want to say that our argument was never with our troops; it was always with the Howard government.

Twenty years on from the Iraq War, we all reflect on the many tragedies of that conflict and its ongoing effects. Our thoughts are with the people of Iraq as well as the Iraqi community here in Australia, some of whom fled that conflict. Our thoughts today, as always, are with our veterans. We acknowledge the brave contribution and sacrifices made by the ADF and civilian personnel who conducted or supported operations in Iraq. We remember the four Australian service personnel who died, and we all share our deepest sympathies to the families and friends that still feel their loss. We express our support to those who still live with the physical and mental scars of that conflict and those who returned home and are tragically no longer with us.

Labor did not support the Howard government's decision for Australia to go to Iraq in 2003, nor did we support the Howard government's decision to send a further 450 troops to Iraq, reneging on a 2004 election commitment. At the time he withdrew combat troops from Iraq, then Prime Minister Rudd said:

… this government does not believe that our alliance with the United States mandates automatic compliance with every element of United States foreign policy.

The Greens view that they have a monopoly on resistance to sending Australian troops to the Iraq War is odd, given Labor opposed it vigorously.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are wrong in thinking they have some moral superiority, although it is something we are very used to, and they are just as wrong in their claims that, through AUKUS, we have lost strategic autonomy. I hear members of the Greens heckling during this speech, and again it reinforces the point that they seem to think they have a monopoly on resistance to sending Australian trips to the Iraq war. Some of them may not remember the political debates that happened at the time as a result of Labor taking a principled stand on this issue. It's not clear whether the Greens actually misunderstand or just pretend to misunderstand in order to exploit this issue for crass political purposes.

But let there be no doubt: Australia makes its own choices. Acquiring AUKUS's military capability was a sovereign decision. Any decision to use this capability will also be ours alone. Let me also be clear that our intent in acquiring this capability is to make our contribution to the strategic balance of the region. We want to have a stable region where no country dominates and no country has dominated. If that is to be the case, we each have a responsibility to play our part in collective deterrence of aggression. If any country can make the calculation that they can successfully dominate another, the region becomes unstable and the risk of conflict increases.

I make this point acknowledging that our region has been home to an unprecedented military build-up in recent years, meaning that we must work hard and fast if we are to maintain equilibrium. Increasing our capability sits alongside our diplomacy, which is about increasing the opportunities and benefits from peace and partnership—positive incentives for peace. As well as positive incentives for peace, we need deterrence to conflict and aggression. By having strong defence capabilities of our own and by working with partners who are investing in their own capabilities, we change the calculus for any potential aggressor.

There are those in this building who like to beat the drums of war, and there are those who like to believe that peace can come from passively hoping for the best. But this government knows that part of maintaining peace is making sure all countries are invested in that peace through effective diplomacy, and part of making peace is making sure any potential aggressor knows they cannot afford the costs of war.

The government will not be supporting this motion to suspend standing orders, as there are plenty of alternative opportunities in the Senate that the Greens could use to debate this and related issues, rather than taking time out of government business that is needed to progress important legislation relating to issues such as the referendum for a Voice to Parliament, equality, national reconstruction, housing, and climate safeguards. So, I remind the Greens that it was the federal Labor Party who opposed the Iraq War at the time. We still consider that that was the right decision. Please: give up trying to lecture the rest of us. We're a bit tired of it.

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I begin by acknowledging all Australian servicemen and servicewomen who served in Iraq and who continue to serve in Iraq—those who have paid a price and for their service and particularly the families of those who have paid that price. We thank you for your service, we acknowledge your contribution and we pay tribute to the work you have done. You should know that it is valued, notwithstanding some of the debates that ensue around that conflict and war. I want to also acknowledge the Iraqi people and all those who served alongside—those who have suffered and those who have felt loss. That is significant, and that is a loss that we should recognise, and we should recognise the pain and suffering that that caused in so many cases. But loss is of course not something the Iraqi people were immune to prior to this war and this conflict. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator and a leader who showed complete—

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I cannot believe that the Australian Greens are seeking to argue with that point. Let me state it again: Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator and a world leader who showed complete disregard for lives, for human rights, and for international laws and rules. He was a leader who used chemical and biological weapons—poison gas—against neighbouring countries, against his own citizens, against the Kurdish people.

