Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

This morning, in a radio interview with the ABC, the Leader of the Opposition made a number of remarks in response to questions. In response to one question, he said:

Mr Nelson, on behalf of Mr Howard, told the Australian people last night that anybody who wants to see our troops brought home has the same interests as al-Qaeda.

He said:

Mr Nelson’s response to that legitimate desire to see Australian troops brought home is to accuse any Australian who holds those views as having the same views as terrorists, the same views of al-Qaeda.

Mr Speaker, I would like to read onto the record and then table precisely what I said, and Australians will then reflect on what the opposition leader has said. I said:

Those people, whether they be in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia or in any other part of the world—people who are arguing that we withdraw from Iraq, to abandon the Iraqi people, to ignore the requests of the democratically elected Iraqi government, those who argue that we should do that before the Iraqi security forces are in a position to essentially look after their own security—we will by definition hand victory to those al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, who see it as important.

I said:

Whatever the motives of those who are demanding that the coalition withdraw from Iraq, that is precisely what al-Qaeda and the terrorists want us to do as well—withdraw.

I table both of the transcripts. The Leader of the Opposition has diminished only one person, and that is himself.

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