Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is ironic that today I rise to talk about and endorse the words of the Prime Minister when today is National Flag Day. A day when we celebrate our national flag. If you think about what is on our flag, it is some of the values that we hold dear. Sometimes we just look at it and see a bit of red in the corner and a lot of blue in the Southern Cross, but there is actually the flag of Saint George, the flag of Saint Andrew and the flag of Saint Patrick. And in that Union Jack that forms part of our flag is the story of 400 years of evolving around the value of democracy, evolving around the value of human rights, a law that allows the individual to be confronted before the executive, laws that look after ensuring that there is freedom to vote, freedom to express. We have that in our flag, and sometimes we take it for granted.

It is ironic as we compare their journey with the ISIS flag—a flag that has really come to represent terrorism and what I think is misguided aggression and hate. It is very important that we understand that it took us as a country—and we were the recipients of this, because of our British heritage—a 400-year journey to understand and value democracy. What we see in the Middle East is some people who choose to exploit a vacuum where terror is allowed to take place. Australia's role in this is very good. That is, we are essentially supporting the Western world to say that we will not stand by and allow genocide to happen. We will not stand by and watch the murder of potentially millions of people. We will not stand by and have thousands of women being forced into sex slavery. We will not stand by and watch beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions. It is appropriate that countries who have the means and have the sense of right and wrong defend those who, because of a vacuum, cannot defend themselves.

I want to associate myself with the words of the Prime Minister when he said that Australia is:

… not inclined to stand by in the face of preventable genocide either.

Australia is not a country that goes looking for trouble, but we have always been prepared to do what we can to help in the wider world.

The people in my electorate are very fair-minded, peace-loving Australians, but they believe that it is important that we have a well-funded defence system, and they believe that it is important that we have a very good executive to make decisions when decisions have to be made. I think it is right that it is the executive's role to decide on matters such as this. I think it is right not only for the timeliness of response but also for the strategic importance and protection of our troops, who have to be the sharp end of delivering what comes from the discussions that start in this House. And I think it is right that we do the best we can to stand up for justice and to stamp out evil.

It is very easy to hypothecate in hindsight about wisdom, to say that we should have done things differently in the first Gulf War and the second Gulf War and with the removal of Saddam Hussein. I think it shows a level of arrogance amongst people who did not have the facts at their fingertips at the time to say, 'If I was there I would have done this' or 'If I was there I would have done that'. Ultimately, decisions that involve conflict and that involve many different countries are fluid. We cannot, in all best judgement, necessarily guarantee an outcome. And what we have at the moment is a vacuum. We thought Iraq was moving towards peace, but we are seeing that people with extreme views are seeking to capitalise on that vacuum, and capitalising on that vacuum is the very worst outcome for the people of Iraq.

I will conclude with some fairly short comments. The Australian government must stand up for what is right. The Australian government must stand with the rest of the world to stomp out extremism. We do not believe that this is about one religion. We believe that this is built on extreme views that even Muslim countries around the world are now making it very clear that they will not tolerate. When I was in Indonesia two weeks ago it was quite pleasing to hear the executive of the Indonesian government come out and say, 'We do not support ISIS or their aims.' I hope they are successful. Our prayers and thoughts are with the Australians who have to go out and deliver good aid, deliver assistance to those at this time. Our prayers and thoughts are with the executive of our government, for wisdom as they consider these tough decisions. I commend the Prime Minister for the role he has been taking and wish the executive well for wise decision making over the coming months and weeks.

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