Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Some have argued in this place that Afghanistan is in the ‘too hard’ basket—it is just not worth the effort. It is another Vietnam, they say. We are told that Alexander the Great took one look and went home. Genghis Khan could not be bothered. The Russians gave up. We are being asked to accept that, because three of the most ruthless empire builders in history did not bother with Afghanistan, we should not either. The fatal flaw with that argument is that we are not in Afghanistan to build an empire. We are not in there to subjugate or enslave; we are there to help. We are in Afghanistan to help establish a secure, functioning democracy—a country where respect for the law, tolerance of difference and peace are the norm.

Citing the failures or lack of interest of others over millennia as a sound rationale for leaving Afghanistan to fall in the hands of terrorists and extremists is a nonsense. It is precisely because it is difficult that it demands much of us that would be worth seeing through. Nothing worth having comes easily. If we just give up—wash our hands, walk away—we will leave a people at the mercy of those who have no respect for human life, who espouse a hate-filled, destructive, distorted fanaticism and who believe that educating girls and women is evil.

The federal Labor government is not cowardly. Labor does not run from tough fights. Social democrats do not flinch. We believe in the prosecution of just wars. It was Labor who saw us through World War I, Labor who saw us through World War II and Labor who saw us through the first Gulf War. Throughout Labor’s history we have demonstrated time and time again that the difficult battles are the ones worth fighting. Whether it is for fair pay, safe working conditions or support for those who are less empowered—all the hard won achievements that better people’s lives—these battles make a real difference to the world, to the future and to people, regardless of where they live. This federal Labor government has the courage, the fortitude and the tenacity to see it through, to work with our partners to help give the people of Afghanistan a hand—a lift up, a lasting chance at peace and democracy—to enjoy the rights and freedoms we readily take for granted in this country. It is this federal Labor government that will continue the very difficult task of helping the Afghani people, of supporting them in creating a country where their children can prosper and their girls can be educated—a place of peace and democracy.

Our involvement in Afghanistan is not about altruism, although the outcomes are worthy of that title. Our involvement is centred on the national interest as well—to prevent an insidious and brutal force establishing itself as a globally destructive regime within a sympathetic and secure base. Making sure the extremists do not put down permanent roots in Afghanistan is in Australia’s national and best interest. We are opposed to Islamic extremists, narcoterrorists and fundamentalist fascists who brutally slaughtered Australian citizens and the citizens of our ally nations. This is a big ask. It is a really tough mission, but this federal Labor government does not shrink from the big challenges, and it will not shed its principles for expediency. We all know that the war in Afghanistan has been and continues to be very difficult, but it is legal. As recently as 13 October this year, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the International Security Assistance Force of 47 nations in Afghanistan.

We see the tragic loss of Australian lives: 21 soldiers have lost their lives—21 Australians, 21 families. This is a sorrow that rests heavily on our collective heart. We continue to send our brave soldiers to fight on foreign soil against a wily and ruthless opponent. These are grave sacrifices. Hundreds have been injured as well, and that is not to be taken lightly. But it is crystal clear that these sacrifices are paying off—frustratingly and painfully slowly. Because of our involvement in Afghanistan in partnership with 46 other countries of the ISAF, more Afghani children are going to school. Six million attend school regularly, and 40 per cent of those are girls—girls who will have their dreams fulfilled. Already we have supported 78 school reconstruction projects. Women who suffered so cruelly under the previous Taliban regime are now running for parliament. Small businesses are emerging, and we have disbursed over 950 microfinance loans. We are helping refurbish hospitals and assisting in the rehabilitation of health centres and health posts. We are constructing a new building for the Department of Energy and Water and constructing bridge crossings.

We are training and mentoring the 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army to take responsibility for their own country’s security. Democracy is emerging in Afghanistan. We know the Karzai government is not without its failings, faults and foibles. Democracy is admittedly shaky in Afghanistan but it is taking its first tentative steps and it is gradually finding its feet, nonetheless. The Prime Minister expects Australia’s presence in Afghanistan to remain until 2020 at least. She has made it clear that we believe our timetable of two to four years for training the Afghan national security forces—the army and the police—where they are currently located in Oruzgan province is appropriate and in accordance with international expectations and the expectation of the Karzai government.

The Taliban, which harboured al-Qaeda within Afghanistan, refuse to contemplate surrender, but only when faced with force will they respect democracy and respect the efforts of the Afghani people who are fighting them. Each of the gains we have made has been painful and there have been many. To abandon this process, to abandon the progress which has been made, to run away from the challenge now, I think is to gamble ruthlessly with the lives of peaceloving friends and allies but of peaceloving Afghani people as well. It would be to desert every mother who wants a better life for her child, particularly her daughter, and it would snuff out the hopes of millions for a better life.

We must remember that 88 Australians were killed in the Bali bombing in 2002, four Australians were killed in the second Bali bombing in 2005 and our embassy in Jakarta was bombed. In each of these cases the terrorist groups involved had links with extremists and fundamentalist fascists in Afghanistan. To put our heads in the sand will only ensure that these types of incidents will occur again. We have to be vigilant, we have to be determined and we have to be committed. The goal of the international community must remain to deny terrorist networks a safe haven in Afghanistan. We are in Afghanistan because it is in our vital national interests to be there alongside our friend and ally the United States of America. We are there legally in accordance with the obligations that we have undertaken in the ANZUS treaty. We are there legally in defence of our national interests and in accordance with UN resolutions. On 11 September 2001 al-Qaeda killed 3,000 innocent people from 90 countries in a dreadful attack in the United States of America. All of us will remember when that happened, just as our forebears remember where they were when Harold Holt went missing or John F Kennedy was assassinated.

In my electorate the RAAF base at Amberley is located and Ipswich is a military town. The people there are committed to support the troops in Afghanistan. My daughter’s friends are there; my friends have been there; and our friends from the RAAF base at Amberley, the Air Force and Army personnel have been in the Middle East. They have made sacrifices for us and undertaken service for us. The hardest thing I have had to do since I have been elected to this place was attend the repatriation services at the RAAF base at Amberley alongside the then defence minister, Senator John Faulkner. On these occasions the bodies of fallen Australian soldiers have been returned to their loved ones, their bodies in caskets carried on the shoulders of their comrades out of a C17 aircraft, through a military guard and into the embrace of their mothers and fathers, wives and partners, brothers and sisters. On these occasions words of comfort and solace seem inadequate and trite. But in the conversations with the loved ones of the fallen diggers, the message to us is always the same: in their grief they are proud of the sacrifices made by their loved ones. Their husband, their partner, their son or their brother believed they were doing good, making a difference and helping the Afghani people. I respect their view. I agree with them. I stand with them. I support our military efforts in Afghanistan. I support our civilian assistance in Afghanistan. I support our troops in Afghanistan.

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