TANYA Plibersek defended Labor's decision to back Australia's involvement in Iraq during her visit to Bendigo on Monday, comparing the situation with the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Australian government accepted a US request on Sunday to provide 600 personnel to the region to support operations targeting the Islamic State.
As the shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, Ms Plibersek said Labor fully supported the move.
"Our job is to prevent atrocities and crimes against humanity from occurring. The world stood by and saw one million people killed in Rwanda," she said.
"We can't let something like that happen again.
"Citizens are being massacred in Iraq."
The move to re-enter a conflict in Iraq drew criticism from the Greens, who demanded a plan for the purpose of Australia's involvement and for a measure of a successful campaign.
Ms Plibersek said Labor had a strong record in standing up for Australians when it came to military involvements.
"I was 100 per cent opposed to Australia's involvement in Iraq in 2003," she said.
"The 2003 war did not have the support of the Iraqi government, the weapons of mass destruction did not exist.
"We presented a letter laying out why we did not support the war when George W Bush visited Australia.
"The war in 2003 was a disaster. It was a disaster for Iraq."
Despite her criticism of Australia's initial involvement in Iraq, Ms Plibersek said the current situation was "completely different" because Australia was responding to a request from the Iraqi government.
She said instances of militant movements in other countries, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Shabaab in Somalia, posed differing circumstances and those countries had not requested help from the international community.