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

My question to the Prime Minister follows his answer to my previous question, in which he said that he regretted the decision of the Italian government to withdraw its troops. I refer to the Prime Minister’s statement on 21 May 2006 about the implications of Italy’s decision to withdraw its troops from Iraq, when he said:

There are no strategic-logistic implications that I’m aware of, no.

Prime Minister, if the withdrawal of 3,200 Italian troops, the fourth largest contribution to the multinational force, did not pose any strategic or logistic implications earlier this year, can you outline why this would not also be the case if Australia withdrew its few hundred troops from Iraq?

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