Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the Prime Minister ever participated in any discussions where a unilateral deployment of Australian troops to Iraq was considered?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I have not. And, for the benefit of the Leader of the Opposition, let me read a statement which has been recently issued by the Secretary of the Department of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force:

On Saturday 21 February the Weekend Australian reported that the Prime Minister had raised with “Australia’s leading military planners” the idea of “a unilateral invasion of Iraq, with 3,500 Australian ground troops to confront the Islamic State terrorist group”.

The Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, and the Secretary of the Department of Defence, Mr Dennis Richardson, advise that this claim is false.

“At no point has the Prime Minister raised that idea with the ADF and/or the Department of Defence, formally or informally, directly or indirectly,” said Air Chief Marshal Binskin and Secretary Richardson.