John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

That is not for us to decide, and it does not in any way alter the policy of the government. The policy of the government is not to hand Iraq over to terrorists and, more importantly, not to hand the terrorists an enormous propaganda victory. That is the essence of this debate. The Leader of the Opposition can ask as many questions as he likes about future constitutional arrangements, but I do know this: if we had followed the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, we would still have Saddam Hussein butchering people in Iraq.

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