Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today marks 20 years since the war in Iraq started, a war now widely accepted as being based on false and misleading information, one that was not sanctioned by the UN and whose purpose and promise of democracy and freedom was never realised. This was a war that was led by the coalition of the willing, of which Australia was a member, a war that I and many others in this place stood very strongly against and that the opposition Labor Party at the time also opposed—just as the overwhelming majority of Australians did, marching against the war in record numbers, in their hundreds of thousands, across our cities, together with tens of millions of people around the world. It was a war that the people didn't support but their government did, thus signing Australia up to what we now know was a monumental catastrophe, enacted in our name.

On this day we need to reflect on the events that led to the war in Iraq, on the lessons learnt and on the mistakes and actions that should never be repeated. We have to because the consequences of the Iraq war remain with us today. They remain in the upheaval and destabilisation of an entire region, in the destruction of homelands and displacement of people, in the enormous flow of refugees. They remain in the memory of the killings, the violence and the torture committed in the name of freedom and democracy, in the sidestepping of the rule of law and the principles of democratic justice.

Twenty years later, people across the Middle East continue to be lost to a war which didn't bring any real democracy or freedom. Nor did it bring any security in its aftermath. Instead, it gave rise to sectarianism and corruption. The war in Iraq was wrong. Our so-called humanitarian intervention was ill conceived and prosecuted on falsities. Our pursuit of regime change, favouring pre-emptive military attacks, without UN approval, over seasoned diplomacy set a dangerous standard and precedent which other nations could follow. It is a stain on our collective involvement, and we must learn its lessons.

I want to acknowledge the Australian defence personnel who, under instruction from the government of the day, did their job as a serving men and women. Many of them lost their lives, and we must honour them for their sacrifice and remember them.

The ramifications of the war in Iraq have had a direct impact in my electorate of Calwell. In the last 20 years, we have settled thousands of refugees from both Iraq wars and from Syria in our local community. I am all too familiar with their stories. They have lost their homes, their families, their children, their friends, their livelihoods, their communities and their sense of being. Distraught and traumatised, they fled the violence and the horrors of the war that raged around them to UN refugee camps in the region, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where they waited their turn to be resettled in other countries. Thousands are still waiting.

Those who came to Australia are thankful for our embrace of them. They are thankful for the shelter we have given them, for the security and the safe space, for the opportunity to give their children education and a better life. They are grateful. Many of them, however, have struggled in their new life. It has been difficult to forget what happened to their homeland. They still worry for other members of their families that have been left behind, many still in refugee camps, waiting. Language has been a problem, so too the loss of the dignity that comes with being able to provide for your family. They lost their jobs and careers. Many were doctors and dentists, tradespeople, businesspeople. Not having their work experience and qualifications recognised has been difficult, but they have shown remarkable resilience. As a community they have grown and prospered. Their deep faith sustains them, and they have built new lives here. They are becoming proud Australian citizens, in their hundreds.

I meet so many of them in the many citizenship ceremonies that I attend in my electorate. They have enriched our multicultural community and they have brought with them their ancient Aramaic language, their culture and their festivals. The Chaldean and Assyrian new year celebrations of Akitu, on 1 April, which marks the beginning of the beginning of the harvest festival and the new year, are an iconic presence in Calwell, and I look forward to these celebrations each year. Their soccer clubs are full of budding future soccer stars and they have remained close to their places of worship. The circumstances that brought them here were cruel and violent, but they have found their haven and are proudly calling Australia home. They are forever grateful for the fact that we have embraced them and given them a new opportunity and a new life.