Finlayson Christopher: Ministerial Statements — Iraq—Deployment of Military PersonnelText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFinlayson Christopher: Ministerial Statements — Iraq—Deployment of Military Personnel[Sitting date: 24 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1834. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon CHRISTOPHER FINLAYSON (Attorney-General): I was disappointed in that snarky and frankly underwhelming contribution from Mr Mark. He is capable of better. And I think that on this important day the House deserves better because today the Prime Minister has announced that New Zealand military personnel will fulfil a non-combat behind the wire mission to train Iraqi security services so that they are better prepared to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)—or as Mr Brownlee calls it Daesh—in their region.The Government has very very carefully considered the options for expanding the New Zealand contribution to the coalition beyond the humanitarian assistance that we are already providing. Today’s announcement is in line with a fine New Zealand tradition of providing this sort of support where we can. As the Prime Minister has said we have an obligation to support stability. We have an obligation to support the international rule of law. And it is exactly the same obligation that Helen Clark relied on when she sent 70 engineers to Iraq.It is quite frankly lazy thinking to believe that New Zealand sits in some kind of benign environment due to its distance from the Middle East. We do not. In a practical respect of course there are hundreds and thousands of New Zealanders who are at risk of being directly affected by terrorism. But more than this New Zealand is a global citizen. We are not insulated from events in the rest of the world. I was interested to hear Mr Flavell talk about the three most peaceful nations on Earth: Denmark Norway and this country. Well look at what has just happened in Denmark. And just a few days ago Norway’s police security service advised that a terrorist attack is likely in the coming year. Who is immune? No one.As the Prime Minister has said we cannot stand by idly while these extremists throw people off buildings because of their sexuality burn people alive rape and torture women behead civilians and turn children into killers. As a distinguished commentator said recently ISIL is no mere collection of psychopaths and adventure seekers; it is a group with carefully considered beliefs—among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. It is simply not good enough for people like Kennedy Graham to say it is not our problem—of course it is our problem. The world has seen groups like Daesh emerge before although not at the same speed and to the same extent—at least not in recent history. But there are too many examples from history for us not to have learnt that when others stand by and do nothing we pay the consequences later on.All of us have watched in horror at the rise of this death cult. It follows a perverted interpretation of Islam that labels anyone who disagrees with it as an infidel and it inflicts extreme terror and violence on others. Just this afternoon we have seen videos of Kurdish fighters being paraded in cages through the streets. It is extremely well funded extremely well organised and highly skilled at recruitment. It has been labelled the best-resourced terror organisation in recent history. It obtains its money through extortion oil fields looting and smuggling. It has an active bureaucracy. It is attempting to function like a State. As of today Daesh controls territory in Iraq Syria and eastern Libya—an area similar in size to New Zealand. Eight million Iraqis and Syrians are living in areas controlled by Daesh. Its self-declared goal is to form an Islamic State—to establish itself as a caliphate with absolute authority and power.We are all too acutely aware of the terror and the brutality that Daesh is inflicting on the people of Syria and Iraq. I remind Mrs King of the suffering of her constituents in the Assyrian community of Miramar as they learn what is happening to their relatives in Mosul. There is no argument that the actions of Daesh are to be condemned but condemnation I say to Mrs King is easy; the question of action is a more difficult one. A range of opinions has been expressed in the House today about how New Zealand could contribute. What the Prime Minister has announced is a very strong and sensible contribution. Currently 62 countries are part of an international coalition against Daesh. New Zealand will bring significant expertise to the training of Iraqi soldiers. Our reputation for this sort of work is very good and with good reason.We have heard the concern raised today that standing up to Daesh through a training mission increases the risk to New Zealand. But quite frankly it is naive to think that the status quo guarantees our safety. We are—and rightly so—concerned about our safety. It is not an isolated threat. We are well aware—all of us in this House—of the attacks on Ottawa Copenhagen Paris and Sydney. All of them were either directly or indirectly linked to or inspired by Daesh. There is no guarantee that New Zealand will stay off this list. It is not a matter of being alarmist; it is a matter of facing reality.The fight against this evil organisation will not be a straightforward one. It will be difficult and it will be dangerous. But today’s announcement gets the required level of intervention right. Deploying a non-combat training mission to Iraq will help promote stability in the region it will degrade Daesh’s strength and it will reduce the threat that it poses internationally. And I say this to Kennedy Graham about his suggestion as to how we could help: quite frankly it is foolish; it would expose New Zealanders to a far greater risk of injury or death than what is being proposed now.Let me in closing remind the House of the well-known words of that fine young brave supermarket employee. When giving his reasons for hiding Jewish customers during the recent terrorist attack in Paris he said: “It’s not a question of Jews or Christians or Muslims. We’re all in the same boat and we have to help each other to get out of this crisis.” Exactly.