Dr SOUTHCOTT (3:07 PM) —My question is addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Has the minister seen criticism of the government's decision to participate in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime? Does the government stand by its decision? Are there any alternative views?

Mr DOWNER (Minister for Foreign Affairs) —I thank the honourable member for Boothby for his question. The honourable member for Boothby does an excellent job and, like all members on this side of the House, he wanted to see the back of Saddam Hussein's regime. Whatever some former military officers and diplomats may say—and I am aware of a statement that the Prime Minister has been talking about that has been signed by some of these people, a number of whom are well-known and trenchant critics of the government, and have been since 1996—

The SPEAKER —The member for Burke is warned!

Mr DOWNER —the fact is that we do not regret for one minute the decision we took to contribute to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. It was absolutely the right thing for Australia to do and for the coalition to do. You can stack up on one side of the ledger the opinions of the Leader of the Opposition and of the 43 people who signed some letter and of whoever it may be, but I put it to the House that, on the other side of the ledger, you should have another group of people: the people of Iraq. The people of Iraq do not agree with those people in Australia who think they would be better off under Saddam Hussein's regime. The people of Iraq do not think that. Whatever differences they may have and whatever problems there may be in Iraq, the people of Iraq are very glad that Saddam Hussein's regime has gone.

Mr DOWNER —We have not cut and run. We still have some ADF personnel there. We on this side of the House are proud of the fact that an Australian C130 flew 48 Iraqi athletes out of Baghdad on their way to the Athens Olympics. Iraq had a team at the last Olympics, in Sydney. There were four members in that team, all of whom were, of course, answerable to Saddam Hussein's son, Uday. Iraqis are delighted that Saddam Hussein's regime has gone.

There was no argument before the war in Iraq about whether Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

Ms Hall interjecting—

The SPEAKER —The member for Shortland is warned!

Mr DOWNER —After all, if the international community—and I do not just mean the British, the Americans and the Australians—did not think, before the war began on 17 March 2003, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, why would the Security Council have passed unanimously resolution 1441? Why would the United Nations have sent inspectors back into Iraq? They did not send inspectors back to Iraq because they did not think Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They are not threatening to send inspectors into Samoa or Fiji. They sent them into Iraq for a perfectly good reason.

Another former diplomat, Phillip Flood, produced a report after going through all the evidence. In his case, it was not just an opinion; he went through all the evidence. In his report, Mr Flood said:

That is what Mr Flood said after he had been through all the information. He went on to say that proving the obverse conclusion—in other words, that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction—`would have been a much more difficult conclusion to substantiate'.

The Prime Minister quoted Michael Costello, another former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr Costello was chief of staff to the Leader of the Opposition, and he stood for Labor Party preselection for the seat of Lowe, I think. It is not as though he is a fellow traveller of the Liberal Party; he often attacks the Liberal Party. On radio this morning, Mr Costello said, `It is not sustainable to say the government deceived people over the question of weapons of mass destruction.'

The Prime Minister has quoted General Gration saying in 2002 that the world would be a better place if Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. I will quote two other sources. The first is the former United Nations inspector and former diplomat, Mr Richard Butler, now Governor of Tasmania. He is somebody who, I believe, is a close friend of the Leader of the Opposition. I understand that Mr Butler and the Leader of the Opposition are very close friends. There is no point in laughing. You cannot get away from it: he is a close friend of yours. On 15 April 2003, Mr Butler said: `Do weapons of mass destruction exist in Iraq? No question.' Mr Butler was one of the primary advocates of the fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Mr DOWNER —The member for Griffith interjects, as usual. He has been warned, by the way. The Labor Party's basic charge is that, before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime, we had said that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and, in doing so, we misled the Australian people and therefore we are somehow culpable. But the Labor Party, I am sorry to reveal to the House, did exactly the same thing. On 15 October 2002, the member for Griffith told the Zionist Council of Victoria:

You cannot have the argument both ways. You cannot argue that we are being dishonest for saying that, having said it yourself. The member for Griffith, the Leader of the Opposition and all their fellow travellers made the argument that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction but that it was not worth getting rid of Saddam Hussein; it was not worth the effort. We disagreed on that point. Not only do we think that it was worth the effort; the Iraqis also agree with us—the Iraqis themselves are very glad that someone came to the party, had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein's regime and threw it out.