Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

We should be alarmed at the federal government having mostly shrugged off breaches of international law in its reaction to Israel's genocide in Palestine, and at it ignoring international law completely in its approval of the US bombing of Iran. The federal opposition's mocking of the defenders of international law as 'misty-eyed nostalgics' is no better. After all, international laws anchors 80 years of relative postwar peace and prosperity, and Australia undermines it at its own peril.

While it's certainly isn't perfect, international law does work to constrain the worst excesses of power and geopolitical competition. It also attempts to elevate and equalise the rights of all nations and, indeed, of all people. In particular, the rules based order saw the international community deal effectively with the hole in the ozone layer. Adherence to international law also limited the testing and proliferation of nuclear weapons and ensured they have not been used in any conflict since World War II. It has also served to elevate the importance of fundamental human rights across the globe. Moreover, international law guides international trade and telecommunications, which have helped make Australia one of the wealthiest nations and ensured we're connected and engaged across the globe.

But, more and more recently, it seems Australian governments believe that, when it comes to our friends, might makes right but that a rules based order should apply to everyone else. For instance, the government will rightly call for international law to apply to China in Tibet, the South China Sea and Taiwan, to Russia and Ukraine, and to Iran in their nuclear program. But it hasn't had the guts, most of the time, to also apply it to Israel and the US. And Australia has been willing to break international law itself—for instance, when we helped invade Iraq in 2003 and every time we turn around, lock up and send offshore the many asylum seekers desperate for our protection. Mind you, it's always open to us to start doing better, and I suggest that immediately recognising the state of Palestine would be a solid start.

I'm clear-eyed about the issues with the international rules based order and the criticism it faces for things like an ineffective UN Security Council and problems with enforcement. However, those are reasons not to abandon our support for international law but, rather, to demonstrate consistency in the ethical standards we hold, and to work harder together to prove its principles and its application. In the end, international law is based on cooperation around the fundamental principles of justice and accountability that protect us here in Australia and, indeed, protect billions of people right around the world.

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