Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I, and also on behalf of Senators Birmingham and Payman, move:

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges:

(i) 15 August 2022 marks one year since Kabul fell to the Taliban,

(ii) this date will be a particularly difficult day for many in Australia, for the families of the 41 Australian servicepeople who tragically died in Afghanistan and of those that have been lost since returning, for the more than 39,000 Australian Defence Force personnel and civilians who deployed to Afghanistan over twenty years, for Afghan-Australian communities with loved ones still in Afghanistan, for the thousands of Australian police, diplomats, officials and aid workers that contributed to our efforts there, and

(iii) our commitment to help those who assisted Australian operations in Afghanistan find safe harbour, and the continued efforts of the Australian Government and non-governmental organisations to resettle Afghans in Australia;

(b) notes:

(i) Australia remains committed to working with the international community to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people of Afghanistan, and

(ii) the Taliban, who remain in effective control of Afghanistan, have spurned the opportunity for reform, engaged in violence and repression, and systematically rolled back human rights advancements, undermined media and political freedoms, harboured terrorists and taken away the rights of women and girls;

(c) recognises:

(i) protracted, severe and deepening humanitarian, economic, security and development crises continue to have a devastating impact on the people of Afghanistan, and

(ii) the contributions made by the Afghan diaspora in Australia and that 31,500 visa places for Afghan nationals have been made available over four program years; and

(d) calls on the Taliban to:

(i) stand by its commitment to uphold the rights of all Afghans, including women, girls and minority groups, and

(ii) not allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorist organisations and their support networks.

At the outset, can I start by acknowledging the support and cosponsorship of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and also Senator Payman, who will speak and who obviously has a very deep personal interest in this.

Colleagues, a year ago in Afghanistan, 12-year-old girls went to school. Some aspired to be engineers, doctors or lawyers. Now those same girls are barred from attending secondary school, whatever their dreams. A year ago, many women in Afghanistan went to work, ran their own businesses, provided for themselves and for their families. Today they are effectively excluded from the workplace, directed not to leave their home without a male chaperone. A year ago, Afghanistan had diverse media. Today journalists face arrest, intimidation and harassment, restricted in what they can report, if at all, on conditions and developments in their own country. An estimated 40 per cent of media outlets have been closed, and others are self-censoring. The Afghanistan of today is a diminished country from that which we saw before Kabul fell to the Taliban on 15 August 2021. It is a country facing an economic crisis, growing humanitarian demands and ongoing problems with security and governance. Following the one-year anniversary of that day, it's timely for this place to reflect upon the journey we have taken as a country with the people of Afghanistan and with the international community.

I start by acknowledging that 15 August is a particularly difficult day for many in Australia for different reasons. Our 20-year legacy of engagement saw more than 39,000 Australian Defence Force members and civilians serve in Afghanistan. As part of an international effort, they worked and fought alongside coalition and Afghan partners to deny Afghanistan as a safe haven for international terrorism and help Afghans rebuild their country. On behalf of their nation, they did an incredibly important job in the most difficult of circumstances. They should be proud of their service, as we are. We thank them for it.

Tragically, 41 Australian servicepeople died in Afghanistan. Many more returned home with lasting physical and mental injuries, and we have lost more Defence personnel since they returned. For those veterans and family members who may have been concerned with or affected by the anniversary of the fall of Kabul, we encourage you to reach out to Open Arms, which provides support for current and ex-serving ADF personnel and their families. This is a good time to check up on your mates.

The one-year anniversary is a sad time for the Afghan community here in Australia and around the world. Many left their homeland in the most trying of circumstances. Some had to make the difficult, life-changing decision to navigate a difficult journey to the Kabul International Airport with family and loved ones. They then had to negotiate their way through the intimidation of Taliban checkpoints, congregate for hours, if not days, in the heat of the Kabul summer, with tens of thousands of people also desperate to enter the gates of the airport to secure safe passage out of the country. For those who were able to depart, there remain deep concerns about the safety of family and friends still in Afghanistan.

Today the Taliban remain in effective control of Afghanistan and have reverted to misogynistic and oppressive practices that characterised its rule during the 1990s. The Taliban have worked systematically to take away the rights of women and girls. The Ministry of Women's Affairs, part of the previous Afghan administration, was abolished and replaced by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which issues decrees forcing all Afghan women to cover from head to toe and mandating that women leave home only when necessary and always with a male guardian. Male guardians are being punished for noncompliance with their directives. Likewise, since August last year the Taliban have threatened and intimidated journalists and media workers and subjected around 120 to arbitrary arrest and detention, and shocking videos have emerged of Taliban thugs whipping and beating defenceless journalists. This is a deliberate effort to silence dissent. The United Nations has recorded that in the 10 months since the fall of Kabul the Taliban have committed 160 acts of extrajudicial killings, 178 arbitrary arrests and detentions and 56 acts of torture against former Afghan national defence and security forces and government officials.

