Graham Kennedy: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeGraham Kennedy: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 12 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1544. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green)to the Minister of Defence: Will he assure the House that no New Zealand troops will be engaged in active military combat in Iraq during the term of this Government?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE (Minister of Defence):I can do no better than to quote from the Prime Minister’s speech given to a national security forum on 5 November 2014 where he said: “Today I’m ruling out [New Zealand] sending SAS or any troops into combat roles in Iraq”.Dr Kennedy Graham: Despite the Prime Minister’s assurance of 5 November 2014 how can he give us an assurance that our people will not be engaged in active combat when the Canadian troops who are already in Iraq in a training capacity have been forced to engage in two combats this year alone?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: I would caution the member about making a lack of distinction between the activities that the Canadians are undertaking at the moment. They do have people there who are in assist missions. We have no intention of being in those.Dr Kennedy Graham: Will his Government be criticising Iraq when its Foreign Minister visits tomorrow for the ethnic cleansing of Sunni civilians in Iraq which Human Rights Watch explains has led to the rise of militant groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or will New Zealand not be standing up for that kind of human rights tomorrow?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: The Government in Iraq at the moment is still relatively new and the efforts that we note from Mr al-Abadi the Prime Minister and his colleagues are those of trying to bring interests of both Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims together and we would support them in that. There is no point in looking back at atrocities that may have been committed by past Governments going back well beyond the Saddam Hussein regime.Dr Kennedy Graham: If the criterion for possible military engagement in Iraq is to “nip in the bud organisations that appear to be funding ratbags around the world” when will the Minister be getting advice on military engagement against the Saudi regime which appears to be funding them?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: This is once again a case of the Green Party members not reading everything that is said in the context in which it is said but selectively taking it out to suit their particular view of the world. What I said yesterday was that if we were to make a contribution—and it remains an “if”—it would be to training Iraqi security forces because they want to take on that fight to as I said nip right in the bud the ISIL-Daesh phenomenon in that part of the world. I think that if you look even at what happened in Australia yesterday afternoon some of the head in the sand positions being taken by the Green Party are frightening for New Zealanders.Dr Kennedy Graham: Is this the day before New Zealand goes to war; if so should the matter not be debated in this Parliament to assure the New Zealand people that our use of armed force is internationally lawful and politically wise?Hon GERRY BROWNLEE: If the flag the member waved at the front of that question is one that he wants to take to the streets he is going to find very few people following.