Whatever the attempts to form a black-and-white view of right or wrong, of war or conflict, some facts and realities should stand in relation to what Saddam Hussein, his dictatorship and his regime undertook. He didn't just use those biological and chemical weapons against his own people. He maintained, when the international community sought to scrutinise that, a deliberate ambiguity around whether he continued to hold those weapons. He deliberately sought to lure other nations into believing he continued to have them and would use them, as he had sought to do so in the past. He also led a regime that sponsored suicide bombers. He led a regime that was recognised as a state sponsor of terrorism. He was responsible for the deaths of many hundreds of thousands of people. The world and Iraq are better off for being rid of Saddam Hussein and his dictatorship. That is not to say that there are no lessons that can be learned. There are always lessons to learn. Those lessons go to the intelligence and analysis available and how that is scrutinised in the future. They have been widely debated and canvassed over the two decades since the war commenced.

However, it's important that we do recognise Iraq today as a democracy, not a perfect one but one where the Iraqi people, as is acknowledged by many experts in the field, have more say over their future than they did 20 years ago. Where their rights are far from universally respected, there is better regard than there was 20 years ago. Calls to remove the remaining assistance from the ADF deployment or otherwise from Iraq would be to show disregard for the advances that have been made during that time. The Greens are misplaced in arguing that we should bring the remaining personnel home. We should be showing support to work with the democratically elected government of Iraq, to work with the people of Iraq, to ensure that the sense of greater stability, the improvement in standards and the development in relation to their democracy is supported and underpinned at this critical time as best as we possibly can.

I lastly turn to the arguments advanced by the Greens. They're not contained in the motion they have sought to have debated about the decision-making processes and the powers of executive government. It remains the position of the coalition that the executive government of the day should have authority in relation to troop and personnel deployments. Our system is one where there is immense scrutiny of decisions made by government. But we should enable governments to exercise those powers under the appropriate scrutiny, transparency and accountability of parliamentary democracy.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the Greens for the intent behind their speech. We need scrutiny when we deploy people overseas. I commend our armed services for their work overseas and in this country. They have sacrificed a lot, and they have covered themselves with honour.

But I remind the Senate of Mr Alexander Downer's interview on the 7.30program, on the last day before he retired, where he said that John Howard came from America and strode into cabinet and said, 'We're off to Iraq.' That's not good enough. Now is not the time to do this. I want to refer to a new book recently released by Clinton Fernandes titled Sub-imperial Power: Australia in the International Arena. Clinton Fernandes is a Canberra man who works for the University of New South Wales and lectures at ADFA. He has the guts to tell it as it is. It reads: 'We are a sub-imperial power of the United States. We are making a mess of things by following the United States blindly into conflicts.'

Look at the Afghanistan withdrawal. Look at the mess that was created. Look at the weapons of mass destruction and the lies that were told to justify our invasion of Iraq. Then, quite openly and blatantly, we were told, 'Oh, there weren't any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; we lied to you.' The United States did that. Australia did that. Britain did that. Tony Blair admitted it. Where is the accountability? Yet, on the other hand, I'm conflicted. I had a haircut on Friday, and the barber was from Iraq. He said that Iraq is better off in certain areas. So I can't speak with knowledge.

There are two parts to the Greens motion in part (b):

(i) urges the Australian Parliament and government to learn the lessons of the past and to never again be dragged into another country's unjust war of aggression …

I support that. We need to learn from this. The only way to get accountability is to ask questions about it. The second part reads:

(ii) calls for the withdrawal of ADF personnel still deployed to Iraq today under Operation Okra and Operation Accordion.

I can't vote for that because I don't know the background. I don't know what the consequences will be, so I'm not going to open my mouth one way or the other on that, but I want to echo the words of Senator Watt: we need an inquiry into that deployment. I think the Greens are on the right track in opening that issue up, but I cannot support the suspension of standing orders to do that. I do support the intent, which is to have an inquiry and to develop accountability for these decisions of wantonly invading other countries in support of the United States. So I commend the Greens, but I won't be supporting their motion for the suspension of standing orders. I thank you for raising it.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to 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.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give the call to Senator McKenzie. Senator Whish-Wilson, you are now on your feet.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to make a contribution, Mr Deputy President. You've just had two in a row—

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know, but you weren't on your feet, so, as a matter of courtesy, I'll let Senator McKenzie have the call—there is plenty of time—and then you will have the call.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to join with both the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and the coalition more broadly to not support the Greens' desire to suspend the Senate to debate what they say was an illegal, immoral and unjust war. We know that war is a brutal undertaking. It should be avoided where possible, and the heavy decision of prime ministers and governments throughout our nation's history to send Australian troops to foreign lands to fight for freedom and democracy is often a decision that has been the most difficult for them to make. They have never done it lightly. But I think what we do know is that the Greens standing up today, trying to seek to suspend the work of the Senate, is simply the continuation of their anti-US alliance stance and their failure to recognise that this alliance has been beneficial not just to Australia, not just to the Pacific during World War II, but to the globe and to the principles of freedom and democracy that we both stand with. The federal government signed AUKUS, with a great announcement by the Prime Minister in America last week and it should be celebrated. We on this side are proud of our legacy as a former government in getting AUKUS off the ground and we are equally proud to support the current government in continuing an alliance that has brought stability to the globe for over 100 years.

