Hayes John: General Debate 
Hayes John: General Debate 
[Volume:665;Page:12992] 
JOHN HAYES (National—Wairarapa) 
: 
 The newspaper cries out today that Tim O’Donnell was just a “bloody good bugger.” I associate myself with the comments made by party leaders earlier in the House today. 
This brings back memories of a close shave I had something like 10 years ago when bullets ripped through the skin of the helicopter in which we were flying and the co-pilot started screaming for more power for the rotor that was trying to claw us up and over a ridge. Those sorts of thoughts will have gone through the heads of all of our people in Bamian over the last few days. Why when we think about these things do we end up thinking that luck was with us or against us? Unfortunately luck was not with O’Donnell yesterday afternoon in Bamian. 
The roots of democracy can be traced back to England and its Parliament a precursor to the place we stand in today. I reckon there are about 116 democracies in the world. Members of this Parliament have witnessed the swiftest advance of freedom; if we go back to the 1970s we see that there were about 40 democracies. I think we have seen the fastest growth in democracy across the globe. 
For more than 100 years generations of young New Zealanders have served with courage with selflessness and with endurance often in appalling conditions. I met someone last weekend in Dannevirke; a 92-year-old Ian McCulloch was given an RSA gold bar. Tim O’Donnell leaves us with a legacy of courage: the putting down of one’s own individuality and the commitment to a wider cause. His untimely sacrifice is proof that this country is not immune from global pressures and that we are not so remote as a country that we are not in some way a beneficiary of global democratic traditions. I think it is also important to understand that his death confers on us the reality that we are not isolated from other world events even from our distance. I think that his passing reflects the fact that we come from a country that has stood by its allies and interpreted our obligations generously and we have fulfilled those obligations very promptly. 
The loss we feel today does not in any way cancel out the need for us to stand for principle and to confront those who flout the struggle for international order whether Taliban or al-Qaeda. That is why we are working in Afghanistan today with our NATO and International Security Assistance Force partners to build the capacity of the Afghani Government and people. Our soldiers and civilians are working to create the conditions in which new a democracy can take place and flourish. Our people are working in Bamian to provide inspiration for people oppressed by the Taliban and al-Qaeda. 
Bamian is an example of an area where liberty from Taliban control and influence would be a powerful trend because prosperity social vitality education and the progress of people in a technological sense are all related to their freedom and their liberty. We are intending to hand that area and those skills back to the Afghan people. 
Freedom we know unleashes human creativity and Tim O’Donnell has lost his life defending that freedom. He knew that if freedom is not defended it can be lost. As the Prime Minister said we owe it to the thousands of New Zealanders who have served in Bamian to see that the job is done and that we create a situation where we can hand back control to the Afghani people. 
The success of what our forces are doing in Afghanistan rests on their willingness to sacrifice. Our commitment to democracy is tested in the Middle East and it was also tested there in the Second World War and earlier. It has been tested in Europe and it has been tested in the Pacific—in Bougainville in Timor in the Solomon Islands and most recently in Fiji.