Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, representing the Prime Minister. I refer the minister to a speech by the Minister for Defence last week where he compared the war in Iraq to the critical Kokoda campaign in the Second World War. Is the minister aware that the latest US National Intelligence Estimate says that the term ‘civil war’ accurately describes key elements of the Iraqi conflict, with over three million displaced persons and an average of 1,000 new civilian casualties each week? Does the minister know how or why anyone could seriously attempt to compare a civil war in Iraq with the Kokoda campaign, which cost Australian lives in the defence of Australia? Is it any wonder that many veterans have taken serious offence at the defence minister’s comparison? Can the minister indicate whether the Prime Minister will be demanding that Minister Nelson apologise to veterans, given the anger that his comments about the Kokoda campaign have caused?