Mrs MOYLAN (1:42 PM) —I have made no secret of my preferences in this tragic time. I am a passionate devotee of peace. Many of us fervently hope for as much effort to be made for peace as is made for war. My preferred course would have been to contain Iraq and to work through the United Nations to secure its disarmament. Like everyone in this House, I have wished and prayed for a way to resolve this matter without bloodshed. There is no picturesque speech that can mitigate the horror of warfare and its consequences. The ideal would have been for the `great assassin' to realise his time is up and to accept exile, rather than choose to further the suffering and misery of his people. He appears unmoved by their plight and unwilling to make any concessions to ensure a peaceful outcome. In the case of such an adversary, I cannot endorse the prevarications of the opposition. To demonstrate weakness, forbearance and patience to a fiend of this calibre is not to invite peace. He demonstrates to the world every day that this merely titillates his sense of the macabre and steadies his resolve. The key element of a rapid move toward the war option has been triggered by the frustration of working within the framework of the United Nations Security Council, where the majority view seems to be to appease him.

Some countries have not played a constructive role to resolve this impasse over Iraq. There has been a common tendency to impugn the undeniable commitment to peace that the United States, Britain and Australia have shown over the past centuries. No-one can deny imperfections where superpowers are concerned, but I urge the House to acknowledge Australia and its allies as a potent force for peace. In the longer term, if we are going to tackle terrorism and maintain peace, we will have to go deeper for the answers. Crippling debt and poverty mean that the desperate and dispossessed are easy targets for those intent on causing division and conflict between people and countries. A commitment by us to work to eradicate poverty therefore becomes vital in ridding the world of the threat of terrorist acts. Equally vital should be our commitment to instigating measures for the rehabilitation of Iraq, even as the conflict begins. Our concern must now be for humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of one of the world's most ancient and respected cultures.

To that end, I ask the government to increase the financial commitment to humanitarian aid and to give to this cause weight equal to that it gives to the conflict. If Iraq is worth liberating, contributing to the cost of rebuilding and providing for the immediate humanitarian needs are also worthy. And the needs are great. According to the latest figures released by UNICEF, almost half of Iraq's total population are children, with 11.3 million under the age of 18. Of the 3.5 million children under the age of five, more than one in eight will die before they reach their fifth birthday. The maternity-mortality ratio has more than doubled since 1990. Almost 60 per cent of the population are fully dependent on food ration distribution, making 18 million people food insecure. The lack of medicines and adequate diet has already made children very vulnerable to sickness.

UNICEF has estimated that five million people are at risk of lack of access to safe water and sanitation. Any disruption to electricity generation following a conflict would seriously interrupt the provision of safe water for such a population, and this has serious consequences for sewerage and sanitation services. In addition, say UNICEF, the present supplies of vaccines and drugs in the country are sufficient for approximately four months. As a result of conflict, there are likely to be substantial numbers of refugees. In the last conflict many of the refugees died from exposure, lack of nutrition and sickness. UNICEF has had a long-term commitment to Iraq's children. I fully support their work and the belief that they and others have in this work. Groups like CARE Australia and other NGOs should be adequately funded to minimise suffering due to the effects of war on the Iraqi people. I ask our government to play a major role in funding and supporting their efforts.

In addition to providing increased humanitarian aid, I ask the government to use its influence to prevent the bombing of civilian targets and the laying of antipersonnel mines, which I know we have banned but which I understand the United States reserves the right to use. This will help to reduce harm to civilians during the conflict and after it. In the longer term, I ask our government to step up its activities internationally to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction and to ensure tough penalties for those whose illegal trade in these devices provides the means for terrorist activities, which threaten world peace. We must also use our good relationship with the United States to encourage its administration to support international measures to reduce the deeply worrying escalation in arms production.

The community feels a deep sense of frustration at the inability of the United Nations to act. Despite the frustration, there have been many people quietly working to try to find peaceful resolutions to conflict. It has been a privilege for me to have had access to some of these people and organisations dedicated to this end, and I am grateful for their suggestions and wise counsel.

Who of us in this House can deny having grave misgivings as we prepare for military action? Patriotism is a virtue to which we all aspire. I do not doubt that both sides of the House possess it in equal measure. However, in the opposition I regret that it comes from minds unwilling to take any responsibility or to carry any notion of the long-term aspirations and loyalties that the government espouses. The canard of the opposition—and I use this French word advisedly—is that the government is cowardly, firstly, because its members will not forsake their solidarity and, secondly, because it will not forsake its allies. Almost all of those on the other side, to a man and woman, have emerged from their factional caves to launch this barb. The alleged cowardice of the government is that it acknowledges our danger and is prepared to look squarely upon the face of the great assassin, to shudder and to act. In closing, I would like to pay tribute to the men and women of Australia's defence service. I support them and their families, and I pray for their safe return.