Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the Prime Minister and express my appreciation that this motion has been supported by the opposition as well. Over the last 24 years, since the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein, there has been an almost continuous presence of Australian Defence Force personnel in the Middle East. There have been high profile conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it may not be appreciated by the public that there has been almost a continuous presence of an Australian warship in the Persian Gulf since September 1990. Recently the Royal Australian Navy sent its 54th deployment of a warship. The role has changed over time, from support during the first Gulf War, monitoring sanctions against Iraq, and support later during the Iraq War. Defending the oil platforms has now moved to a maritime security, narcotics, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy role.

I was fortunate enough, with a number of other members of parliament, to visit the Middle East area of operations four months ago. I want to pay tribute to the men and women of Joint Task Force 633 and the work they are doing in maintaining security. One of the common things that I would hear is they would ask the members of parliament: 'Can you remind people that we are still here?' I think people thought after the closure of Tarin Kot in Afghanistan that Australia had really wound down the number of people in the Middle East. But there are still more than 1,000 young Australian men and women who are serving over there. We saw the C130 delivering humanitarian supplies to avert a humanitarian disaster at Mount Sinjar and Amerli. What we have seen in Iraq since the start of the year, with more than one million Iraqis being displaced, has been a tragedy and a potential genocide.

I support very much the actions of the Australian government in concert with our allies, the United States, and with other NATO countries. At the same time that we are considering this motion it is worth remembering that Australia has been recognised—not being a NATO member state—for partnership of NATO due to our contribution in Afghanistan since 2001 and the close way in which we cooperate with NATO nations.

I fully endorse the criteria that the Prime Minister has enunciated for the test we should apply if there is any request for military action. The request would come from the United States and would have to be supported by Iraq. The four criteria that the Prime Minister has enunciated are:

Is there a clear and achievable overall objective? Is there a clear and proportionate role for Australian forces? Have all the risks been properly assessed? And is there an overall humanitarian objective in accordance with Australia’s national interests?

At the moment, Australian and the Royal Australian Air Force with their C130s and C17s are playing a useful role, firstly, in delivering humanitarian supplies and, secondly, in delivering military support to the Kurdish regional government in Erbil with the support of the national government of Iraq.

Again, I fully endorse the formula that the Prime Minister has used to re-emphasise that the threat is extremism in any form. It is of great concern that we have living amongst us in Australia people who are prepared to go and join the murderous forces of ISIL. I fully endorse the additional measures that have been taken at Australian airports to ensure that this does not occur. We have seen recently just what ISIL is about. The horrific footage of the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff remind us that this is not an Islamic state but a death cult. Unfortunately, we in the parliament need to be prepared to face in the future an uncertain world and an uncertain Middle East. I endorse the motion that is before us and pay tribute to the men and women of the Australian Defence Force who are putting their lives on the line.

See this speech in context