Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water) Share this | Hansard source

In respect of the previous motion, No. 447, the government does not support conducting our complex defence and foreign policy by way of simple Senate resolutions. Australia remains a strong promoter of peace and security, regionally and globally, and has a long and very proud history of supporting United Nations and regional peacekeeping operations. While the government respects the sentiment behind the motion, the notion of a global ceasefire for the duration of the International Day of Peace is impractical.

Today, many conflicts we face, particularly terrorism and piracy, are not state based and do not respect international peace. A call to cease fire against these threats would be counterproductive to Australia and our partners' continued efforts for peace and security. The government's strong view is that it is in our national interest to be in Afghanistan, not just with our alliance partner the United States but also with 47 other members of the International Security Assistance Force, acting under a United Nations mandate. Australia's fundamental goal is to prevent Afghanistan, especially the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, from again being used by terrorists to plan and train for attacks on innocent civilians, including Australians, in our own region and beyond. To achieve that goal we must help prepare the Afghan government to take lead responsibility for providing security for the Afghan people. To do so we must stabilise the security situation and mentor and train the Afghan security forces to take the lead in the security of their country by 2014.