Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'll take that interjection, Senator Chisholm. Within 24 hours, the Prime Minister was backing it in, as was Senator Wong, talking about the Iranian regime's nuclear program. They didn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Actually, I thought Donald Trump had thoroughly debunked that himself, saying multiple times that he had obliterated the Iranian nuclear program—after hearing in March last year from his own intelligence agencies that it didn't exist and that there was no plan for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency also debunked that this week—another lie told to the Australian people. They say that the truth is the first casualty in war.

What did we hear after that was thoroughly debunked? Suddenly, we heard that Iran was going to strike us first—the US and Israel and its neighbours. That has also been debunked. It was debunked by the Pentagon two days ago. They said that there is no evidence that that was the case. The question is: why did the US and Israel illegally attack a foreign sovereign nation? What other lies are we going to be told? This is not just a war on Iran; this is a war on the truth. It's no wonder that Australians are sceptical. It's no wonder that they're anxious. They saw what happened when we followed the US into a forever war in past history. They question why we are joined at the hip with the United States government and why we have bases in Australia that we know are helping coordinate the attacks on Iran in the Middle East.

I bring senators back to peace and diplomacy. I must say that I was very frustrated when I saw Senator Wong's interview on Insiders the day after the first strike against the Iranian regime. She refused to condemn it, virtually backed it in and then called for a return to diplomacy and a rules based order so that this conflict doesn't escalate. How can you do that? How can you not condemn a clear breach of international law—like, by the way, what we've seen in Gaza—and then call for a return to a rules based order when it suits you? Of course we should be conducting diplomacy. They do say that war is failed diplomacy.

I can't understand why we've again gotten ourselves in a situation where we've got conflict spreading across the Middle East. I also remind senators of President George W Bush's famous speech on an aircraft carrier. He said 'Mission accomplished—an end to major hostilities'. What did we see after that? We saw an insurgency, and we saw an incredible amount of bloodshed. It wasn't just Western soldiers that lost their lives; it was hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and it spread into neighbouring countries.

When are we going to learn? When are we going to have an independent foreign policy where we can openly question the decisions of Donald Trump and Mr Netanyahu?