Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Sturt for bringing this motion before the House, because right now, more than ever before, the world needs to act together if we are to address the challenges that we all face on this planet. We live in times when rising population and diminishing resources are leading to ever-increasing human conflict and all of its consequences to insecurity, food shortages, increased military spending and less confidence into the future.

Simultaneously, greed and power—human traits that have existed throughout history—add to global injustices and civilian unrest right across the world. These are now global problems, which no single nation acting alone can rectify. And we have seen that over the last two or three decades, where there have been plenty of efforts made by countries around the world to try and resolve some of these matters. But the truth is we have to work in unity with other countries. It is indeed only through the collective efforts of like-minded nations that we can deal with the global problems facing humanity, which is why the security and defence partnership between Australia and the European Union is so important.

The majority of early settlers who came to Australia from overseas were from Great Britain and Europe. Similarly, in the post-World-War-II years of mass migration to Australia, they came from Europe and Great Britain. Much of our laws and Australian characteristics arise from connections with those very homelands. When added to the strong people-to-people bonds Australia has with Europe and our commitment to the rule of law, democracy and peace, as other speakers have quite rightly alluded to, it makes for natural allies and trusted friends. That is what this partnership is all about—natural allies and trusted friends on opposite sides of the globe working together. It is for those very reasons that this partnership is not only important but one that we can have confidence in.

The Australia and EU security partnership covers several key areas, and time will not permit me to go into them in detail. But, broadly speaking, they are defence and industry cooperation, economic security, cyber and hybrid threats, maritime and space security, crisis management and capacity building. These are all things that we could spend hours talking about individually in terms of how we address those very matters, but this partnership embraces them all.

As a middle power. Australia would not only benefit from this partnership but be able to make a real contribution to addressing the global threats facing people around the world. We've already seen that with the work that has been done between not only Australia and some of the European countries but also Australia and countries such as Canada. It's starting to emerge that like-minded countries who have shared values can have an impact on global affairs. I believe that that is a very good thing because, for too long, global affairs have been run by what I would consider the more powerful countries of the world.

In my own electorate, in Mawson Lakes, we have a number of defence and security companies now operating. It's pleasing to see that so many of those companies are actually headquartered overseas yet have come to Australia to set up bases here. Again, that reinforces the ability of Australia to work constructively with the very countries that this partnership is looking to include. Working closely with EU countries and sharing our knowledge and resources not only makes us more secure but means that, together, we can better influence and respond to emerging risks, such as online radicalisation, terrorism, foreign interference, military development and procurement, supply chain resilience and critical mineral supply. All of these are things that we talk about in this place on a regular basis—but, again, we need to work together.

So I commend everyone—all the ministers involved but also everyone who in some way has contributed to the development of the partnership—because it is to the benefit of our country and the world.

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