Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Government to rule out deploying Australian military personnel in the Middle East as part of the US and Israeli illegal war with Iran, noting that the Australian public does not support joining another US forever war, and the growing global concerns about its dangerous escalation.

Today's announcement from Labor really beggars belief. Does Prime Minister Albanese have no shame? When he was in opposition, he opposed sending Australian troops to illegal wars. Now that he is the Prime Minister, he is sending Australian troops, missiles and aircraft to an illegal war. The government of Australia under Mr Albanese, backed by the coalition and One Nation, is now America's deputy sheriff and a partner in Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war. The deception from Labor is fooling no-one. We give billions of dollars of our people's money to the US for weapons under AUKUS. We send deadly weapons to Israel in the two-way arms trade. Labor hosts their leaders and joins their wars. Labor, the coalition and One Nation back their crimes while acknowledging that there is no legal justification. Australia is now complicit. We are involved, and it is wrong. Enough!

The people of Australia do not want this war. We want an independent foreign policy. We don't want our policy set by weapons manufacturers. We don't want our foreign policy objectives determined by access to fossil fuels. This war isn't just illegal; it's immoral. We know that it is civilians in Iran and across the Middle East who will pay the price—women, children and families. We want no part of Israel's or America's war crimes. We demand justice. You can have a safe future, but not if we follow Trump blindly into war.

From being the first country to support this illegal war, to allowing the US aircraft to refuel on our soil, to having Australian personnel on a US warship while it bombed an Iranian vessel, to now sending warplanes, missiles and deploying Australian personnel, it's now clear that, when Donald Trump says, 'Jump,' Mr Albanese asks, 'How high?' Now, they are taking a leaf out of Trump's visa-freeze book and rushing in laws to block Iranians with legal visas from entering Australia, right when they most need it—a government backing and resourcing a war killing civilians and then shutting the door to people suffering from that war. It is morally bankrupt.