Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister’s answer to the previous question on Iraq’s democracy and I refer to his comments on national radio this morning on the same subject when he said that Australian troops could be withdrawn when democracy has a reasonable chance, if that is the wish of the Iraqi people. Will the Prime Minister confirm that, under the government’s new Iraq policy, it would now be acceptable for the Iraqi people to accept a non-democratic form of government for their country and that a functioning and sustainable Iraqi democracy is no longer a prerequisite for the withdrawal of Australian troops?

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

The answer is no, and the member for Griffith knows full well from the interview that I made it very clear that the form of the future government of Iraq is a matter for the people of Iraq, and that is entirely what the situation should be. But we do know that if the advice of the member for Griffith had been taken democracy would not even have been dreamt of in Iraq.