Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

on indulgence—Firstly, I want to congratulate the Minister for Defence for being there and supporting our troops. The work that they undertake in our country's name is recognised by countries around the world. Our partners, our allies, have stood shoulder to shoulder with the men and women of the Australian Defence Force in battles near and far, and our reputation is revered around the world.

I had the great honour of visiting some of the troops in Lavarack Barracks in the member for Herbert's electorate not too long ago, and they had been on a similar training exercise to provide support, particularly around the gifting of some of the vehicles to the soldiers in Ukraine. You could see in their relaying of the story a similar account to that the Minister for Defence just gave. They knew what they were doing was tangible and that it counted. They knew they were preparing people to defend themselves against a brutal regime that didn't know the boundaries of decency by which our soldiers abide. The brutality—not just brutality towards soldiers but the wholesale slaughter of men and women and children in Ukraine this very day—is a tragedy we haven't seen in recent times.

The depravity of Putin and those around him is rightly called out, most recently by our Prime Minister. The Australian public should know that we stand absolutely united as parliament in support of the work the government is undertaking. I am incredibly proud that we were able to provide $285 million worth of defence materiel when we were in government to Ukrainian forces at the request of President Zelenskyy, and we will continue to provide that support because the world, more than ever, needs to hear from nations like Australia. The values the minister rightly spoke of need be asserted in our region and in Europe. The work that President Zelenskyy is doing—a modern-day Churchill. His meetings with Prime Minister Sunak and the way in which Germany and others are providing support is a great credit to like-minded countries. We very proudly stand with them, and we always will.

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