Leader of the Opposition the Hon Kim C Beazley MP
Albinski Memorial Lecture Series
Address to the Department of Government and International Relations, The University of Sydney
23 March 2006
The first responsibility of the Australian Government is to protect Australia from threat.
In my first speech on international affairs after my return to the Labor leadership I said to the Australian Parliament that there are four great threats in international politics today: poverty, terrorism, climate change, and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
After ten long years of the Howard Government, the terrible truth is that our country is not seriously addressing any of these international challenges.
These were ten long years when the Howard Government was so un- Australian our help for the world’s poorest fell.
Ten long years when the Howard Government was so incompetent their own policies made the threat of terrorism worse.
Ten long years when the Howard Government was so out of touch the globe got hotter and they said it wasn’t so.
Ten long years when the Howard Government was so arrogant they dismissed the threat of weapons of mass destruction – and left Australia unprepared for a world that is changing fast, and for the worse. So here is one difference between the two parties.
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