Kedgley Sue: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Kedgley Sue: Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
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SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 As someone who has as it were fought on the front lines for women’s equality I do find it slightly ironic and indeed slightly disturbing that we are here talking about this bill as if conferring on women the right to kill and be killed in combat on the front line is somehow a great step forward for women. I recall the words of Germaine Greer in her book  
The Female Eunuch 
. She said: “We must beware that in our quest for equality we do not become just counterfeit men trying to mimic men and gain free entry into the world of the ulcer and the coronary.” These words are ringing in my ears as I listen to this debate. 
However having said that I say that if there are women who want to go to the front line and into combat positions—and we have one of them in this House Heather Roy and I salute her—far be it from me or the Green Party to try to stop them from doing so. We will therefore with some reservations and disquiet be supporting the rather oddly named Human Rights (Women in Armed Forces) Amendment Bill. 
I want to make one point though and that is that if we are going to encourage our women to go off and fight in combat zones and on the front line we need to have much greater protection for them and assurances of their safety than we have had for armed forces in the past. I am thinking of course of Agent Orange and things like depleted uranium. We know that just one tiny particle of depleted uranium if ingested can cause a range of horrendous health effects including birth deformities. We know that we exposed our troops in Viet Nam to Agent Orange which was contaminated with dioxins. This has resulted in deformities in second and third generations to the point that as someone observed when people go to war today it is not just their generation that is affected but future generations as well. So if we are to send our women off into these combat zones we had better make sure that we are protecting them and future generations who may be born to them from things like depleted uranium and other pesticides and contaminants. 
Regrettably depleted uranium has been dropped in Iraq in Afghanistan during the Gulf War and even in the former Yugoslavia. We already have huge huge increases in malignancies and deformities as a result of these hideous weapons of mass destruction. I think there has been a 242 percent increase in malignancies in Basra. In areas in Afghanistan where depleted uranium has been used children have been born with no eyes no limbs and so on—I will not go into all the gory details. 
I hasten to add that we should not be exposing men to things like depleted uranium either but we need to remember that women may become pregnant or may be even more vulnerable to these contaminants and weapons. In Viet Nam women were much more affected by Agent Orange than were men. Therefore if we are going to encourage women to go on to the front line and to enjoy this wondrous new freedom to kill and be killed then we need to be very careful to protect them from the horrendous weapons that are used in war today. 
With those few words I say that the Green Party will be supporting this bill.