Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and relates to the answer he just gave on the current security situation in East Timor. Does the minister recall stating only six weeks ago:

[East Timor] is going to stabilise very substantially now. I think it will quieten down ... we can start thinking about ... downsizing our presence ... I think they have really worked through the political difficulties ...

And does he recall stating two days later, on 12 July:

... I think things are looking much better in East Timor now.

Will the minister now concede that the government has once again mismanaged Australia’s national security interests and misjudged the situation on the ground in East Timor, all to justify a premature withdrawal of Australian forces, repeating the mistake the government made only last year, just before the total collapse of security in Dili?

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