While the Taliban double down on repression and inclusion they have been negligent in providing the most basic services to the people of Afghanistan amidst a severe and deepening humanitarian crisis. Violence, recurrent natural disasters, poverty, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic have left the Afghan people vulnerable. The United Nations estimates that 24.4 million people, 59 per cent of the population, are now in need of humanitarian assistance, an increase of six million since the beginning of 2021. The World Food Programme estimates that almost 19 million people will face acute food insecurity in coming months through to November 2022, a situation made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Australia will continue to speak up for the human rights of Afghans. No country has formally normalised relationships with the Taliban, and the international community have been very clear about our expectations, including the need to respect human rights, particularly for women and girls and minorities, to observe humanitarian principles and to deter any transnational terrorism resurgence from Afghanistan. I join, as I am sure all do in this chamber, the voices across the international community in calling on the Taliban to stand by its undertakings and to set a firm date for the opening of secondary schools to all children, and I call on the Taliban to respect the rights of all Afghans, including women and girls and minority groups, and to remove restrictions on women's movement and their right to access employment.

It is not in our national interest for Afghanistan to again become a training ground for terrorists or for organised crime there to go unchecked, and history shows us the flow-on impacts of an unstable and ungoverned Afghanistan. It has consequences for the world, it has consequences for our region and it has consequences for Australia. Al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri was killed in a US airstrike in Kabul on 30 July. He was indicted by the United States for the part he played in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and coordinated the 11 September hijackings that destroyed the World Trade Center in 2001. So many lives have been lost and so much blood has been spilled since, including of those Australians who served, sacrificed and gave their lives in Afghanistan. Let the terrorists see that Afghanistan will never be a safe haven for their hatred and attacks on our collective humanity.

Afghanistan remains the world's major producer of illicit opium, accounting for 86 per cent of production in 2021, and Afghans remain vulnerable to human trafficking and modern slavery. We're working with the international community to respond to the unfolding humanitarian crisis, now one of the worst in the world. Over the past year we have committed $141 million, mostly through UN agencies, to ensure that aid is delivered to those most in need, and with our humanitarian partners, Australian support is saving lives. We are providing emergency food supplies, we are enabling responses to natural disasters like the June earthquake in the south-east of the country, we are supporting women's access to sexual and reproductive health care, we are delivering education to primary school boys and girls and we are providing shelter to the most vulnerable, recognising that displacement affects recovery and stability.

We have also supported those neighbouring countries hosting the many Afghans who have fled the country. The fall of Kabul led to one of Australia's largest humanitarian evacuations, and over a nine-day period officials in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade—supported by colleagues from Home Affairs, Australian Border Force and of course the ADF—led the whole-of-government effort to facilitate the safe movement of around 4100 people out of Kabul on 32 flights. I thank all those who were part of this urgent and dangerous mission. In addition to those on the ground in Kabul, officials in Dubai, Doha, Tehran and Islamabad supported the evacuation operation, and we want to recognise the role of host governments in supporting this important phase of the operation. People will know, when in opposition, we were highly critical. We were critical of the approach of the Morrison government, which failed to act on warnings about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, appeared to apply rules inconsistently and did not move fast enough to evacuate locally engaged employees who had helped Australia.

The Albanese government is commissioning an independent review of how decisions were made, including the application and appeals process, record keeping and departmental resourcing. In the meantime, we will do what we can to enable safe departure from Afghanistan.

Following the conclusion of the evacuation phase from Kabul airport, almost 3,000 people have departed Afghanistan for Australia, including on 22 flights out of Islamabad and on six Qatari-facilitated flights via Doha. A total of 31,500 places have been earmarked for Afghan nationals over the next four years, which comprises 26,500 places under our humanitarian program and 5,000 under the family stream of the migration program. Our focus is on doing everything we can to assist people fleeing persecution and seeking help, but we should be clear: this is a very difficult set of circumstances, not least because border crossings out of Afghanistan are difficult and they are dangerous. At the same time, the demand for protection is growing, particularly as conditions under the Taliban deteriorate.

This government is steadfast in its commitment to supporting the Afghan community at this distressing time. The Afghan diaspora brings its own special contribution to multicultural Australia, including my recently elected colleague who will speak in this debate, Senator Payman. For this community and for many others around the world, this anniversary will bring much pain and great sadness, but let us remind ourselves that history did not stop on that day. As difficult as the forward path is, it continues, and Australia remains part of this journey.