You Greens talk a lot about the impact of war but you cannot wish away the fact that sometimes you have to stand up to bullies. You shouldn't accept the behaviour of Saddam Hussein towards the Iraqi people as normal and acceptable, that it is just something that they have to put up with. Do you know what? You could make the same actual case for our commitment to assisting the Ukrainian people against Putin but you don't. You are happy for us to support that particular commitment but you aren't actually happy on this one, and do you know why? Because it is all about the US alliance. You are hypocrites when it comes to where you stand on foreign relations.

We know that you have to stand up to bullies. There absolutely needs to be a strong US-UK alliance for stability across the globe. We welcome government's support and we stand with our allies. We are not ashamed of having allies. We are not ashamed of standing with them when we need to, and we call out the Greens for actually trying to hold future governments to not actually have to make the terrible and difficult decision to send Australian troops to war. We thank the troops for their fantastic efforts and we support them as veterans going forward.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is a very sombre day and a very important day for reflection. It seems 20 years ago, following this illegal war of aggression in which our country participated, we have learned very little based on today's public debate, and it is very sad and frustrating to see the Liberal Party continue to wipe clean the blood they so very clearly have on their hands. They have never shown any remorse for the invasion of Iraq and Australia's participation in that.

There was a very important point in Senator Steele-John's motion today that hasn't been touched on by either the Labor party or Liberal Party that is absolutely credible to the world we find ourselves in today, and that was the lie that this war was based on, not just a lie but a manufactured deceit of the highest order, not scrutinised by the media, not scrutinised by the parliament—even with a whistleblower in the other house, in the other place, Andrew Wilkie MP, who blew the whistle when he was an intelligence officer—but we were led to a war by a small group of powerful people who were totally unaccountable to the millions who marched around the globe in the biggest protests in our history at the time to oppose this war. We were ignored but we were right.

Looking back on history, the Liberal Party can come in here today and say whatever they want. You have made the world a less safe place. The instability across the Middle East started with the insurgency that led to the Syrian civil war and tens of millions of refugees washing across Europe in a wave of misery. There were the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly innocents, for which no-one has been held to account, and the rise of terrorism. The Liberal Party, along with the UK government, the United States and the coalition of the willing gave birth to ISIS and to more global terrorism. And you come in here today and talk about stability?

We have to know we've learned something from this illegal and immoral war if we're going to have any confidence for the safety of our children in this country. Are we part of an alliance that's going to lead us into another war with no scrutiny from the media or from parliaments because of the cosy relationship that you have with each other around national security? Are we going to be hoodwinked?

Amongst all the frustrated people, many of my colleagues marched against that war. I marched again this weekend in a rally in Melbourne to commemorate this conflict.

When are we going to learn? It's really, really important that we have a process that at least gives parliament the opportunity to vote on the deployment of our defence forces. It's not a silver bullet, but at least we can speak on behalf of the people that democratically elected us to this place. We will continue to push, as we have done for decades, to get at least a vote from the Australian parliament on the deployment of our defence forces.

I want to finish with this point. There was one other person—one of many people—who was deeply angry and frustrated with this illegal war and the fact that they were ignored and who decided that they would do something about it. And that's Julian Assange. He set up WikiLeaks because of the Iraq war, and he was the only truth-teller of the war with everything that was published by WikiLeaks—and, by the way, republished by all media outlets around the world. He brought truth and transparency to the war, and he very famously said that if wars can be started by lies, they can be ended by the truth. And where is he now? He's behind bars in a maximum security prison. He's the only one who told truth and brought truth to power, and he's behind bars awaiting a virtual death sentence. And while there's a continued war on truth-telling and disclosure and transparency, which is what the war machine fears the most, this war is still ongoing. While he's on trial for telling the truth and doing his job as a journalist, press freedoms are on trial. The Iraq war is a long way from being over while Mr Assange sits behind bars. Make the decision. There's only one decision: no extradition.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question before the Senate is that the motion moved by Senator Steele-John, that the standing orders be suspended, be agreed to.