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

There is growing expert consensus around the world that the Trump-Netanyahu attack on Iran is illegal. The Greens condemn the illegal, abhorrent and unilateral attacks in Iran. It is clearly contrary to international law, and Australia is in breach of international law both in supporting this war and in permitting US bases in Australia to support it. We are an important middle power. We have a responsibility to work with other countries around the world to uphold international law. International law does not uphold itself. It does not withstand the bullying of US presidents unless countries like ours stand up against them.

History shows that we cannot bomb our way to peace. No-one can bomb their way to peace. We cannot bomb our way to democracy. How many times do we have to prove it? Like in every other war based on lies and contempt, it is citizens who pay the price of mad, militaristic kings, drunk on their own power, attempting to distract from their own domestic disasters. We've seen these lies before, just as we've seen the rubble before, just as we have seen the bodies before. We remember Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Millions of people died in these invasions, also based on falsehoods and false information. In each of those wars, we were 'all the way with the USA', and here we are again—and this time we're following Trump, who is at least honest in his contempt for international law or even for his own constitution. To claim that he is fighting for democracy in Iran when he holds democracy in such contempt in his own country defies belief. If you do not learn from history, you are bound to repeat it—and here we are, repeating the murder of innocent civilians based on lies and a failure to join with other countries to uphold international law.

It is truly incredible to me that this Australian Labor government was the first in the world to support Trump's illegal attacks. Like so many others, I listened in disbelief to the weasel words from Labor and the untruths about a nuclear threat. In Trump's State of the Union address, as we've heard many times in this place, he claimed that last year's strikes completely wiped out—obliterated—Iran's nuclear program. Yet Minister Wong said that these attacks were justified because they would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon—a false, fake shield that Minister Wong projects and constructs. What this means in reality is that powerful thugs are waging war on a false pretext while civilian women, kids, men and children pay the price. We've already seen hundreds of people killed in the bombings of primary schools, hospitals and more each day in this illegal war.

The Greens have consistently and clearly condemned the Iranian regime's violent response to recent protests and the long, murderous history of a brutal regime. We've backed the Women, Life, Freedom movement. But we know that the people of Iran, who have been the victims of this brutal regime, will be the same people who are right now being killed, injured and driven into further poverty and fear by US and Israeli bombing. The Labor government must immediately rule out Australian support for Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war—no resources, no intelligence, no more cover. We must work with like-minded countries to promote peace in the region and for the people of Iran. The Greens are the only anti-war party standing in this parliament against the parties of Labor, the coalition and One Nation. We will not shift from that stance against a war that is illegal, against a war that repeats history and makes civilians pay the price for people who are trampling on international law.