CANBERRA - 23 August 2021
Thank you, Speaker.
Speaker, I join the Prime Minister, the Labor Leader, the deputy leaders, the Defence and shadow Defence Ministers and all the speakers so far speaking to the situation in Afghanistan.
I want to acknowledge all the speakers and in particular those who have served in that country.
Now, I won't be going back into history and offering my judgments on our time there.
This isn't a time for that.
We all know why we went there.
We all remember September 11.
I want to pay tribute to all the Australians who worked or served in Afghanistan, whether it was with the ADF, the AFP, other agencies, diplomatic corps, NGOs or any other organisation or capacity that was there in that country to do good.
And I want to pay tribute to their families.
To the families of the 41 fallen, I send my love to you.
It was right of the Defence Minister to read out a roll call yesterday of the forty one. There’s just one thing to follow up, and I know mistakes happen, but it's Robbie, not Richard Poate.
I acknowledge it's now been fixed in Hansard, but he should give Hugh and Jenny Poate a quick call, see how they’re travelling.
To the families of those that fell, when their loved ones returned home, I send my love to you as well.
To those struggling today, I send my solidarity.
The feelings of pain will pass.
But please, please reach out to a mate. Talk to your loved ones.
Open Arms is there, ex-service organizations are there.
And hold your head up high and know that we made a difference over there, those that were there doing good.
I pay tribute to all those working to evacuate Australians and those Afghans that we are rescuing right now.
Those ADF members, those aviators, those soldiers, I pay tribute to them.
Godspeed to you all.
And to the Afghan people enduring this upheaval and to the Australian Afghan community in distress, I say that we're here with you.
I want to assure Australians that we are getting Aussies out of Kabul.
Efforts are belatedly underway to rescue some former interpreters and embassy staff, but also families, orphan girls, and women, including those who've been human rights advocates, journalists, women who were lawmakers.
It's difficult work, but it is happening. It is dangerous work, but it is happening.
Mr. Speaker, I worked in Afghanistan a few times, not in ADF uniform, but in security roles as a contracted adviser to provide security, working in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan and in Kabul, working with Afghan elders, working with the UN mission, NGOs, the coalition forces.
So I think I can be most helpful in giving Australians an idea of part of the current situation in relation to the evacuation of loyal Afghan staff that served Australia.
On the 28th of May, the Australian embassy in Kabul was closed. Over two months later, the embassy was sanitized by Australian embassy staff and other agencies.
Two weeks later, Kabul fell to the Taliban.
Now, the Australian Government had a duty of care to its former staff.
They were about to be plunged into immense risk, and it was time to be able to extend that duty of care.
Now, why did the Australian Government not brief the embassy contractors?
That could have enabled them time to get themselves and their families to safety, the paperwork done, the evacuations conducted in safety, rather than this belated rushed evacuation we're seeing now.
Now, that is a question for the Federal Government to answer.
But let me provide some context for these embassy staff.
Contracted security guards, for example, now they're at the bottom of the pack, the most poorly paid.
I note that some commentators are doing the work of the Government by suggesting that these guards got hundreds of dollars a day and therefore should just have accepted the risk of the danger that would befall them when the Taliban took Afghanistan.
But this is untrue. They weren’t on hundreds of dollars US a day.
They're the ones on the front lines like our ADF soldiers were, checking vehicles and people for bombs.
We know that some of them took bullets for Australia, in defence of Australia, been subject to harassing fire whilst doing the job.
They stopped suicide bombers. They've taken the hit. They've been visible to the public, including the Taliban.
So they're obviously now in great danger.
When all the prime ministers – the current one, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, John Howard – when they visited Kabul, it was the ADF personnel and these people that kept our prime ministers safe.
Now, Mr Speaker, we want to have foreign presence and influence in the world.
So we need to have physical presence, and that requires security.
From my observations on the ground in Kandahar and Kabul over the years, and talking to Australians who worked for these organizations, I understand that some of the security companies have been actively engaged in supporting these staff, and that is good.
They are mostly ex-military people, and they know those guards well.
They often said the guards believed in Australia, but they've been screwed over on this occasion.
The situation in Kabul as difficult as it has been, saw that these guards learned a bit of the Aussie Anzac spirit.
This is what veterans say, that have worked for these companies.
And how were they treated?
After Kabul falls, they receive a letter to say, “sorry, you're not getting a visa”.
Then 24 hours later, they say, “you are getting a visa”, and they’re told to go to the airport.
Then they go to the airport with their families, and they’re not allowed through.
So my question to the Prime Minister and to the Government is, what the hell is going on here?
Confusion reigns as tens of thousands of Taliban fighters are in the city of Kabul, placing our ADF personnel in danger.
Now, the Home Affairs Minister says that the Government moved quickly to get these embassy staff visas.
“Quickly” would have been June. “Quickly” would have been July, or even early August.
To honour those Afghans who protected Australians, this must be said: the Government was much too slow and neglected their responsibilities, and as a result has also made us less safe next time we deploy to a country and want to work with the local population.
Now, Speaker, I want to acknowledge the dedicated work of all the advocates out there, the veterans that are trying to get their interpreters to safety.
I want to acknowledge the work of Kay and Kerry Danes, of Patrick Ryan and the GAP legal team for all their tireless work in supporting these Australian embassy staff.
They've been at it for so long, and continue through sleepless nights to provide support to these people who are obviously – because of the service they provided Australia and the Australian embassy, the DFAT accommodation compounds – they are known, and they are in danger and they are trying to protect their loved ones.
The world is watching.
The veterans community is watching.
Let it be known that we are good people and we don't abandon our mates.
I want to join the Labor Leader as a member of the alternate executive to call on the Taliban to live up to their commitments.
More broadly, there needs to be an in-depth conversation in our nation about Australia's place in the world and the challenges we face in the future, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.
We do great work in the world, and that reputation has taken a hit.
I urge the Ministers to coordinate our response to keep our people safe, get out all the Australians that want to go, and as many loyal Afghans as possible.
Thank you, Speaker.
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