Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. What implications do George Bush’s defeat in the US mid-term elections and Donald Rumsfeld’s sacking have for Australian troops in Iraq? For example, will Australian troops stay in Iraq if American troops leave?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Nettle for her question. For the sake of accuracy, I do point out that Mr Bush was not a candidate at the election; Mr Bush remains the President of the United States. There were mid-term congressional elections and it is a fact, as we have all seen, that the Democrats have won majorities in the House of Representatives and—almost certainly—in the Senate. On behalf of the government, I congratulate the United States Democrats on their victories in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and members of our government look forward to working with the leadership of the Democrats in the new congress.

Can I also confirm, as Senator Nettle has pointed out, that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has resigned following the mid-term elections and been replaced by Mr Bob Gates. On behalf of the government, we pay tribute to Mr Rumsfeld’s service as the United States Defense Secretary. He has been an enormous friend to Australia over many decades, over many years of service at the highest levels in the US administration. We welcome Mr Gates’s appointment—Mr Bob Gates; no relation I understand—and look forward to working with him.

I should make it clear to the Senate and to Senator Nettle that, on the basis of statements made by the President overnight, there is no change in the United States policy with regard to Iraq. Mr Bush said that his strategy for Iraq remains to win. He said:

I’m committed to victory. I’m committed to helping this country so that we can come home.

As I understand it, while there is quite a wide-ranging view within the United States Democrats, there is no sense within the Democrats of adopting the Australian Labor Party’s policy of cutting and running. There is no serious Democrat in the United States who suggests that the United States should simply walk away from Iraq. They certainly, through the congress, will be wanting to discuss with the administration the tactics in Iraq and how to achieve the objectives which the United States has for Iraq in the most effective manner and to ensure, as we want to ensure, that the troops can come home.

It remains our objective to ensure that our troops can ultimately come home. But we share with the United States a commitment to ensuring that the people of Iraq can live in a peaceful, ordered and secure environment, that they can establish their democracy, that they can establish a government which can produce peace and order and strong livelihoods for the people of that country. It would be absolutely and utterly absurd for the coalition of America—the United States—Australia and other countries simply to wave the white flag and walk away. We do want to ensure that Iraq can have a self-sustaining democracy and that it can provide peace and security to its people. There would be nothing worse at the moment—and the US Democrats recognise this—than to simply walk away and hand the terrorists the greatest victory they could possibly have.

Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Is the presence of Australian troops in Iraq contingent on George Bush all the way till the end? Given that American voters have made it quite clear that they recognise the disaster Iraq has become and that Australian voters have indicated similarly, is this government prepared to suffer the same electoral losses as the Bush administration at the upcoming federal election for the sake of a long, bloody and immoral war in Iraq?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We do not think there is anything immoral about removing one of the most appalling mass murderers this world has ever seen. We do not think there is anything immoral about seeing the end of the Saddam Hussein regime. We do not think there is anything immoral about the fact that the democratically elected government of Iraq has, through a fair, transparent and open trial, convicted Saddam Hussein of mass murder and committed him to be hanged. We do not think there is anything immoral about that whatsoever. We have our troops in Iraq because it is the right thing to do. It is the right thing for us to be in Iraq. It is in Australia’s national interest that we be in Iraq to ensure that that country, having removed that mass murderer, has the best possible opportunity to establish a self-sustaining democracy and provide peace and good government to its people.