David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank both my colleagues for their very clear articulation in this debate. I might bring it back to AUKUS. We have Labor and the coalition, two of the three war parties here, joined now by One Nation. The three war parties love AUKUS. You all come in here and want to wrap your arms around AUKUS, you love nuclear submarines, you like being told what to do by Donald Trump and you like putting Australia's national interest and defence in the hands of a sociopath who commences illegal wars. You all love this stuff, right? You love AUKUS. Then you have the hide, when the Australian Greens, on behalf of millions of Australians, say, 'We want an independent foreign policy, we want an independent defence policy and we want decisions about when Australian troops will be sent to war made in Canberra, not Washington,' to come in here, as the war parties, and say: 'The Greens don't care about the national interest. They don't understand. We have to be a lickspittle to the United States or, otherwise, we won't be safe. We have to be a gormless bunch of noddies to the United States or, otherwise, we can't be safe. The only way of being safe is to live in fear of Donald Trump. The only way to be safe is to offer the United States free range to our continental bases. The only way to be safe is, whenever Donald Trump asks us to send troops to the Middle East or Afghanistan or whatever the latest war is, to desperately comply within hours. Unless we become the lickspittle of the United States, we will never be safe.' You come in here and say that you are talking on the national interest. You surrendered the national interest from the moment you began this debate. The decision to send Australian troops into this most recent forever war of the United States wasn't made this week by the Prime Minister. It wasn't even made in Canberra. The decision to send troops into this illegal war was made five years ago when the war parties signed up to AUKUS. It was an inevitability. When you tie yourself to the United States you are joining them in every bloody war they choose, every one of their forever wars, regardless of the legality.

This war already saw over a 100 schoolgirls killed in the first 24 hours. It's seen acid rain poured down over Iran. It has seen the global economy enter collapse. We have this bizarre exchange between Labor, the coalition and One Nation about fuel prices and fuel scarcity as though it came as a surprise. When you set fire to the Middle East, you'll have problems with energy supplies. We have an answer to this: end AUKUS, detach ourselves from the United States and stand up for Australia. (Time expired)