David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

In the middle of the country, there's a facility that most Australians couldn't tell you anything about, and it might be the single biggest reason we'd be dragged into a war we never chose. I'll be heading to Alice Springs on 16 July, till the 22nd, for the 'Close Pine Gap – Sacred Land Back' convergence.

Pine Gap sits on Arrernte country, near the heart of Australia. It's a joint US-Australia surveillance facility that's been used by the US to target drone strikes, to support US military operations around the world and to feed intelligence into US wars that Australia has never had any business being part of. For over 50 years, it has operated in the interests of Washington, not of Australia—definitely not for the First Nations communities whose land it's on and not for peace. Pine Gap is, in many ways, the clearest symbol of what the US alliance with Australia actually looks like on the ground, and it again raises a $375 billion question for AUKUS: how much of our sovereignty are we willing to sign away, to pay to lose, to the US?

There is another way: an independent Australia, a peaceful Australia, one that respects sovereignty and doesn't outsource its foreign policy to whoever happens to be sitting in the White House. I'm honoured to be heading up to Arrernte country and to be on a panel with Auntie Sue Haseldine, Karina Lester and Rita Jabri Markwell. So come join us to close Pine Gap and call for that peaceful, independent Australia we all want, because that is exactly the conversation our country needs.

AUKUS is melting down in real time, and the public in Australia is waking up to this continental-scale sellout being run by the Labor government. One of the best indicators of how badly AUKUS is failing is the number of AUKUS spinners being sent out by Labor to try and defend it. Last week, we had a senator standing here and scolding the Greens for our anti-American ideology, and I'll deal with that in a bit.

That speech was all about the new Labor religion of AUKUS, where they have faith, prayers and unquestioning confidence that these wondrous underwater machines will be delivered by their high priests in the UK and the US. To get a sense of their near-religious zeal, take the quote from that same senator last week describing three second-hand Virginia class submarines delivered from our US benefactors as 'the boltcutters that will ensure we are never wrapped in chains'. You can almost hear the trumpets; you can see the robes and smell the incense—such simple faith.

If that's not enough, we have the Assistant Minister for Defence, Peter Khalil, penning a manifesto on AUKUS. There's one point I want to draw close attention to in that, where he points to the US and Israel's war on Iran in order to justify AUKUS. I'll quote:

The war in Iran has also demonstrated how a regional conflict can have global economic implications—

and, according to Assistant Minister Khalil, shows how we need AUKUS so that 'we can bring sufficient military, economic and diplomatic heft to meaningfully contribute to regional stability'. Well, here's a question for Assistant Minister Khalil and here's one he didn't ask: Who started that war with Iran? Who backed it in? Oh, that's right—Donald Trump started it, and his loyal followers in the Australian Labor Party were the first on the globe to back it in. So, in the twisted logic of Labor, we need AUKUS to protect us from wars like that with Iran that are started by the US, the key player in AUKUS. Who writes this stuff?

Well, that shouldn't be surprising from Assistant Minister Khalil. It wasn't long ago that WikiLeaks published official US cables that show he used to be a protected source for the US. I think it's a bad thing to have sitting Australian ministers who have a history as a protected source for a foreign government. Call it 'anti-American ideology', but I think Australia's Defence Force should be for the defence of Australia, not a stalking horse for the US and its military. When one in three children in Australia are going hungry at school, when there's just one rental in the entire country that someone on JobSeeker can afford and when the government is gutting the NDIS to pay for the military, I don't think we should be lining the pockets of Trump and US corporations, and, unlike Labor, I don't care what Trump thinks. I and my party, the Greens, care about the Australian people.

The Albanese Labor government is currently corrupting Nauru. That is what we are seeing in real time. The recent deal that Labor struck with Nauru will pour $2½ billion of Australian public money into a country with an annual GDP of just $160 million. So much of that money is being directed by Nauruan president David Adeang and his family and a close group of political backers that surround him in Nauru. Almost all of that cash flows from Australia to Nauru in secret, without the slightest effort from the Australian government to ensure that it's spent to help the people of Nauru. It will, by its nature, do untold damage to Nauruan society.

We have already uncovered in Senate estimates how the money is being sent from Australia and funnelled through a series of subcontractors and Nauruan corporations, many of which are controlled by Adeang and his son. We also uncovered that $31 million had already been taken out of the slush fund established by Australia, and so much of that has gone to Adeang controlled ministries, like $400,000 going to entertainment, $300,000 to undisclosed local donations and millions more poured into Nauru Airlines. I'm deeply concerned about the impact this will have not only on the people being sent by Australia to Nauru but also on Nauru and society as a whole.

My fear is that we are seeing Australian public money further distort and degrade Nauruan democracy and society. We have heard deeply disturbing reports of money from Australia being used to monopolise and control Nauruan politics and its economy. The Adeang government is using the deal with Australia as a reason to establish greater repression over the people of Nauru and deliver extraordinary paramilitary-style powers. I strongly suspect the Australian government will, instead of being outraged by this—by Australian funds being used to graft and oppress—run cover for this. They'll no doubt attack those who speak out against it, because Labor know the only way to run the cruel system they've set up with Nauru that is designed to brutalise refugees is to do it corruptly.

Politics in this place, the stultifying consensus amongst Labor, One Nation and the coalition to support this ugly deal with Nauru, means it largely goes unexamined, and Labor is very happy with that. They can spend billions punching down on refugees and use their Nauru deal to try and outflank One Nation on immigration and refugees. Time and time again in this place, I've seen One Nation blame migrants for everything, and, time and time again, Labor not only fails to take on that rhetoric but adopts it. When that happens year after year, this is what happens: Labor, One Nation and the coalition in some distorted competition to outdo each other on cruelty. That doesn't just break politics here; it breaks down decency in our neighbours.

I'm deeply concerned with the deteriorating condition of Hatam Yekta from Iran, who sought refuge in Australia and instead was sent to detention in PNG. He's currently 36 years old and living in Port Moresby in PNG, if you can describe it as living. He was previously held in the Australian funded and run detention centre on Manus Island. Hotham is Kurdish and fled Iran in fear in 2013, and, when he reached Australia, he was briefly held in detention by the Australian government before being sent to Manus Island, and that was when he began experiencing significant health issues. We know that the Manus Island detention centre was a pit of despair and torture, backed in by the Australian government, and, after escaping from there, he was then sent to live in harsh conditions, really brutal neglect, in Port Moresby. More than a decade on, Hatam still has no place to call home, and Australia has left him without needed protections or support in PNG in truly appalling conditions. As I speak, his family is concerned that his life is on the line. This is on the Australian government.

For a few short years, Labor supported medevac, until they flipped after pressure from the right of politics. If ever there was a case to get someone urgent medical care, this is the moment. Hatam and the 40 people still in PNG sent there by Australia more than a decade ago need permanent resettlement now.

Why are we asking PNG to deal with people that are Australia's responsibility? This is not how we treat a neighbour. This is not how we should treat any people. The Australian government has already taken away more than a decade of Hatam's life, and, if action is not taken now, I am fearful that Labor will steal the rest.