Mr KING (4:30 PM) —It is my pleasure and indeed honour to support the motion before the House relating to the deployment of our forces, together with the forces of other Pacific island countries, to Solomon Islands in respect of the current emergency in that country. I do so from three points of view. First, I am pleased to support this proposal because, as a barrister, I am admitted to practise in Solomon Islands and I have been admitted for more than 15 years. I like to think that I have a deep knowledge and understanding of the law of Solomon Islands and that country's institutions. You might note, Mr Deputy Speaker Price, that I said `Solomon Islands' and not `the Solomon Islands', because that is its correct designation. I have had the pleasure of appearing in the High Court of Solomon Islands on several occasions, initially in 1993 and most recently in 2000. The impression I have had over that period of time has been of a country in decline whose institutions have been under severe pressure. In spite of the fact that it had a legal system that I would describe as sound a system of law based upon legislation and the common law precedents familiar to those of us in this country who practice law and a system which was essentially sound in its composition and constitutional foundation, sadly, over time that institution—and in particular the courts, the police and the jails—have suffered. They have suffered because they have been attacked from within and without by elements in Solomon Islands which regrettably were initially in areas of the state, departments and bureaucrats, and more recently by criminal elements. The tragedy of Solomon Islands is that the boundary between government and those who would trash the system and the institutions of Solomon Islands has completely disappeared. From that point of view I see it as absolutely necessary that Solomon Islands be given a helping hand. I can think of no better words to describe the program of deployment than `Helpem Fren', which is the name given to our deployment in Solomon Islands.

Second, I am pleased to support this motion because the second part of the motion concerns our endorsement and support of our personnel in the armed forces who are going to Solomon Islands. Some 1,500 personnel will be deployed, including 155 Federal Police, 80 members of the Australian Protective Service and a small number of officials drawn from relevant government departments, including Treasury, Foreign Affairs and the Australian Agency for International Development, the Attorney-General's Department and DOFA. In all, the deployment will be of approximately 1,800 personnel, and our military deployment will be led by Colonel John Frewen of the ADF 2nd Battalion—a distinguished Australian soldier. It is headed by Mr Nick Warner, a senior official from Foreign Affairs and a former High Commissioner of Papua New Guinea. He has a long record of dealing with Pacific countries in crisis, such as Solomon Islands is in at the moment.

As a commissioned officer in the Royal Australian Navy Reserve, I am delighted that our forces are leading the way in Operation Helpem Fren. Sometimes when you are up, you have to help those who are down, and that is the situation in the Pacific at the moment. Australia is a country that has shown that it has not just the right values but also the strength to help others who are in difficulty. Thankfully, those who are in difficulty are looking to us for leadership and assistance and not elsewhere. They are not looking to the darker forces that have sought assistance from al-Qaeda and others; they are looking to us and to the values that we all share and espouse on both sides of the House. Therefore, I am particularly pleased to be able to support the deployment on that ground as well.

Our forces have a long history of involvement in Solomon Islands. If you recall, Mr Deputy Speaker, only last Friday, 15 August was Victory in the Pacific Day. Significant numbers of Australian troops were involved in the Second World War at Guadalcanal. If one goes to Guadalcanal today, one can still see the old tanks and landing barges that were attacked and hit by the Japanese, whose incredibly superior forces took on our landing forces and did amazing damage, yet we triumphed. Only the other day the Manoora was in Guadalcanal, and it dropped a wreath where the Canberra was sunk by Japanese aircraft, with 80 lives lost, as it was supporting the landing forces at Guadalcanal. Interestingly enough, one of the naval personnel on that ship was the father of our current Minister for Defence. Thankfully, he survived. Australia has a long history in the Pacific and in defending values that are important to our country and to countries such as Solomons in the Pacific.

Mr Danby —Mr Deputy Speaker, I seek to intervene.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER —Is the member for Wentworth willing to give way?

Mr KING —Yes, with pleasure.

