Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The loss of five Australian soldiers within a 24-hour period—the best of the best, the bravest of the brave—and other recent tragic events have brought into question Western military efforts in Afghanistan. The landlocked country is still very much strife-torn but, it must be said, in a far better state and in a far more peaceful shape than it was in soon after the evil of 9/11.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the deaths of at least eight civilian women in the country's east in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization air strike. A NATO spokesman said the strikes were targeting 40 insurgents, many of whom were killed, and the deaths of the women was a very regrettable accident. The air strike came just hours after four American soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected Afghan police. The latest incident follows the killing of two British soldiers at a checkpoint on Saturday by a man wearing the uniform of local Afghan police. He claimed to be injured. When soldiers went to his aid he started shooting. This is the type of lawlessness that occurred freely and regularly before our brave troops went into Afghanistan. So far this year 51 NATO troops have died in green on blue killings.

At the NATO-International Security Assistance Force summit in May 2012 it was agreed the mission in Afghanistan was on track for a transition by the end of 2014. The coalition has always offered and will continue to offer bipartisan support for our operations in Afghanistan, with the shared resolve that the country never again return to being a safe haven for terrorists. We acknowledge and we honour the sacrifice of the 38 Australians killed in action in Afghanistan and the 240 wounded in action since 2002. Their families, their friends and their comrades are always in our thoughts and in our prayers.

A funeral was held in Perth today to farewell a soldier killed in Afghanistan last month. Lance Corporal Mervyn McDonald was on his sixth tour of Afghanistan, serving with the Special Operations Task Group, when he was killed in a helicopter crash. Today, the 30-year-old was remembered by his commanding officer as a quiet, hardworking, likeable bloke and as one of his regiment's most professional members

The 2nd Commando Regiment's commanding officer spoke of the energy and enthusiasm Lance Corporal McDonald brought to the regiment.

ISAF is made up of 50 contributing nations, including Australia, with a presence of 1,550 troops in Afghanistan. It was agreed that, by mid-2013, the Afghan National Army would take the lead in security. In Uruzgan province, where Australia has responsibility, transition has already begun and this process is expected to take between 12 to 18 months. At its conclusion the majority of Australian troops will be able to return home.

In Uruzgan province we are training and mentoring the Afghan National Army 4th Brigade to assume responsibility for security; building the capacity of the Afghan National Police to assist with civil policing functions; helping to improve the Afghan government's capacity to deliver core services and generate income-earning opportunities for its people; and undertaking operations to disrupt insurgent operations and supply routes utilising the Special Operations Task Group.

The aim of the post-2014 NATO-led mission is to train, advise and assist the Afghan National Security Forces, and Australia will continue to contribute trainers to this mission with a focus on the Afghan artillery school and the officer training academy.

The Prime Minister has said there may also be an ongoing need for our Special Forces to remain to contribute towards counterterrorism, a role which would be considered under the right mandate.

The coalition always accepts the advice of the Chief of the Defence Force and the Defence secretary as to when they say the time is right to withdraw our troops. And that time is when the job is done—no sooner.

The Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence get better briefings than the member for Melbourne and the Greens. That is how it should be and must be. We must stay the course and do whatever it takes for as long as it takes. There is an exit strategy. To leave anytime sooner than our arranged withdrawal would be an insult to the 38 soldiers who have lost their lives. It would downplay our role in what, to date, has been a worthwhile mission, despite the awful reality that 38 soldiers, our best and bravest, had their lives so tragically cut short.

I know the Commandant of the Army Recruit Training Centre, Colonel David Hay, has seen the benefits that Australia's involvement in Afghanistan has brought. He spent much of 2010, from January to October, in the Middle East campaign and saw the benefits that the Australian Defence Force presence introduced.

Wagga Wagga and, moreover, Blamey Barracks at Kapooka, is the home of the soldier with every recruit—this year there will be 2,500 of the regular Army going through—training there.

The death, on 29 August, of Sapper James Thomas Martin, one of three Australians killed by a rogue Afghan soldier, hit home hard at Kapooka. Sapper Martin enlisted into the Australian Army on 24 January 2011 and completed recruit training at ARTC at Kapooka in April 2011, where he was allocated to the corps of Royal Australian Engineers. His many Kapooka friends were rocked by Sapper Martin's loss. It brought home to them the awful reality of the war, the finality which can be a soldier's career. But rather than dissuading them from what they train to do, rather than discouraging their resolve to do what their nation asks of them, to do what this parliament asks of them, the recent deaths—five ADF personnel in a 24-hour period just recently—have only determined their resolve to do what they can to bring about peace and stability to a troubled region.

'A lot of us have been there and seen the change,' a Kapooka soldier told me this morning. The change has been positive—in outcomes for women, in the provision of education, in health services and in overall harmony of communities. The Taliban's once feared presence has been pushed out of mainstream society of this landlocked country and deeper and deeper into the mountains. According to the Australian Agency for International Development, AusAID, 'The goal of Australia's development assistance program is to strengthen the capacity of Afghan institutions to govern effectively.'

Since 2001, Australia has provided about $916 million in official development assistance to Afghanistan. A further $201.7 million is provided for in the 2012-13 budget, representing about four per cent of Australia's total official development assistance budget. In May 2012, the Australian government announced it would increase its budget spending to Afghanistan to $250 million per year from 2015-16. According to the Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs:

Australia's aid will help Afghanistan expand basic service delivery in health and education, including for women and girls.

Our assistance will also help improve livelihoods in agriculture, promote rural development and help improve governance and public financial management.

The Prime Minister said it was:

... Important for the international community to provide sustained, reliable support to help Afghanistan meet its development challenges and to protect recent gains in areas like health and education.

International development assistance, together with support for security, will help underpin Afghanistan's stability.

On 8 July 2012, the Minister for Foreign Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding on development cooperation with the Afghan finance minister. This memorandum of understanding sets out mutual 'partnership priorities' for Australia to Afghanistan including    security; governance, rule of law and human rights; economic and social development; reduce poverty; ensure sustainable development through a private-sector-led market economy; improve human development indicators; and, make significant progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

We as a nation are doing all we can to help progress in Afghanistan. It is not helped by the Greens. It is not assisted by motions such as this by the member for Melbourne. The Greens' defence policy, if you could call it that, was no doubt put together while weaving baskets, while reading tea leaves and singing Kumbaya. It is fanciful, just like everything this obstructionist party does. This parliament does not need such motions being brought into the chamber. The Greens have no veterans policy, yet they speak of bringing our troops home with honour. They have no national security policy and their line-in-the-sand approach will simply make matters worse.

We need to stay the course for as long as it takes in Afghanistan. There is an exit strategy and I say to the member for Melbourne, forgive me if I treat your motion with disdain because that is what it needs. When you hear something like that coming from the Greens, you just know that it needs to be condemned because the Greens are, as they have shown by this motion, a joke.

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