CANBERRA - 26 August 2021

LUKE GOSLING, MEMBER FOR SOLOMON: My name’s Luke Gosling, I represent the people of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Very recently in the last couple of days, veterans in Darwin have held a candlelight vigil for the people of Afghanistan. Vietnam veterans, Somalia veterans, doesn't matter where Australians serve, they're hurting at the moment because basically their mates are being left behind. Interpreters that saved our veterans’ lives are being left behind on the ground. Last night, one of them contacted me. He's got a visa. He was on the way to the [airport] gate with his wife and daughter. He was bashed. His 15-year-old daughter had her head split open by a Taliban rifle butt, and his wife was whipped and hit with a pipe. This is the reality of what's going on on the ground in Kabul right now. The Australian Defence Force personnel and DFAT and Home Affairs personnel, are doing an excellent job on the ground to try and evacuate as many visa holders and those interpreters and security guards from our embassy as possible. However, they are in a dangerous situation because this Federal Government took way too long to act.

Kabul Airport is a chaotic scene. People are putting their own lives at risk just to try and get to the gate. There's thousands of people. It's very dangerous. The Taliban is closing in on the airport tighter and tighter, and time is running out. The reality on the ground is that those people who put their lives at risk for our nation, for our veterans, are going to be left behind if there is no more coordination between the ADF, Home Affairs, and DFAT to get those visa holders into the airport, onto planes and to safety. Now, that must be done safely. We must make sure that our troops are safe when they go about this important mission. But there must be a greater sense of urgency from the Government. Veterans are hurting because the people that saved their lives often are being left behind on the ground in Kabul. Some of them can't even get to Kabul.

The Australian embassy closed in late May. We've had 11 weeks since then. We haven't been able to save people who saved Australian lives, who hold visas, and they are getting beaten by the Taliban. Not to mention people from my electorate, Afghan Australians, who have family members on the ground that they’re desperately trying to get out, that have been desperately trying to get out for years. And in one case, for a lady in my electorate, her father was shot dead by the Taliban a few days ago. Time is running out for the people of Afghanistan, and we need to be doing a lot more. I want to pay tribute again to our ADF, DFAT, and Home Affairs people on the ground who are doing the best they can in these chaotic circumstances brought about by this Government's inaction.

It's a sad time for the people in Afghanistan and it's a sad time for people who've gone to that gate with a visa from the Australian Government thinking that they're going to be taken to safety only to be beaten and whipped by the Taliban, just for trying to seek safety. So I again call on the Taliban to live up to the commitments that they've made. Time is short. The Australian Government with the international community has to be firm in that the airport needs to stay open for as long as possible so that we can get our people out.

JOURNALIST: People in Kabul are being told not to try to travel to the airport now because it is too dangerous. Have you heard from these people that you are in contact with about their efforts to try to get to the airport other than what you mentioned earlier?

GOSLING: Our interpreters and security guards from the Australian embassy that have visas have been waiting at the gate, waiting to be taken out. They've been beaten by the Taliban. They have been standing in sewerage, they've been just hoping that there is still a chance that our nation will honour its word to get them out. However, now they're being told to go home and wait for further information. They are concerned, like advocates and veterans are concerned, that this is the Government's way of saying, “just go home, you don't call us, we'll call you”. We need to do a lot better than this, because otherwise a whole heap of Afghans who have been loyal to Australia are going to either languish in Kabul under the Taliban's rule or they'll be forced to leave their home and find safety elsewhere. Their lives are in jeopardy. The fact that they've come to the gate, been called to the gate by the Australian Government for evacuation has meant that obviously the Taliban know exactly who's waiting to be taken out. So we don't very soon take out those we're committed to take out. They are in much, much more serious danger than that at the moment.

JOURNALIST: And the government is ruling out offering permanent protection to people, Afghan nationals, on taking visas here, because they say they don't want to encourage people smugglers. Do you think that is a legitimate concern?

GOSLING: I think what the Government needs to do is stick to its commitments of taking people out that are seeking safety, because if they don't, those people are likely to be killed. We will want the Federal Government to honour their word, to not see 3,000 as the be-all and end-all. It's an arbitrary figure. We know that there's going to be more people in that. Canada has taken is committed to taking 20,000 people. If we take the genuine people who were loyal to us, who have been vouched for by Australians, if we take them, then that is going to be the best way that we can secure people by increasing that humanitarian visa, but by actually facilitating them to get out of the country of Afghanistan is very unstable time. And we obviously are of the view that people who risk their lives for Australians, who are known by the Taliban, for them permanent protection will be the way that they will be able to live. Without that, they will not live. They'll die.

JOURNALIST: What sort of country when withdrawal mark two takes place by August 31, what sort of country do we leave behind?

GOSLING: We'll leave a country that has obviously been dependent on international assistance for 20 years. So that is why it's so important that the Taliban honours its commitment. Because if it doesn't, if it returns to the ways of old, there will be less confidence from the international community, or they will simply come under another nation’s rule again if they are harbouring terrorists, for example. So it's a critical time for Afghanistan. It's a time where the Taliban need to think very clearly about how they can have a peaceful Afghanistan that has good relations with the international community. Afghanistan is a poor country. We build infrastructure while we were there, the ADF did a great job in building infrastructure, but also building the capacity of the people. There are some people that risked their lives working for us with our ADF who the Taliban are not going to take kindly to.

That's why it's so important we get there now.

Thanks, guys.

ENDS