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

Well, where to begin on that contribution, this debate and this disallowance motion? I suppose I'll begin by putting on the record that the opposition will not be supporting this disallowance motion. It would be irresponsible and reckless to do so. We'll be opposing it because we support AUKUS—both Pillar I and Pillar II—but also because these regulations are necessary to facilitate the safe and lawful visitation of US nuclear powered submarines to Australian naval bases and facilities, including HMAS Stirling in Western Australia.

When your own colleagues interject on you to say that you can sit down at any time, I think that's probably a fair indicator of how off-track your contribution has become, as Senator Whish-Wilson—

Thank you, Senator McKim. I'm grateful for that facilitation. Really, much of that contribution from Senator Whish-Wilson had nothing at all to do with the regulations. Some frankly bizarre claims were made as part of that contribution, including the assertion that the Australian government's announcement today that it would be contributing defensive military assets to the region following the strikes by Iran on its neighbours, who are not participants in the war in Iran, was in some way and somehow related to AUKUS. Points to Senator Whish-Wilson for trying to find a hook on the current news cycle for this preplanned motion on nuclear safety, but, of course, the reason why the Australian government made the decision to deploy an E-7A Wedgetail and 85 personnel and provide air-to-air missiles is that we had requests from the United Arab Emirates and other gulf states, and last time I checked they were not parties to AUKUS. There's a hint in the name of AUKUS of which parties are participants, and the UAE is not one of them.

We rightly made a contribution to that cause (a) because the UAE and other gulf states are our friends, and they generously provided the Al Minhad base for Australia for decades so we can operate out of there safely when we're in the Middle East; (b) because it's in our national interest that the waterways and airspace around the gulf states are restored to normalcy and peace so that Australians can leave the region by scheduled commercial flights and so that oil and other shipping can flow again through the Strait of Hormuz; and (c) because it's an opportunity for Australia to learn from the realities of modern warfare, which include drone and missile strikes. The Wedgetail in particular will be assisting gulf states to identify, interdict and prevent those drones and missiles from striking civilian targets in the gulf states, including hotels, roads and airports, which have been indiscriminately struck by Iran in recent weeks.

To summarise, the opposition will not be supporting this disallowance motion. We strongly support AUKUS Pillar I, and we strongly support the regulations that are necessary to ensure the safe and lawful access of US nuclear-powered submarines to Australian naval facilities.