Peter Lindsay (Herbert, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Minister, would you update the House on Australia’s role in helping to rebuild Afghanistan?

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

I thank the honourable member for his question. I know he is very concerned about the situation in Afghanistan because he is a very fine representative of many members of the Australian Defence Force.

Progress so far in rebuilding what was destroyed by 25 years of conflict in Afghanistan has been remarkable. While, of course, there continue to be significant and serious problems, there has been very great progress. I was there myself, just before Christmas, and met with President Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah, the defence minister and other ministers and officials. I can observe this: although there have been outbreaks of violence, particularly in the south, and those outbreaks of violence continue, the wider perspective shows that those who seek to prevent the emergence of a stable and democratic Afghanistan are failing to achieve their objective.

The government is proud of the role we played in helping to overthrow the Taliban and al-Qaeda back in 2001. In recent months we have increased our military deployments—in fact, we have sent an additional two helicopters and 110 support staff to boost the current 190-strong Special Forces Task Group. Our reconstruction efforts have also been very important. I am pleased to hear from my Afghan counterparts that our work has been much appreciated.

We have indicated a willingness to send up to 200 more military personnel as part of a provincial reconstruction team and now that the Dutch have confirmed, as they did the week before last, that they will deploy, as part of what is called ISAF, the International Security Assistance Force III, we can make a final decision soon on this whole question of deploying military personnel as part of a broader provincial reconstruction team.

I visited the Netherlands the other day and met with the Prime Minister, foreign and defence ministers. Not only did they have a very favourable view of this country, as it is the 400th anniversary this year of the first Dutchman—or European, for that matter—ever to visit Australia’s shores; they have a very high regard for the Australian Defence Force, for its professionalism and for the work we are doing in Afghanistan.

While I was in London I announced that Australia would provide another $150 million over five years to support the transition from conflict to peace in Afghanistan. This is on top of the $110 million that we pledged at the Berlin conference and that has now been disbursed in full.

The government is making a very important and a very real effort to help the people of Afghanistan as their democracy emerges. We are pleased to observe that the opposition, on this particular issue, happens to support the government—presumably because the opposition gauges that this deployment and this support is more popular than the support we provide in Iraq. But, at the end of the day—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Beazley interjecting

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

and the Leader of the Opposition interjects—we know what is behind all this, and that was demonstrated in the election survey of Labor candidates at the last election, which showed—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

yes, again—that only 40 per cent of Labor candidates valued the American alliance as highly important; in other words, 60 per cent did not. The Leader of the Opposition and others ultimately are just playing to that kind of feral Left constituency.