The Governor-General, the Chief of the Defence Force, the Defence Minister, Chief of the Navy, ladies and gentlemen and, very particularly and very directly, the men and women of the Australian Defence Force who are gathered here on this vessel as it is about to depart for the Persian Gulf and, also very particularly their family members and other loved ones.
This is an important day for you. It's an important day for the Australian Defence Force and as the head of the elected Government you, above all other Australians, are entitled to know from me a number of things. You're entitled to know from me why it is that the Government has asked you to undertake this task. You go to the Persian Gulf as part of the existing multinational interception force but it may be, given circumstances that are now unfolding in relation to Iraq and that country's response to certain UN resolutions, it may be that this vessel and the deployment here are involved in wider operations. We hope that is unnecessary. We will work as a nation and as a people to render that unnecessary if at all possible.
No person in their own mind embraces military conflict without trying to the maximum extent possible to avoid it and to seek another alternative. We would all like to live in a world in which there were no challenges and no problems and that you could simply by turning your back on a challenge of a rogue state possessing weapons of mass destruction hope it would go away. But the world has never been quite as simple as that and it's not as simple as that now.
I believe that it is right for the international community to try and disarm Iraq. I believe that if the international community baulked at that task, if it walks away from it, if it gives up because it is too hard, Iraq will not oblige by giving up her weapons of mass destruction. She will be emboldened not only to retain them but to also expand them. And the example of that successful defiance will be copied by other countries and we will increasingly live in a world where a growing number of rogue states possess weapons that could do enormous damage not only to their neighbours but to the broader community. And that, in the essence, is the challenge that the international community faces and over the weeks ahead we'll debate and resolve as an international community how best it can respond to that challenge.
We are working very closely with our friends and allies through the United Nations to achieve an outcome through those councils. But you cannot unrelate or disconnect the forward deployment or forward positioning of military forces with a diplomatic effort because as the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, said last weekend he did not believe the weapons inspectors would be in Iraq had it not been for the military deployment undertaken by the United States.
Can I say very directly to the men and women who are carrying the hopes and the prayers and the good wishes of all Australians of all complexions, of all political persuasions and of all the variety of views you inevitably have in a great democracy on important political issues, can I say to you, you go with the united good wishes and prayers of all Australians. I can promise you, on behalf of the Government, that we will do everything we can not only to keep you out of harms way, consistent with the (inaudible) I've outlined, but also to bring about a peaceful resolution of this very difficult issue. Can I say to your families who are left behind who will provide you, through the defence community, with all of the support and the love and affection that you are entitled to have in these difficult times.
Finally, can I say on behalf of all Australians, I know, all Australians, how immensely proud we are of the courage, the tradition, the professionalism, the commitment and, very importantly, the mateship of the men and women of the Australian Defence Forces, good luck to you all, we wish you a safe return home. Thank you.
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