Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the comments made by my colleagues Senator Shoebridge and Senator McKim. The question has to be asked: what are the government and the coalition afraid of in letting the public have a bill, to give them a say about whether or not this country goes to war, be interrogated? Are you afraid that experts are going to come and say that the parliament should actually debate this? If you were so confident in your position, then you'd be happy for this to go to an inquiry. So the question for the Australian public is: what are the government and the opposition wanting to keep secret about the decisions that they are making, to put Australian troops in harm's way, to make the Australian public less safe, to tie us to a government that is led by a fascist maniac? You cannot take any of the statements that the President of the United States, Trump, has made since this illegal war started and have any level of confidence that we should have been dragged into this unlawful and illegal war. Every time I hear that man speak, I am horrified. Every time other Australians hear him speak, they are horrified. This is the government and the military that you have tied us to. At least have the courage to be upfront and allow an open debate about whether this parliament should have a say in whether our country is dragged into war. At least have the courage to send this bill to an inquiry so that people can see, very clearly and plainly, the evidence as to whether this should happen or not.

I also want to support Senator McKim's comments about the smoke and mirrors around the government claiming that they are protecting people from price gouging on fuel. This is a government full of smoke and mirrors. Yesterday we had the ministerial statement on better and fairer schools. This government loves to claim that they'll fully fund our public schools, but everybody knows that's not going to happen, even by 2034, but they're still out there saying it. And now they're out there telling people that they're going to protect them from price gouging when they're actually not. If you're not going to do something then be honest with the public about what you are doing. People have a right to know what is actually happening. Over the top of this we're being drowned by mis- and disinformation, and the approach that you take only makes that worse.

This war started with the bombing of a school by the United States. More than 150 young schoolgirls died. And last night in the chamber, both the government and the opposition stood up in response to the better and fairer schools ministerial statement and said how much they value our young people. Well every war—every war—is a war on children. If the major parties in this place care so much about young people, if they really care, then they would be doing everything in their power to make the bombs stop. You would not cheer them on from the get-go. You would be using every diplomatic lever. You would stop sending arms to Israel, which you continue to do. Every war is a war on children, and the major parties and One Nation in this place are continuing to perpetuate that war rather than doing every single thing in their power to bring peace and make the bombs stop.