James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to add my support to Senator Cash's motion. It will be a very important statement, if it is agreed to by this chamber, of solidarity and support with our allies and friends for the difficult but necessary military action that they decided to take over the weekend. We agree with much of the contribution that Senator Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, made earlier in the debate. Much of what she says has bipartisan support. Like the government, we agree with the action that the United States and Israel have taken over the weekend. We agree that it's in Australia's national interest that the nuclear program of Iran be further degraded. We agree that it is in Australia's national interest that the ballistic missile program of Iran is further degraded. We agree with the government that no-one would mourn the Ayatollah Khamenei. In fact, we go further and say that it is a good thing that Ayatollah Khamenei is no longer in power and that many of his henchmen have been removed from office by the actions taken by Israel and the United States.

We say that not only because this is a regime that has menaced the Iranian people most terribly for almost 50 years—and, in recent months, has slaughtered an estimated tens of thousands of innocent civilian Iranians for the crime of protesting—but because Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terror and has terrorised people across the Middle East and the world and because Iran has targeted us here at home in Australia, according to our own intelligence agencies, who have assessed that at least two of the attacks on the Australian Jewish community over the last two years were sponsored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of the Iranian regime and that maybe many others were also ultimately guided, inspired and supported by Iran. For those reasons, we support what the government has said and what the government has done over the last 48 hours in relation to this issue.

However, one thing which I must disagree with the Foreign minister on is the government's failure to initiate their own motion in the Senate chamber this morning. It is utterly routine that, when there are major events in the world about which Australia has a view and an interest and in which Australian values are at stake, the government comes prepared at the beginning of a sitting week to make a statement on behalf of the parliament and the Australian people. The Foreign minister was unprepared to do so. Only she can explain exactly why the government was unprepared to do so, but I personally found the excuses in the Foreign minister's remarks this morning to be utterly unpersuasive.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Foreign minister and the government were indeed very busy over the weekend. There are important questions for the Australian government to decide, like facilitating the repatriation of Australian citizens in the Middle East, particularly in the gulf states, where they have been indiscriminately targeted by Iran lashing out. We know of course that the National Security Committee of cabinet was meeting yesterday. We know about that because it was being broadcast virtually live on Insiders. Presumably, this is the end of the government's position that it can't comment on the timing of National Security Committee of cabinet meetings.

However, we know that wasn't the only thing that the Foreign minister was doing yesterday. The reason why we know it's not the only thing the Foreign minister was doing yesterday is that it was reported, helpfully, by Paul Sakkal in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age in an article entitled 'Taylor opens door to One Nation deal—but Wong will test him on Hanson first'. Mr Sakkal writes:

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will pressure Angus Taylor's Liberal Party to take a stand against Pauline Hanson's controversial remarks about Muslims, as the opposition leader opens the door to a preference deal with One Nation in an upcoming byelection.

The article goes on to quote the Foreign minister, and it says:

"Australians expect their elected representatives to set the standard for our country and show basic respect for all Australians," Wong told this masthead on Sunday ahead of a debate on the Senate motion on Monday.

The Foreign minister, apparently in the midst of coordinating repatriation operations and coordinating with regional allies, took the time out from her day to speak to the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age about a motion to condemn a Sky News interview by a senator two weeks ago. That was the priority that the Foreign minister had on Sunday. The article goes on and says:

The Labor motion will affirm that Australia has "been built by the hard work, sacrifice and aspiration of people of every race and faith", call on senators to avoid divisive commentary, and censure Hanson for "comments seeking to vilify Muslim Australians".

Just in case there was any doubt about the motivation of the government in putting forward this motion and about whether it is sincerely motivated in addressing the conduct of Senator Hanson, which many of my colleagues have condemned—I put on the record today my endorsement of that condemnation, and I particularly want to call out the principled stance by Senator Matt Canavan. It's not fair, as Senator Hanson did, to say that there are no good Muslims in Australia. There are many good Muslims in Australia, including those that serve our country in uniform honourably and patriotically.

But, if we're still in any doubt about what the government's true motivation was in moving this motion, it has been revealed, courtesy of a quote from Senator Whiteaker, a first-term Labor senator from Western Australia, who the article says 'made clear Labor's intent to wedge the opposition and test its willingness to publicly rebuke One Nation, which has overtaken the coalition or drawn level in many polls'. She said:

We know the Liberals are racing to outflank Pauline Hanson on the far right but how low will they go?

I think it's very clear what the government's priority is today. They intend to move a motion as a political wedge to try and divide the coalition. That is what they are focused on That's what their priority was yesterday—devising a wedge motion.

Our priority is to come in here today to talk about a grave matter of international concern. Senator Ayres, who I know is speaking next, was interjecting across the chamber earlier, accusing the coalition of being engaged in student politics. There is nothing more student politics than devising wedge motions when we've got a major international crisis and devoting the time of your Foreign minister to this instead of focusing on grave matters of international security and the fate of Australian citizens stuck in the Middle East, in the gulf, wanting to know how they're going to come home and who is going to help them get here when commercial flights are not flying. Yet the government is focused on wedge motions about One Nation and a Sky News interview from two weeks ago. It will reflect on the government that that was their priority today. It will reflect on the government and the Foreign minister that they weren't ready today with a motion.

It could have been a moment of bipartisan support because, on the substantive issues, the disagreement between the government and the opposition is actually not great on this issue. It could have been a moment of affirmation. It could have been an opportunity to send a message internationally about where we stand and, critically, to express our solidarity and support with the Iranian diaspora in Australia. If you're in any doubt about where we should stand on this issue, just look at the joyous scenes of relief from Iranian Australians seen on our televisions last night and seen in our streets and in our communities. They are very clear that the end of this regime, if that does indeed come as a result of this military action, would be a very welcome thing. We have the opportunity, by supporting Senator Cash's motion today, to show where the Senate stands with the Australian people, the Iranian diaspora and, of course, our Jewish community, who have been viciously targeted by this regime. I call on the Senate to support the motion.