Iraq and Syria

Mr HAWKE (Mitchell) (19:45): I want join the member for Solomon and the member for Melbourne Ports in welcoming the government's announcement today about the humanitarian and security crisis facing the Middle East. I draw the House's attention to a motion that I was able to move one year ago from today's announcement about the minorities within Iraq and Syria who were suffering persecution. In today's world, too often we forget the history. We forget what has happened even in the recent past and focus on what is immediately in front of us. But one year ago today, we had a discussion in this House which I was privileged to participate in in setting aside a minimum of 4,400 resettlement places in the refugee and humanitarian program for ethnic and religious minorities fleeing the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and Syria.

Australia was also at that time dropping food and aid to those minorities, ethnic, religious and otherwise, who were being persecuted by ISIS, the state of Syria and the chaos in the region. We all condemned the violent barbaric killing, the intimidation and the harassment. But there are, indeed, persecuted minorities who in particular need our focus and our care. We are not just talking about Christians; we are talking about Christian Assyrians, Chaldeans, Mandaeans and we are talking about Yazidis, a Persian faith started by a philosopher. We are talking about all kinds of different Muslim minorities: the Turkmen, the Shabak, and others who have been absolutely persecuted and given the same treatment as all other groups, ethnic and religious in this region. In fact, the unifying feature of ISIS and the evil of this death cult is that they do not discriminate. They are indiscriminate in their killing and indiscriminate in their treatment of minorities and other groups who they believe do not conform to their perverted view of Islam.

It is welcome that the government is resettling 12,000 as a one-off special commitment for our humanitarian resettlement program from Syria and Iraq. Permanent resettlement places are also rising under our humanitarian program. They were already rising from 13,750 to 18,750 in 2018-19. Unlike some of the contributions we have seen in recent days from the media and commentators, and sometimes from people on the left and centre that condemn Australia and its response, I want to record that Australia is one of the most generous countries in the world. It is not confined to the actions of the government. Individuals and corporations in our society are also generous people. I would expect that every person who wants to lift a candle and stand outside an electorate office in this country would also go home, switch on the internet, open their wallet and make a donation to their aid agencies that exist all through Europe and all through the Middle East. Holding a candle is one thing you can do. But you can also do something specifically as an individual, as a person in a wealthy Western country to make a contribution. You can do it with tax concession from the government. You can get it off your tax. So there is plenty that individuals and corporations can, should and, in my view, must do.

We cannot rely just on the actions of governments. Human-to-human contact—human-to-human change is the powerful force for good in human history. It is not nation states that make the biggest changes; it is human beings. We care enough to talk about it on social media. We care enough to care about every photo that we see. And we do care about those things. But to take action is another step, indeed, and there are great agencies you will find within easy reach of your computer. They can take your donation and can take that money and do something immediately to help a refugee on the ground. I urge all Australians to get on that as well.

It is also pleasing that we can, in a bipartisan way, condemn ISIS and work towards a greater security for our world, and take direct action against the people that are causing this. I do pull up the Greens in relation to this, because they often talk about how our bombs are not helping. Our bombs are helping if they are targeted at the vicious criminals that are engaging in this behaviour and causing this crisis. And they are vicious criminals that are doing this: the ISIS death cult, the Assad regime—these people are the cause. It is not the West. It is not Australia. It is not America. America was called in to help the Yazidis, who were fleeing ISIS and were stranded on the Mount Sinjar who were about to be slaughtered Their women were taken for sexual slavery. In desperation we turn to the United States of America and countries like Australia and other European countries to intervene and help.

So, to the Australian Greens: please stop this nonsense that we are causing the problem. We are directly doing two fundamental things as a generous and compassionate country. We are working to save those people from a great evil. We are also taking people here to address the great humanitarian crisis of our time.