Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 17 March 2026, I attended a citizenship ceremony, where I met Nilufar from Iran. She handed me a letter in which she had expressed how she felt about becoming an Australian citizen. She wrote:

… becoming an Australian citizen is a profound honour. Australia represents values that many people across the world deeply admire freedom, democracy, equality before the law, and respect for human dignity. These principles form the foundation of a just and compassionate society.

I couldn't agree more, and I suggest that there has never been a clearer moment to undertake, as Australians, to walk forward together in pursuit of maintaining these values. There has never been a clearer, more urgent moment to do this.

The freedoms, democracy and human dignity that we enjoy here in Australia—and that Nilufar so passionately expressed support for—go hand in hand with national and regional security, sovereign capability and economic and energy self-resilience and can only flourish when these things are assured. Equally, we will only be invested in assuring these things when we are deeply invested in the merit and protection of the values that underpin them. So this is Australia's moment to say, 'Yes, we will continue to do the work to put our country in the best possible position to be able and willing to protect those values.'

Now, a fundamental feature of this work must lie in recognising our geography. As an island continent, seaborne supply is our lifeline. The absence of ships bringing in critical supplies, including the fuel and fertiliser that power our economy and power our defence capability, means—if they don't arrive—Australia's national and economic security is put at risk. The five Ss form the backbone of protecting this: ships, submarines, space, sovereignty and sustainability.

The first S is ships—ships to protect our maritime borders and trade routes and Australian flagged ships to conduct strategic supply as part of a dedicated maritime industrial base. The second S is submarines—nuclear powered submarines to act as a credible and effective deterrent to any adversary that would seek to challenge our expansive maritime trade routes, which are of existential importance. The third S is space, to support our Defence Force and to contribute to satellite communications and operations, missile warning, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, environmental monitoring and space control, all of which is needed to ensure access to space to counter emerging space threats and to enhance space domain awareness.

The fourth S is sovereignty—to gradually reduce the volume of seaborne supply we require for a functioning and prosperous economy and for a capable and effective defence force. If it is made in Australia, it is here in Australia for the benefit of Australia and for our region. This government's 'A Future Made in Australia' speaks to sovereignty and strategic resilience because it is rightly focused on a diversified economy that facilitates and welcomes private sector investment from both large businesses and from SMEs across industry rewards risks taken in innovation, technology, quantum computing and clean energy and, importantly, attracts more global capital.

The fifth S is sustainability, which speaks to the importance of sustaining productive and mutually beneficial relationships with our regional partners, our traditional allies and our European, Asian and Canadian middle-power friends. First and foremost, the need to continue to generate, maintain and then further build regional security is an imperative, and this has been rightly recognised with this government's facilitation of both the Jakarta treaty with Indonesia and the Pukpuk Treaty with Papua New Guinea.

Regional security and stability lead to the creation and maintenance of circumstances in which the aspirations of the Indo-Pacific can be best realised, steering economic development and prosperity for all countries in the region. Stable regions have stable, resilient and fair economic environments that can grow and thrive, which is good for citizens and, importantly, good for the preservation of liberal democracy.

Returning to Nilufar, she's now a citizen of Australia, an island country where the values she would fight for every day are the values she gets to live under. Now, more than ever, is our moment to stand together as a chamber and as a country to ensure this never changes.

House adjourned at 17:01

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