Mr Danby —Thank you very much. What is the member for Wentworth's attitude to the differential in pay between Australian Federal Police and ADF personnel in the Solomon Islands? I understand that it is $100 a day and, surely, that must be of great upset to defence personnel deployed in the same region, doing the same kind of work.

Mr KING —I am glad you asked that question, because that issue has been addressed, as I understand it, by ADF personnel officers in a way that, I am sure, will be satisfactory to them and for the appropriate resolution of the deployment. Certainly Nick Warner has indicated that that issue has not in any way affected the outcomes that he is looking for and the effectiveness of our forces on the ground. Sometimes in relation to those issues adjustments need to be made, especially where you have personnel from different parts of the Commonwealth working alongside defence personnel.

Third, Australia should be in Solomon Islands because it is in our own national interest. It is in our own national interest because national security is broader than just protecting the borders of our own country. We have seen that in the ravages that occurred in East Timor. Earlier this year I was in Taiwan, where I attended a very interesting conference on Asia-Pacific security. We heard from many representatives of countries around the Pacific who felt under pressure in relation to national security issues and who felt that it was terribly important that all countries worked together in the Pacific to ensure that those outcomes were in the interest not just of each other but of the whole. Australia's national security interests are involved. Those interests require our presence in Solomon Islands. All of us—I am speaking as an ordinary Australian—have a deep concern in ensuring that the national security of that country is protected, because it is also in our own national interests. With those considerations in mind, I warmly support the motion.

The problem in Solomon Islands has become one of utter lawlessness. The Townsville Peace Agreement of 2000 and the subsequent international peace monitoring team attempted to deal with interethnic conflicts in Solomon Islands, but those ethnic tensions have quickly degraded into a shocking fight between criminal gangs and those who would bludgeon institutions of government, commercial interests and ordinary shop owners. I remember having perhaps the best Chinese meal that I have ever had anywhere in the world—and I have had a few around the place—in Honiara, back in 1993. There were some wonderful Chinese restaurants along the waterfront there, but they have all gone. Small business now finds it impossible to operate.

Many expatriate Australians who lived in Honiara and, indeed, in the outer islands in the west and in other parts of Solomons have found it impossible to live there with their children. We had the recent example of a churchman, who was working as a pastor in one of the villages, being slaughtered. I have also had involvement with timber companies that have found it impossible to get their product to market simply because of the utter lawlessness that has occurred. Over the last six years per capita GDP has halved, falling below $US500 in 2002, and the economy contracted by 14 per cent in 2000 and by another nine per cent in 2001. It really is a shocking situation. Perhaps it reached its nadir with the slaughter of Sir Alfred Soaki, the former police commissioner and National Peace Councillor who was assassinated in February this year, and cabinet minister Father Augustine Geve who was killed in August of last year. Women are unsafe on the streets. Kidnappings, murder, rape and torture—all of these have gone unchecked.

I want to speak briefly about the longer term. I want to propose that Australia help this break-down of law and order in the system not just through Operation Helpem Fren and the $200 million that we are putting into the operation but also by looking at a new measure. I believe there is a need for Australia to show leadership, as we are doing through aid programs in other countries, such as Cambodia, where we are putting significant aid into the establishment of court, police and jail systems. We need to do that in Honiara to get these people back on their feet. But we also need to ensure that they are not going to fall by the wayside again. Australian taxpayers cannot be expected to go back, time and again, to solve these sorts of problems. We need to know that Solomon Islands is going to be re-established as a secure, stable country that continues to see Australia as a friend, and which we see as a friend, with values that are not dissimilar. Therefore, I am proposing that a legal system rather similar to the Privy Council system that formerly existed under the British Commonwealth be established across the Pacific islands and the Pacific countries, that there be a high court of the Pacific, and that a legal system that seeks to reinforce the values of law and order that exist in this country, New Zealand, Fiji and formerly in Solomon Islands be established. In the future, we will be proud of what our troops have done if we adopt such a measure now and in the longer term.