Peace, Security and International Relations

The Greens want an independent Australia with a constructive relationship with the rest of the world.

Following George Bush has made Australia less safe and a target for terrorism.

The military ‘war on terror’ is not working, and by participating we are contributing to the growing anger towards the West across the Middle East and the Islamic world.

Only by addressing the causes of terrorism, not just the symptoms, can we hope to live in a safer world. The first step is to create just relationships with other countries and work towards ending global poverty

The Greens will:

• Immediately withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and Afghanistan
• Provide significant aid for Iraqi national reconstruction
• Support a real peace process for Israel and Palestine
• Require approval by Parliament of any overseas military deployment
• Reduce defence spending while maintaining an adequate defence force
• Support an independent foreign policy that opposes pre-emptive strikes
• Increase our aid budget to at least 0.7% of GDP by 2010 and target aid to eliminating poverty.

Iraq

The illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq is a disaster built on a lie and Australia's ongoing military involvement is making it worse.

Thousands die and many more are wounded every month.

The majority of Iraqis want the coalition troops to leave but John Howard has tied Australia’s decision to the views of the White House.

The Greens have led the campaign for peace in Iraq. We would bring the troops home.