Mr ABBOTT (Warringah—Leader of the Opposition) (14:04): I rise to support the motion and to echo the eloquent words of the Prime Minister and to add to my remarks of yesterday. Sergeant Brett Wood was plainly a remarkable soldier. The holder of the Medal for Gallantry, he had been on three tours to Afghanistan, he had been on tours to Iraq, Bougainville and East Timor and he had been honoured by the United States, whose service personnel he had rescued from deep peril. Plainly, he was one of the finest, and we mourn him. Inevitably, the death of Sergeant Wood has prompted calls for a speedy withdrawal from Afghanistan. Let me say that no Australian government would lightly commit our armed forces to battle. The former government did not do it. The current government does not do it. As members of this parliament all of us are acutely conscious of the fundamental fact that others may pay an extremely high price for the decisions that we make. No military commitment should ever be undertaken without first counting the cost or abandoned because that price has fallen due. No-one would want our forces to be in Afghanistan for a moment longer than were absolutely necessary but, in their absence, who would train the 4th Brigade of the Afghan National Army or help to ensure that women's rights and minority rights are respected in Oruzgan province? The consequences of a premature withdrawal could well be the restoration of the Taliban, the destabilisation of Pakistan and terrorist sanctuaries that would be much harder to remove, were that necessary for a second time. This would be an extremely high price to pay, perhaps an even higher price than that which Australia has already paid and may yet still have to pay. We certainly grieve for Sergeant Wood. We grieve with his family. We grieve for all of the 24 Australian military personnel killed in Afghanistan and for their families. But I restate the coalition's conviction that we best honour Sergeant Wood's memory and that of his comrades by remaining true to the cause which they have so well served.