Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Australia is at war with Iran. That is the stark truth under international law, no matter how much the Labor Party, the Prime Minister and the Foreign minister might try to weasel out of it. By deploying personnel, a surveillance aircraft and air-to-air missiles to the gulf, we have joined the war, and Labor is just hoping Australians won't notice. Look at the war we are currently engaged in fighting. One day President Trump says the war is close to finishing; the next day senior US officials warn it could escalate dramatically. We're told it's not about regime change, then President Trump publicly calls for Iranians to overthrow their terrible government. We're told it would be limited, then we're warned it could become far bigger.

These are apocalyptic and contradictory statements about a war that has already pushed the region into chaos, yet the Australian government has joined us to this war, and there has been no consent from this parliament or from the Australian people. This is how wars have happened throughout human history. First, there's surveillance, then there are support missions, then there are deployments, and then the death, the suffering and the misery occur. Scope creep, mission creep—it has happened time and time again, and it's happening now. We must not be led into another war on the other side of the planet on the basis of a lie, but that is exactly where Labor is leading this country.