Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Faulkner’s remarks—that is, those of the defence minister—are entirely consistent with the mission statement that I outlined to the House. It is government policy. And the government’s policy stands in stark contrast to the flip, flop, flap that we saw between 2001 and 2005-06 on the part of those opposite when it came to Afghanistan. I notice the member for Eden-Monaro nods his head, in full knowledge of what actually transpired during that period of time. What actually happened during that period of time was that we had an initial Australian military commitment in Afghanistan at the end of 2001 and into 2002, and then mysteriously the Australian Defence Force commitment to Afghanistan reduced to zero.

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