Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

When you get into analysing this, it is a completely absurd proposition. The last point I want to make is a broader point about the region. I have made the point I wanted to make about the soul of Islam, but I want to make a point specifically about the Middle Eastern area of operations, as we sometimes call it. The opposition argues that we should keep troops in Afghanistan because if we do not the Taliban will take over Afghanistan again, and that will be a catastrophe in the war against terrorism. Whether or not that is popular, I agree with it; that is right. But what is the logic of arguing, what is the intellectual logic of saying, that it makes sense to keep troops in Afghanistan so that the Taliban do not take over Afghanistan again and the democratic government of President Karzai can remain in office but that it does make sense to pull troops out of Iraq so that the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Maliki will collapse in the face of Islamist extremists and insurgents? What is the logic of that?

The Leader of the Opposition goes on to argue that Labor thinks we should bring our troops back from Iraq—that is 1,400; I suppose it would be fewer than that because we would still have to leave some of the support over there for the troops remaining in Afghanistan—in order to fight terrorism in South-East Asia. Excuse me as the foreign minister if I ask: where, pray, are those troops going to be sent? Are they going to be sent to Yogyakarta or to Jakarta itself? Are the troops going to be inserted into southern Thailand, or would Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi welcome an Australian company or even a battalion into Penang or somewhere? All of this is a political stunt, because when you dissect what the Leader of the Opposition has been saying, for all the blown-up pomp and ‘I am such a great strategic expert’—when you actually dissect it all—there is no logic to it. He has not done any homework.

I know I can be a bit cruel sometimes about the Leader of the Opposition. I can be a cruel person sometimes and I feel bad about it, really, because they are always so lovely to me! I really appreciate the charming expressions I hear at the dispatch box about ‘my parents’ and so on! The simple fact is that the Leader of the Opposition is intellectually lazy. This has not been thought through. This is a stunt for this week, and it has gone on every day this week. Throughout this week the Labor Party has argued a completely incoherent case. Let me make this point: whether or not our position is popular, the Prime Minister and I, the Minister for Defence, the cabinet and the parliamentary parties think it is right. The fact that something is right is enormously important to us, and we will stick the course. We will not surrender; we will not ask our partners and our allies to surrender. The Leader of the Opposition thinks that to lose is the right strategy. I think to lose would be disastrous.

Question put:

That the motion (That the motion (Mr Beazley’s) be agreed to.) be agreed to.

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