Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 3567 ..

MR CORNWELL (continuing):

I find it interesting, however, that we talk about this appeasement in relation to Iraq or, for that matter, any other country that is misbehaving. I use the word "country"advisedly, because although we like to talk about Saddam Hussein, the fact is that he is not alone.

My colleague Mr Pratt mentioned the republican guards and various secret police. Look, there are thousands of people in that country who are backing Saddam Hussein to the hilt. There are thousands-we should never forget that. It is all very well to set him up as some sort of terrible figurehead-

Mr Pratt: But it is not the millions of innocent people!

MR CORNWELL: No. I am not arguing that point. There are obviously many, many people in Iraq, as there are in any other country, who are not necessarily part of this. But there are a lot who are doing pretty well-thank you-out of what is happening.

I am concerned, obviously. Like everybody else, I do not want war. I am not only looking at the bloodshed that may occur in the war, I am also deeply concerned about the effect on the Middle East after the event. I know Mr Pratt is optimistic about this. Perhaps I am a little more cautious.

I am concerned about the destabilisation of the Middle East in the event that a war takes place with Iraq and we are the victors. In fact, it has been put in a number of articles that the reason Desert Storm did not go through to Baghdad was for that very reason-that the Middle East may have been seriously destabilised.

Nevertheless, I do not believe we can afford not to participate in this activity. The question of terrorists cannot be isolated to one or two near islands, so far as Australia is concerned. It is a worldwide problem. If we do not make an attempt to strike at possible-which I do not know-centres for terrorism, then we are not really ever going to defeat it. Part of the problem is that we stand up in this Assembly and make all these wonderful speeches, when we know very little about what is going on. That, of course, has never stopped people in this place before.

I also believe that, if we are going to take the view Mr Hargreaves talks about of not getting involved, we should not interfere in the activities of other countries. Let me ask you, therefore, Mr Hargreaves: why do you bother going overseas to Malaysia and places like that for holidays? Is that not an interference in the activities of the country? It would seem to me that, whether you go into a country wearing board shorts or a military uniform, it still represents an interference. In different cultures, people have different ideas.

Mr Hargreaves: Perhaps you could wear camouflage board-shorts!

MR CORNWELL: I do not blame him for turning his back on me, Mr Speaker, in view of what I am saying-it is all right. I think there has been a lot of misguided talk here. I do not know that any of us are really conversant with everything that is being said.

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .