Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In light of the Prime Minister's recent visit to the United States and his comments about Iraq, can the Prime Minister provide an update to the House about the situation in Iraq?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. There is a serious and deteriorating situation in Iraq. A radical Islamist group—a group so extreme that it is a splinter group from al-Qaeda—originating in Syria, has now made major advances across wide swathes of Iraq.

This is a very concerning development. It seems that this group has proceeded through Iraq with maximum violence and terror to the civilian population and has behaved with extraordinary brutality towards surrendering Iraqi soldiers and policemen. There are reports that the Iraqi security forces have rallied somewhat, but at the moment those reports are sketchy.

This is a very, very concerning situation. As things stand, it is a humanitarian disaster for the people of those sections of Iraq which have now fallen under the control of this group. Should the control of this group be consolidated, we are faced with the situation of a terrorist state—a terrorist state with considerable sway over parts of a quite sophisticated country. Not only is it a humanitarian disaster for the people of those sections of Iraq but also it is a security disaster for the Middle East and also for the wider world.

As you would expect, there was discussion between myself, and members of my party, and senior figures in the United States. It is, as you would expect, the sort of thing that is natural between two very, very close allies. The United States is weighing its options. It is considering the situation, and consultations between Australia and the United States will continue. This is a serious situation. No-one should underestimate the difficulty that this development poses to the people of Iraq, to the people of the Middle East and ultimately to the people of the whole world.