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There is no justification for risking Australian lives in Afghanistan

As each name is added to the growing list of Australians killed serving in Afghanistan, the government assures the nation that the sacrifice in lives has been for a good cause and in the national interest.

But what is the national interest that justifies such a terrible cost?

Is this the price of our alliance with the United States? Is this the price of helping to curb the terrorist threat? Is this the price of national honour?

Some believe that the price must be paid in the service of such causes. Yet, others find no consolation in claims of national interest; condemning the loss of Australian lives far from home.

Poll results

At each IQ² debate the audience is polled on the topic, both before and after the debate takes place. Here are the results for this debate:

	Pre-debate poll	Post-debate poll
For:	43%	41%
Undecided:	31%	7%
Against:	26%	52%

Watch the video

Speakers

For

• Eva Cox has been an academic, political adviser, public servant, and runs a small research and policy consultancy. A sociologist by trade, she promotes ideas widely and eclectically in books, on line, in journals and other media.
• Raoul Heinrichs is a scholar, editor of the Lowy Institute’s Strategic Snapshots and former foreign and security adviser to Kevin Rudd while in opposition.
• Kellie Tranter is a lawyer and commentator who ran as an Independent candidate for the NSW seat of Maitland.

Against

• Jim Molan is a retired major-general of the Australian armed forces who, from 2004, oversaw a multinational force of some 300,000 troops in Iraq as the country undertook the first democratic elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
• Peter Singer is a philosopher and author of over 25 books on ethics. He is best known for Animal Liberation, widely credited with starting the animal rights movement.
• Sonia Ziaee is an Afghani businesswoman, Flinders University student, and Afghani student community activist.

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, Dr Longstaff worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, GEMCO, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts. His book Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of the Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. He is Chairman of Woolworths Limited Corporate Responsibility Panel and AMP Capital Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee and serves as Member on a number of Board Committees.