Annette Hurley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I did see press reports of both Dr Nelson’s speech and the misinterpretation of that speech. I note that Minister Nelson has letters in a number of newspapers today making that point, that his remarks in the speech were completely and utterly misrepresented. I invite anybody to look at the context of the speech. I will not read the full transcript of what he said but I think any fair-minded Australian who does read the full transcript of his speech knows that he was not seeking to directly compare the war on terror and our role in the war on terror with the significant efforts of those involved in the Kokoda campaign to defend this country from what was then thought to be an invasion by Japan. Dr Nelson was not seeking to make that sort of comparison.

He was making the point, which the Labor Party does not seem to understand, that Australia, along with the civilised world, is involved in an international war, a war on terror, a war that has brought death and destruction right to the heart of New York City, as we have seen, to the heart of London and to the heart of Madrid. Thank God it has not happened here. But we are involved in a massive war against an extraordinary opponent that is properly described as a war on terror. All Australians need to understand the scale of that war and what is going to be required of us to defeat a much more difficult enemy in many ways.

So there is no way that Minister Nelson would ever seek to belittle the extraordinary chivalry and bravery of those who fought for Australia in the Kokoda campaign or in any other campaign involved in World War II, which was a conventional war against an enemy that, at the time, we thought were seeking to invade and take over this country. The government honours and respects the extraordinary efforts of those involved in the Kokoda campaign, as we applaud and respect the role of our forces active around the world involved in the war on terror.

It is a curious thing that the Labor Party seem to support the efforts of Australian troops in fighting this war on terror in places like Afghanistan but apparently think we should simply abandon the war on terror in Iraq and leave that country to the devices of the terrorists. We do not agree with the Labor Party. We do not accept their hypocrisy on this issue when they say, ‘Yes, we should fight terrorists in Afghanistan but, no, we should not do it in Iraq.’ We do believe it is important to tackle the terrorists in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Are not Minister Nelson’s stupid remarks just a sign of how desperate the government is to try to justify continuing Australian involvement in Iraq? Is not the Minister for Defence’s desperation caused by the fact that the pillars of the government’s rationale for keeping troops in Iraq are now totally discredited?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That really is an outrageous reflection on Minister Nelson. I refer you to what he actually said. He said that in 1942 ‘we had a gripping struggle on the Kokoda Track’. He continued:

No-one needed convincing Australia’s interests were at risk. But today we face something which is no less a risk to our culture, our values, our freedoms and way of life than was presented to us in 1942.

That is what he said. It is a different risk. It is harder to see for the average Australian trying to feed their kids et cetera. They were perfectly acceptable, sensible remarks, which indicates, as I have said, that he was taken grossly out of context. We defend and uphold the chivalry and bravery of those involved on the Kokoda Track just as we uphold the bravery of those fighting the war on terror on our behalf.