Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Minister, I refer to the fact that 17 of the 38 members of the Iraqi cabinet have now withdrawn—all of the Sunnis and two big Shia factions—and government for practical purposes has ceased. Now that four million Iraqis have left the country, including most doctors, teachers, public servants and entrepreneurs, and that, according to the Financial Times, Iraq has reached advanced societal breakdown, with ethnic cleansing now the norm, will your government admit that the strategy of delivering democracy with violence has not worked?

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

Of course, we as a government are concerned about the domestic situation in Iraq. However, I would, at the outset, indicate that the Iraqi people, whatever trials and tribulations they now suffer, are no longer ruled by one of the most tyrannical, authoritarian and genocidal dictators the world has ever seen. The foreign minister in his interview on the Sunday program yesterday outlined the government’s position with respect to the domestic situation in Iraq. The government is keen to ensure that the Prime Minister of Iraq does his utmost to hasten the process of internal reconciliation. We are concerned to ensure that much more haste and application are devoted to the task of ensuring reconciliation of the various forces within Iraq.

We understand full well the divisions within Iraq domestically. It saddens all of us that Iraqi is fighting and killing Iraqi, aided and abetted by al-Qaeda and other outside forces. But that is not a recipe for abandoning the Iraqi people. Whatever trials and tribulations they suffer, the worst possible thing any government in the Western world could do now would be to say: ‘It’s all too hard. See you later. We’re packing up and moving out.’ That is the last thing that the Iraqi people would want. The Iraqi people want the West and the coalition of the willing, including Australia, to be there to assist them in the process of ensuring that they can establish a stable, secure, peaceful and democratic Iraq. That is what they want, and that is what we want for the Iraqi people. It is not easy. It is tough. But the worst thing that we could possibly do is abandon the Iraqi people at their time of need.

Lyn Allison (Victoria, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Minister, does your government take any responsibility for the fact that the Government Accountability Office of the US Congress is finding endless examples of incompetence behind this misconceived adventure in Iraq—to use their words in an article last week? Does it bother the government that 110,000 AK47 assault rifles and 80,000 pistols have gone missing and are likely to be being used against the coalition troops? Will you now withdraw our 500 troops and will you advocate a diplomatic solution that involves all parties to this mess?

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

No. We have a very clear position that we will not simply withdraw our support for the Iraqi people through our presence on the ground, which is playing its part in ensuring that the Iraqi people have in place a mechanism by which they can pursue a stable, secure, peaceful and democratic Iraq. We are not going to abandon them at their time of need. Questions relating to the competence or otherwise of the American intervention and administration are matters for the American people and the American government to answer. Of course we would be concerned about reports that a certain number of weapons have found their way into the wrong hands. Of course we would be most concerned about that. Clearly, if that is true then there is a huge message for the American administration to significantly increase its capacity to ensure that that does not occur. But we pay tribute to President George Bush and his determination to free the people of Iraq from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and we are joining with the United States and many other countries in ensuring that the Iraqi people have a chance of peace. (Time expired)