Barbara Pocock (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Hear, hear! Labor has put their hand up to be Trump's deputy sheriff. This is how forever wars begin. First, we blindly endorse our allies and leave it up to the bullies and the criminals in charge in the US and Israel to decide whether their own strikes are legal, and then we get involved. We heard this morning that Australia will deploy surveillance aircraft, weapons and 85 Australian troops to the UAE. Labor has gone from supporting this illegal war politically to having Australian personnel on US military submarines to now putting troops in harm's way. Australians remember the massive failures and the mission creep of Vietnam, of Iraq and of Afghanistan—wars that cost millions of civilians their lives.

We know that civilians, especially women and children, pay the biggest price in war. We stand against the war parties opposite us—Labor, the coalition and One Nation—and against a war that will have untold long-term consequences. It's a war that, like all wars, will have only one big winner: huge profits for defence corporations, whose share prices are through the roof today. You can't bomb your way to democracy and peace. The Greens stand with millions of Australians who are watching with horror as Labor delivers for Trump, a madman, in the US and for Netanyahu, a war criminal. If we want to protect people in the region, the best thing the Albanese government could do is call for an end to war, withdraw support, stop all military engagement and end AUKUS in favour of independent foreign policy.

Today, Labor has introduced a cruel migration bill—unbelievable—that seeks to prevent people from fleeing places like Iran and finding refuge in Australia. It's absolutely shameful. Time and time again, it's Labor that treats refugees with the most cruelty. Today, they've hit a new low. If you ever thought this war was about protecting the people of Iran, then this is the clearest example of why this is a lie. The war parties create refugees and then come together to shut the door on them. It's obscene. Do not send Australian troops to Trump and Netanyahu's illegal forever war.