Subject: Australian PM censured over Iraq
From: "Mark Graffis" 
Date: 5 Feb 2003 14:20:09 -0600

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2727551.stm

Wednesday, 5 February, 2003, 10:22 GMT
Australian PM censured over Iraq

Mr Howard's stance on Iraq has been met with protests

The Australian Senate has passed an historic no-confidence motion against 
the prime minister over his handling of the crisis in Iraq.
John Howard and his conservative Liberal/National coalition were censured 
for deploying troops to the Gulf ahead of a possible war.

Opposition and minor parties joined forces to pass the motion against Mr 
Howard by 33 to 31 votes.

The vote has no legislative clout, but is considered an important symbolic 
gesture as it is the Senate's first vote of no-confidence in a serving 
leader in its 102-year history.

Mr Howard - a staunch US ally - has insisted the deployment of troops does 
not mean Australia has decided to support any war with Iraq.

But so far, Australia and the UK are the only countries to have joined the 
US in deploying forces to the Gulf region.

Support for troops

During the heated debate, which started on Tuesday, Mr Howard was accused of 
deploying troops without reference to parliament and against to public 
opinion.

Australian deployment

150 combat troops

1,350 other personnel

3 ships

180,000 US and British troops also in the region

"The prime minister has made a unilateral decision and sent 2,000 of our 
defence personnel off to a war undeclared in the northern hemisphere without 
any cogent explanation of his actions," said the Labour Party's leader in 
the Senate, John Faulkner.

Senator Bob Brown, head of the left-wing Australian Greens, said the 
no-confidence vote marked an "historic condemnation of the government" and 
its leader.

"His gross mishandling of Australia's involvement deserved the strongest 
parliamentary rebuke," Mr Brown said.

While the motion declared opposition to any unilateral US attack on Iraq, it 
did not go quite as far as the Greens had hoped.

The party's bid to condemn any Australian involvement, even with a United 
Nations mandate, was defeated.

And a no-confidence motion similar to that passed in the Senate was defeated 
in Australia's lower House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The conservative majority ensured the motion fell by 82 votes to 63.

Public opinion

About 400 anti-war protesters demonstrated outside the national parliament 
on Tuesday, angry at Mr Howard's stance on Iraq.

Recent opinion polls show that 76% of Australians oppose their country's 
participation in a US-led war, while 57% support joining military action 
that has UN backing.

In an interview with Australian magazine The Bulletin, Mr Howard admitted 
the decision to deploy troops had put him under huge pressure.

"It's the first thing I think about when I wake up, and that has been the 
case for the last few weeks," he told the magazine.


 

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