Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The recent actions of the North Korean government in pursuing illegal and provocative nuclear and ballistic missile programs and in making very serious threats towards the United States and her allies should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Their actions are highly dangerous, totally unjustified and deeply irresponsible. At a time when the people of North Korea are suffering wholesale, indiscriminate deprivation, brought about by their own regime—a regime that would rather funnel scarce funds into weapons of mass destruction rather than feed their own starving people—this dictatorship has shown itself to be entirely unfit to govern its own society responsibly. The prospect of such a government acquiring the power of nuclear weapons and the ability to project that power to other parts of the globe is deeply troubling. It is unacceptable to the international community and to anyone who cares about the safety of our own people. We must do everything we can to stop it, and the government should be commended for the strong action it has already taken.

It's sometimes is easy to believe that large-scale and bloody conflicts are a thing of the past and that the world is too interconnected and too economically advanced for any significant war to take place. History, however, teaches us otherwise. It's hard to imagine a time that, on first glance, seemed less conducive to a major war between global powers than 1950. The world had only five years prior gone through the largest and most bloody conflict—the second such conflict in living memory. Tens of millions of people lay dead and societies across the globe had been destroyed. The consequences of war were clear to all, and hardly anyone in the world had not felt at least some of its effects.

Five years on from that conflict, people and communities were beginning the slow road to recovery, learning once again how to live in peace. So how can anyone have wanted another major war? How can anyone have truly expected what North Korea's aggression would bring about? Yet there was a war on the Korean Peninsula which commenced in 1950—a three-year conflict between global powers in which probably more than a million people died and in which Australia was heavily involved. The Korean War between 1950 and 1953 teaches us that instability on the Korean Peninsula can have the most serious consequences. It teaches us that, though it might seem like an outcome that no-one wants, though it might seem in no-one's interests and though it might seem like it could not happen, we can never discount the possibility of war when faced with an aggressive and unstable regime.

That experience teaches us something else: that any conflict on the Korean Peninsula is likely to be protracted, difficult and extremely bloody. Though times have changed since the 1950s, the significant size of the North Korean military, its aggression and its difficult terrain have not. Though there is no doubt whatsoever that the brave and well-equipped men and women of the Australian Defence Force, as part of a coalition task force, would prevail, there is also no doubt that restoring peace and stability in the region would come at a heavy price in lives taken and families devastated.

Seventeen thousand Australians served in the Korean War, 350 were killed, 1,216 were wounded and a further 29 were prisoners of war, so history, with reason and compassion, tells us that we must do what we can to pursue a peaceful settlement to this dispute. We must explore every diplomatic avenue to make the North Korean government understand that its own interests and the interests of its desperate people depend on the closure of its nuclear and ballistic missile program. The only thing worse than a conflict with North Korea now would be a conflict with a North Korea that possessed weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them to our shores. Any military option must be the absolute last resort to prevent that happening. We should seek a peaceful settlement of this dispute, but, if that settlement should not prove possible, we must act to defend our sovereignty and that of our allies.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:16 to 16:00

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