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

I would like to thank the member for Solomon for his question and his interest. He is a great supporter of the Australian Defence Force. I know that Defence Force personnel in Solomon appreciate very much the work he does for them. I explained in a speech last night the importance that Australia places on our relations with the Pacific and the energetic and activist approach we take in promoting improvement in a region which obviously has real problems with stability. When I got back to my office, I noticed that the Leader of the Opposition had also made a speech on strategic policy. That is a speech which deserves a little bit of scrutiny. I flicked through it early in the evening, and it interested me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I was reflecting on what happened when Labor were in government. During the last five years of the Hawke-Keating government, they reduced defence personnel by 10,000. They closed down two army battalions. They cut defence spending by about four per cent in the last two years of the Keating government.

When we became the government, our Defence Force did not have the capability to do the outstanding work it does today, contributing to regional and international security. In the Leader of the Opposition’s speech last night, I noticed that he would commit to the forward outlays—that is, a three per cent real increase per annum in defence expenditure up to 2016. He would commit to forward outlays of the present government.

He said, very interestingly, that the ‘US alliance sits squarely in the centre of our strategic vision’. When he was the opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and, indeed, before his time, when others were spokesmen on foreign affairs, the Labor Party—all the people sitting in this chamber to the left of the Speaker—argued that this government was too close to the United States. They always argued that we were too close to the Americans and now they say that the ‘US alliance sits squarely in the centre of our strategic vision’. By the way, Mr Speaker, I think members on this side need to know that the Leader of the Opposition claims the American alliance was formed by John Curtin. Actually, the alliance was formally formed during the Menzies’ years, but informally it was formed back in the First World War. I know that those on the other side of the House never mention Billy Hughes. He was a good man, Billy Hughes. He was a great Labor leader—the last decent Labor leader. It was Billy Hughes who formed the American alliance.

Regardless of that, I make this point: the opposition leader has yet again said: ‘I agree with the Prime Minister. I agree with John Howard.’ The fact is that the opposition leader either agrees with John Howard or agrees with the trade union leadership. He has no ideas of his own. What is worse, if he became the Prime Minister, he would have no ideas of his own. He could, of course, still ring up the trade unions and ask them what to do. But what would he do when it came to economic policy? Ring up Peter Costello down in Melbourne and say: ‘What should I do next? I don’t know what to do.’ Ring up John Howard and ask what to do about security policy—

See this speech in context