Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I am not too sure in the minister’s answer whether he was accusing Britain and Denmark of a precipitate withdrawal but I certainly note that the cut-and-run terminology seems to be abandoned. Minister, given that all the rationales that you have used in the past and all the pillars of your defence for our continued position in Iraq have collapsed, why won’t you develop a strategy for the exit of our troops from Iraq? What can you say to the Australian public about when our involvement will end? Why don’t you wake up to the reality that the other allies are seeking to withdraw from Iraq? Surely we ought to be considering an exit strategy now?