Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Territories, Local Government and Major Projects) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to rise and to participate in this debate and join with my fellow parliamentarians from all sides of the chamber to express my horror, my revulsion and the most fundamental moral contempt for the attackers in Paris and what they have done and in doing so to speak on behalf of my constituents in Bradfield and, of course, to express sentiments which I am confident are shared by every Australian.

In recent weeks the world has seen numerous terrible atrocities carried out by extremist terrorist organisations. The attacks in Paris, in which some 130 people were killed and a very large number were injured, were sadly just one of an extremely troubling series of events. In October, 103 people were killed in Ankara after two suicide bombers detonated their bombs in a crowd of peace activists. On the day before the attacks in Paris, suicide bombers killed 43 people in Beirut, and in Mali last week 21 people were killed after extremist militants took over 100 people hostage at a hotel in that nation's capital. Of course, the Russian jetliner that was downed by what is now believed to be a terrorist bomb is yet another example of the disturbing and troubling series of atrocities which we have seen around the world.

The sheer numbers are shocking in their magnitude, but what they remind us of is the fact that we are engaged in a battle of fundamental values. On the one hand, we have a murderous group bent on forcing people to live in a repressive theocratic state through the use of force. On the other hand, we have the values represented by liberal democratic nations like France.

All that we hear about the violent repression imposed on those who live in the parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by the terrorist group ISIL or Daesh is extremely troubling. While information about daily life is limited, what we do know is that fear and brutality are used daily as weapons against the people living under the control of this evil group. Extreme restrictions have been imposed on a bewildering array of aspects of day-to-day life, and any violation of those restrictions can result in imprisonment, torture or execution.

It was, I think, no accident that Daesh decided to mount this attack in Paris, a city which is significant for so many reasons but a city which was at the very centre of the Enlightenment, an era of human progress in which medieval superstition yielded to rational, fact based inquiry and, of course, a period of history in which the recognition of and the emphasis on the rights and possibilities of the individual, regardless of class or background, began to emerge. The philosophical advances made during the Enlightenment underpin much of what forms the basis of our democracy here in Australia and similar democracies all around the world—ideas of individual liberties, such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and the idea of a social contract between citizens and the state. The work of key figures of this period, such as Voltaire and Rousseau, contributed very substantially to the formation of the very concept and, in turn, the reality of the modern democratic state. As a city which was at the very epicentre of this philosophical activity, Paris has long embodied and stood for these ideas.

It was also, I suggest, no accident that these terrorists chose to attack people who were out enjoying themselves and enjoying some of the simple pleasures of life—having dinner or a drink in a restaurant or bar, watching a football game, attending a concert. The notion of people being free to choose how they spend their time, the notion of people being free to spend some of their time simply enjoying themselves, is anathema to totalitarian regimes and, even more so, theocratic regimes. ISIL's hatred of such freedoms is evident in the oppressive and violent way in which they control areas like Raqqah in Syria, a place where people live in a constant state of terror and where the ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures is virtually nonexistent.

We can often frame the rights and freedoms that we enjoy in a country like Australia in high-minded terms, but it is these simple pleasures which bring so much meaning to life—the opportunity to spend time with friends and family, the opportunity to enjoy yourself and engage in recreation at a time of your choice, making your own judgement. Attacks of the kind that took place in Paris are designed out of a completely different and utterly hostile impulse. They are designed out of an impulse and a desire to prevent us from living our lives freely and without fear.

One of the themes of the classic novel of life under an oppressive totalitarian regime 1984 was this notion that the ordinary and simple pleasures of life were not to be permitted to people under that regime. Indeed, the loyal party servant Winston, the hero of that novel, who briefly enjoyed some of those pleasures, was quickly caught and punished for doing so. Orwell's novel reminds us that totalitarian regimes take a very dim view of people enjoying the simple, routine and ordinary pleasures of life. Sadly, hostility towards people enjoying those simple pleasures is at the very core of the approach of this violent and oppressive movement and the theocracy which it has established and which it purports to speak for.

Tragedies of the kind that we have seen in recent weeks prompt us to reflect on the values and freedoms that define us as a nation, particularly in light of the obvious fact that these attacks are very much framed with a view to damaging and destroying the values and the lifestyles based on those values which we enjoy in a country like Australia.

In referring to ISIL's objectives in seeking to establish a theocratic state, I very much join with the observations which have been made by so many that ISIL should certainly not be taken as representative of Islam and that in fact, in many ways, its behaviours are entirely at odds with the religious practices and philosophies of all the world's great faiths.

It is very important in a liberal democratic nation like Australia that, as we take the necessary and appropriate steps to the maximum extent possible to guard and protect against the threat which is presented by a global terrorist movement like ISIL or Daesh, we do not inadvertently surrender the basic freedoms which are central to our way of life and which go to the core of that clash of values between what underpins a Western liberal democracy like Australia or France and the perverted ideology which is motivating this group of evil terrorists. Of course there are difficult choices which must be made and we do need to take appropriate steps, as the Turnbull government is doing, with the support of the opposition, which we welcome, to protect as best we can the Australian people against the threat to our collective physical safety. But it is very important that our fundamental values as a nation—freedom of thought, freedom of worship and freedom of association—continue to be championed and continue to be observed. Ultimately, what is extraordinarily important is the great diversity of our nation—our ethnic diversity, with the fact that Australians come from every corner of the world and the fact that Australia has amongst the highest percentages of adult population born overseas of any OECD nation; and our religious diversity, with many faiths being practised in Australia, and where people are free to choose to practice any faith, or no faith, as they judge appropriate. All of these values and practices are enormously important. They contribute enormously to the strength of our democracy and the quality of our collective lives, and it is extraordinarily important that we hold true to the values that define us as a nation.

On behalf of the people of Bradfield, I express my deep sympathy and condolences to the family and friends of all those who have been lost in the series of terrorist attacks. I give my very strong support, again also on behalf of the people of Bradfield, to the people of Paris, France and all the nations where these terrible attacks have occurred. I hope that these nations will properly respond to what has occurred, that, collectively, the world can restate the values that we hold dear and that the terrorists will not succeed.

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