Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting Senator Siewert's motion to require parliamentary approval for the deployment of forces to Syria. I have, as have my predecessors, explained our reasons for this on a number of occasions. The reasons I give today will be consistent with the reasons I have spoken about before.

I would like to begin by expressing my support for the ADF personnel currently involved in operations throughout the world. They are doing great work and, as always, they are undertaking their tasks with great professionalism.

It is the role of parliament to debate issues of concern and to act as a focal point for discussions which take place in the Australian community. That role is particularly important when we are discussing issues like the deployment of Australian Defence Force personnel. As I have said, Labor fully supports the role of parliament as a place of debate. This is why, when Labor announced its support yesterday for the extension of Operation Okra into Syrian airspace, we called on the government to outline to parliament their long-term strategy for the defence of Iraq and to allow for appropriate parliamentary discussion.