The treasurer, Scott Morrison, warned against a “hot-headed” response to the crisis in Syria, following the intervention of the former defence minister, Kevin Andrews, who has called on Australia to put boots on the ground.
Andrews, an Abbott loyalist who lost the defence portfolio following September’s leadership spill, has taken a swipe at the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, over his strategy in the Middle East.“Australia has an opportunity to engage in greater leadership,” Andrews wrote in an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review. “Our efforts in training Iraqi forces is commendable, but insufficient.”
Andrews said the United States was creating a “false choice between the current approach and a full-scale invasion of Syria”.
He urged a “concerted campaign by coalition special operations forces”, as well as greater collaboration with Russia and a political solution that reinstalls Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Morrison said the Turnbull government’s policy of conducting airstrikes in Syria and Iraq was in line with that of former prime minister Tony Abbott.
“If there were to be any change to that, this would need to be a matter which was considered amongst the coalition forces, not by any unilateral position of Australia,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“To suggest that we should take some unilateral action in this area, I would find very surprising,” Morrison said. “I’m sure that’s not what the former defence minister would be suggesting. That would be contrary to everything that was previously being done and equally under his own administration.
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