Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Defence, Senator Faulkner. The Prime Minister stated to the House on 20 August:

Credible elections are critical to strengthening Afghanistan’s democratic process and institutions and consolidating the progress made since the 2004 elections.

Is it not now obvious that the elections in Afghanistan have been a farce on a broad scale and have involved widespread fraudulence, including 800 mythical ballot stations which returned a 100 per cent vote for President Karzai and another 800 ballot stations in which Karzai representatives stuffed pro-Karzai ballot papers into ballot boxes? Does this government hold the election as credible? Will it support Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Brown in calling for a United Nations—