Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I thank the honourable member for Stirling for his question and for his interest. I appreciate it very much. There is of course a vital link between security and the reconciliation process in Iraq. It is the view of most analysts that you do need some degree of security in Iraq for reconciliation to proceed. It is our view, by the way, that the reconciliation process has been proceeding too slowly. It is the view, though, of the Leader of the Opposition that, without security, reconciliation will proceed—that the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq will lead to reconciliation. Most people would agree with the proposition that if foreign troops immediately withdrew from Iraq then the consequence would be blood-letting which would make the blood-letting in Darfur minor by comparison. It would be a simply horrific circumstance. The Labor Party rightly support intervention in Darfur to stop bloodshed and they rightly support intervention in Afghanistan to defeat terrorism and stop bloodshed, but for party political reasons they support withdrawal from Iraq, which will of course lead to massive increases in bloodshed.

Yesterday the Labor Party’s candidate for the electorate of Eden-Monaro said that our troops were just involved in ‘a flag-waving exercise’. I did think that was shameful and I said so. The Leader of the Opposition, to be fair and to his credit, dissociated himself from the remarks of the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro. He said that he had ‘nothing but respect for our troops in the field’ and he had nothing but respect for the job they do. He repudiated the Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro, but a little research found that the member for Barton, who is the opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, and the member for Hunter, who is the opposition spokesman on defence—

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