Page 2463 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 6 August 1991
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then reasonably powerful Italy. There was the militarisation of the Rhineland, the Anschluss in Austria, Czechoslovakia. The West bent over backwards trying to use peaceful means to stop aggression. It did not work. We had World War II.
Mr Collaery, you made a statement about the Liberals not having any idea of what war is all about. I do not think that is so at all. The Liberal Leader, Mr Kaine, I think, served in Vietnam, as did one of your colleagues, Mr Jensen. Indeed, were it not for the rape of Poland by Nazi Germany, I doubt that I would be here today, because my father would probably still be living there. So, Mr Collaery, I think we do have some idea of what war is all about.
I will also answer Dr Kinloch. Dr Kinloch, I have had a university training; I have also had a military training. I have probably seen a lot more violence at university than I have ever seen in the military. I do not think there are too many people in the Australian military who glorify war. They train to avoid war as much as anything else. You fight if you have to, Dr Kinloch; but I do not think there are any soldiers who want to go to war and who glorify killing. Certainly you, as a former serviceman, would have to agree with that, as I am sure would Mr Jensen as a former member of the Australian Regular Army.
Unfortunately - and I think world events consistently show this - the only way to deter aggressive powers is to be militarily strong. And, unfortunately, to be militarily strong you need arms. You certainly need controls, and I reiterate that Australia has controls to ensure that arms are not sold to ratbag regimes who will use them. We would not, I hope, have a situation where any of our products would end up with someone like Saddam Hussein. But, all right, even if those things happen, so be it. The fact of the matter is that we do our best to ensure that we have controls; but the only way you can live in a world such as this, unfortunately, is to be able to defend yourself and to be in alliances. That, unfortunately, means arms and, unfortunately, in selling arms you need such exhibitions as Aidex.
Let us get back to the point. The problem with Mr Moore's motion is that Aidex is not there to promote the international arms trade. Aidex is there to promote the selling of defence equipment to our own Australian Labor Government.
MR KAINE (Leader of the Opposition) (9.20): Mr Speaker, I was not going to speak on this subject, because there is, of course, some justification for the position that the Labor Party and Mr Moore have adopted. I think that the debate has shown that there is a moral element in connection with military equipment that is of concern to many people. As Bill Stefaniak has rightly pointed out, military equipment is of as great concern to military
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