Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I am aware from media reports today that the Greens have renewed their call for an inquiry into the Iraq war. The issue was raised in August last year. As the Prime Minister and the Minister for Defence made clear at the time, the government is not considering an inquiry into the Iraq war. The issues surrounding the intelligence on weapons of mass destruction have already been the subject of both extensive government and parliamentary reviews. Any further questions are obviously a matter for the Prime Minister of the time, Mr Howard, and his senior ministers.

I want to reiterate the comments made in August last year by Minister Smith:

The circumstances of the Iraq war have been gone through by any number of parliamentary inquiries, particularly in the Senate. You always learn lessons from a former or a previous conflict.

Mr Smith went on to say:

My political party, the Labor Party, opposed going to Iraq and when we came to office we withdrew our combat troops. So our longstanding view of Iraq is well known.

Mr President, I am not sure there is a lot more I can add to the senator's questions, but if there is any other information I am able to provide, I will see if it is available.