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

The Leader of the Opposition was asked yet again what he advocates in relation to withdrawing troops from Iraq and what he thought the consequences of that would be. The Leader of the Opposition replied:

No, what I’m an advocate of is to withdraw the Australian combat component ...

We know that. We have known that for several years, but what we do not know is what the Leader of the Opposition believes would be the consequence of a coalition withdrawal by March 2008. Over the last day and a half I have been attacked and lacerated by the opposition for expressing my view, but the Leader of the Opposition does not have the guts to express his. I want to know what the opposition believes. I would like to know—

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