David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance in support of the government's response around this issue. I would like first of all to congratulate our Prime Minister for his leadership on this issue, which has been measured, sensible, proportionate and compassionate. Nothing in life is simple when you are dealing with the crisis that is in front of the world now in Syria and Iraq. But I must say that we have been operating ahead of the curve of many other countries that should have equal involvement in this, as much as Australia. Over the last couple of years, through our existing humanitarian refugee intake, we have resettled 4,400—and that is resettled, not processed with the paperwork filled out for the UN to decide where they could go. We have actually resettled 4,400.

As soon as this recent escalation happened, the Prime Minister and the cabinet dispatched our Minister for Immigration and Border Protection to Geneva. He has met with the United Nations refugee bodies and sought their advice. What they need most urgently at the moment for food supply, water, shelter, health care and all those things is cash. That is why the Australian government has provided more cash up front. To put things in perspective: other countries have promised more, but it is my firm understanding from what I have been briefed with that not all of them have actually delivered the cash they have promised, whereas Australia has delivered the goods that it promised. The previous government stumped up $100 million and this government, subsequently, about $56 million. This recent amount will get us over the $200 million mark. We are actually delivering what we are saying we are going to do.

Our response is on top of our already very generous humanitarian refugee intake. If you look at what we are scheduled to take over the next four years, that is already about 60,000 places. So with these 12,000 places, which I thoroughly endorse, putting that all in perspective, we are really doing our fair share. We have a compassionate program. We actually resettle people.

There are a lot of figures being bandied around about hundreds of thousands of people being processed. For people who are listening: processing for the UNHCR is quite different from resettling. When people are resettled in this country, once they are in the door and they have been given their visa, they are eligible for all the support that you need to re-establish your life. They can get financial support, education, training, Medicare benefits, rental assistance—all those things in the social welfare net. A lot of the countries in Europe that let people transit through their country do not offer any of that, but the numbers that happen there are made out by some of our opponents to show that Australians are mean and nasty. We are incredibly generous considering the size of our country and the fact that we are on the other side of the world, and we actually deliver what we say we are going to do. So I am really proud of the Australian nation. Through its most recent decisions by the cabinet and the Prime Minister, it is a really significant and magnificent response.

Another thing that I will just briefly touch on is frequently spoken about. That is the legal basis of the action and whether the flip side of our response, which is trying to address the root problem which has led to this social catastrophe, is justified. It certainly is justified. The Leader of the Opposition and other speakers have mentioned that article 51 of chapter VII of the UN Charter justifies collective or individual self-defence when a nation threatens you with arms, and that is what is happening in Iraq.

Daesh, the murderous Islamic death cult, is attacking Iraq. Iraq have asked us to help defend their nation. We have been bombing Daesh targets—not willy-nilly; the rules of engagement are very strict. If missions do not meet the exact definition of the terms of engagement, they are aborted, so they have to be very certain that what we are doing with bombs and destructive forces is actually targeted at the enemy, which is Daesh. That is the justification for going into Syria. It is not willy-nilly bombing Syria. It is going after, via air attack, Daesh and its henchmen and henchwomen. That is an existentially sensible and justified reason for our involvement. (Time expired)

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