AUSTRALIA: Election foreign policy debate
Updated
In a foreign policy debate for Australia's election, the Foreign Minister has pointed to what he calls a dramatic decline in the threat of terrorism in Southeast Asia. Alexander Downer says it's possible to achieve victory against terrorism in Asia and the Middle East. The Labor spokesman on Foreign Affairs, Robert McLelland says helping to invade Iraq has made Australia less safe and has emboldened Muslim extremists.
Presenter: Graeme Dobell
Speakers: Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer; Australian Opposition Foreign spokesman, Robert McLelland
DOBELL: The Labor Opposition says Australia has hurt its interests and its values by helping the invasion of Iraq. Labor says that if it wins the election on November the 24th, it'll withdraw Australia's combat troops from Iraq. The Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman, Robert McLelland, says Australia should have used its alliance with the United States to caution against the invasion of Iraq.
MCLELLAND: Invading Iraq has made us less safe. And invading Iraq was directly contrary to Australian values. The Prime Minister himself is fond of using the expression: A mate always stands by a mate in a fight.Well Australians can relate to that, but Australians can also relate to the expression that a better mate prevents his mate from getting into a fight in the first place, if it's not in his interests and it can possibly be avoided. And this fight could have been avoided.
DOBELL: The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says he still believes the invasion of Iraq was the right decision, and he says that in both Asia and the Middle East, there can be a victory in the fight against Muslim extremism.
DOWNER: The fact is that the fight against terrorism is tough. It's dangerous and, to be frank, it's clearly controversial, but my point is that this is a fight that can be won. Indeed, it must be won and we are winning. Now is not the time to slacken that effort. Labor thinks we're too tough and that we do too much. They want to take a step back. Well, I think with our allies we are winning and we should not take a step back. We should move on to secure victory.
DOBELL: Mr Downer sees that possible victory most clearly in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia.
DOWNER: We've seen a dramatic decline in support for terrorism in Indonesia. The Indonesians have convicted nearly 200 terrorists and they disrupted and destroyed terror cells and networks. The three Bali bombers are now on death row, and by the way our government won't be going in to bat for them. In the Philippines, they're making progress. The Malaysians and Singaporeans, they're doing an excellent job. We've helped these countries achieve their success, but to be frank there is still a long way to go and we certainly shouldn't be complacent.
DOBELL: The Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman says Iraq has been a humanitarian and strategic disaster disaster that has made Australia less safe from Muslim extremists. But Mr McLelland says for Australia it's also been a foreign policy distraction. He says Australia needs to have a clearer focus on its interests in Southeast Asia.
MCLELLAND: I think Iraq has been a distraction from addressing the priorities in our region. I mean, when was the last time you heard a government minister talking about the challenge of international terrorism, in particular training camps in southern Philippines bordering the regions of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia. We live in a dangerous neighbourhood. A report to Congress recently said that about 20 per cent of al-Qaeda's organisational strength is in our region. There is a lot to be done in our region in fighting terrorism. Strong law enforcement, but also longer term to prevent terrorist recruitment in the future if we want to get on top of it.
DOBELL: That brought this response from the Foreign Minister, with Mr Downer arguing that there's been no gap in the attention he gives to East Asia and ways to deal with extremism.
DOWNER: Can I just make this point: I'm always talking about the success of counterterrorism in South-East Asia. I reckon working with the Indonesians - I mean, I don't know whether the Labor Party reads.With the Indonesians, we have hosted - co-hosted summits on counterterrorism, we have a massive counterterrorism cooperative relationship with Indonesia. We set up the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation, for example, training people in South-East Asia to deal with the issue of terrorism. We've seen a dramatic fall in terrorist incidents in South-East Asia. We've seen the Indonesians working with us with a lot of support from us, very successfully dealing with the problems of terrorism. What we've been doing in the Philippines, what we've been doing working with the Singaporeans and the Malaysians and the Thais; I mean, this proposition that somehow I get out of bed every morning and never stop thinking about Iraq until I go to bed of the night - at the end of the night. I mean, you'd have to be like a sort of blind, crazy partisan to believe that.
