It now seems that practically the whole world knew what Saddam Hussein was up to at the time ? except, of course, the Howard Government.

This is a world-class scandal…which is damaging to Australia’s international reputation. We must get to the bottom of it.

We should not be kowtowing to anybody when it comes to freedom in this country.

It seems the whole world knew, except for the Howard Government. This is getting ridiculous. This is becoming a farce.

Everyone’s entitled to their point of view but that’s seriously a weird one.

Given the size of India’s population, Australia is clearly underperforming in its provision of these services.

That’s where Australia’s efforts should lie at the moment ? through the UN process and through our own bilateral pressure on the Iranian Government.

The bottom line is this — when it comes to helping Australians on the ground, the Australian government has failed miserably to persuade its closest friend and ally, the United States government, to allow Australian...

This is an extraordinary new development, a cover-up of the highest order.

What we would also need to have some guarantees about is the probity of the police force undertaking these tests themselves to make sure that they are free from corruption or any other maleficence.

A terrible piece of work. Addicted to the media and leaking. A junior minister in Government at best.

The tragedy for Australia is that our diplomatic relationship with East Timor right now is in a sorry state,

I just think it’s pretty sad for everybody, Mark included, when a former leader of our party behaves in this way.

When Howard … sends our diplomats into Washington to try and hush this whole thing up in the middle of our Australian federal election campaign, it’s plain as day that they knew what the whole...

John Howard established this inquiry in order to bring about his own absolution, not to bring about any form of accountability.

It is a kick in the guts for the families of those 88 Australians, young Australians, who were murdered in Bali. It’s just plain wrong.

If John Howard has nothing to hide, he would widen the terms of reference to cover his Government, ministers, and advisers. He shouldn’t put commissioner Cole in the position of, at some stage, having to...

Most Australians would ask why is it that Schapelle Corby gets sentenced to 20 years for importing marijuana, Abu Bakar Bashir gets 30 months for participating in the murder of nearly 100 Australians,

I don’t know what planet Mr Downer is on, but he’s not on planet New Orleans,

If he has any self respect he would resign over this matter. The negligence is so gross.

He has already experienced success and has the taste for it and I wish him well.

The foreign minister’s personal relationship with the prime minister of East Timor is at an appalling low.

Australia stands ready to provide any assistance, such as energy assistance, bilateral development or any safeguard expertise that we may be able to offer,

This is slap in the face for Australia.

(Indonesia is) important because of our common interests with counter-terrorism, our common interest in the effective control of illegal immigrants. We need to make sure this relationship is back on an even keel as soon...

It appears tobe a fantastic breakthrough, although history cautions us to reserve a final judgment in dealing with North Korea.

John Howard’s credibility on the entire Iraq war has been torpedoed by John Howard’s own intelligence agency,

Mr. Downer read none of the cables which were relevant to this scandal.