Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Would the minister update the House on international efforts to combat terrorism in the Middle East. Is there any domestic opposition to these efforts?

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

First of all, I thank the honourable member for Forde for her question and her interest. I think that the highlight I should refer to in answering her question is the death last week of the al-Qaeda terrorist al-Zarqawi. We congratulate the Prime Minister of Iraq, the Iraqi defence forces and the United States forces on the job they did in tracking down this terrorist—this brutal and cruel man—and finally bringing him to justice. He was the mastermind of terrorism in Iraq, and he was also, I think, a very effective manipulator of the Western media. Whilst one normally would not express pleasure at the death of anybody, the death of a terrorist like that is a good thing.

The al-Qaeda backed terrorists in Iraq will continue to try to kill people, and some of the insurgents will continue to try to kill people. But the view of this government is that we should do all we reasonably can and, more importantly, the international community should do all it can to ensure that the forces of freedom and democracy in Iraq are successful and that terrorists and the insurgents are defeated. When President Bush was in Iraq a couple of days ago, he said that ‘Iraq is a central front’ in the war on terror and that America would keep its commitments. I commend not just the international forces and our own forces but also—in a way more importantly—the people of Iraq for their determination to stand up to terrorism and their determination to make sure that their democracy and their freedom succeeds in the teeth of those terrorists.

There are alternative views in this country. We give our commitment to see through this task. The opposition has an alternative view. When the Leader of the Opposition was asked on 9 June in a doorstop what he thought about the death of al-Zarqawi, he said that the war in Iraq is ‘a major distraction’ in the war on terror. In other words, the international community should pull out of Iraq and leave that country in the hands of the insurgents and the terrorists. That is the position of the Leader of the Opposition, a man who has endeavoured to convince commentators that he has some sort of knowledge of and expertise on international strategic issues. In other words, the world would be better off if the insurgents and the terrorists were successful in Iraq.

Dick Adams (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Adams interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Lyons is warned!

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

We would be better off if we hauled up the white flag and were defeated. We would not be better off if we were defeated—

Graham Edwards (Cowan, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary (Defence and Veterans' Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Edwards interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Cowan is warned!

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

we would be better off if we won. We would be better off if the terrorists were defeated in Iraq. This government will never be defeatist and it will never step backwards in its determination to support the international community in Iraq. But the Leader of the Opposition leads a political party which has a candidate in Victoria called Khalil Eideh. Khalil Eideh is a man who speaks of ‘colonial’ and ‘Zionist’ plots to ‘enslave the Arab world’ and praises the work of ‘Arab martyrs’. If the Leader of the Opposition were a person of strength and courage, he would ensure that this Labor candidate was disendorsed. This is not a candidate who articulates the courageous views of the mainstream of Australia. The mainstream of Australia denounces and stands up to these people.

Labor have a candidate they are running in the Victorian election—some sort of multimillionaire candidate they are enormously proud of—who apparently talks about ‘Arab martyrs’ and how there are ‘Zionist’ plans to ‘enslave the Arab world’. I think we have heard that language somewhere else. Now we hear that language from the Australian Labor Party—the party that wants to haul up the white flag in Iraq, the party that wants to roll over in the teeth of terrorists. The Leader of the Opposition should show some courage and get this man disendorsed.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Has the minister completed his answer?

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

Yes.