George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

It is absolutely vital. We can have our disputes about domestic policy. We can have our disputes about the management of the economy. But when it comes to Australia presenting a face to the world, Australia is only ever strengthened when there is bipartisanship on issues of national security. The Australian Labor Party has generally accepted that when they have been in opposition, as my side of politics has always accepted it when we have been in opposition, but I am sorry to say that in recent weeks we have seen that attitude break down.

Australians deserve to have every confidence, whatever party is in government and whatever party is for the time being in opposition, that its leaders will act in the national interest. At the heart of our national interest is our alliance with the United States of America, an alliance formed by the ANZUS Treaty in 1951—that crowning achievement of the diplomacy of the Menzies government—which has been supported—