Butler also avoids ‘daily commentary’ on Trump
The government has reaffirmed it will not send troops to reopen the strait of Hormuz.
The health minister, Mark Butler, spoke to ABC News Breakfast this morning, and said Australia only remains involved in a small defensive capacity, providing a military aircraft to support the United Arab Emirates.
double quotation markWe don’t have any plans to do that. I think that’s been made clear by a number of ministers, we are involved in some defensive operations to protect those innocent neighbours, particularly the UAE, where there are many thousands of Australians as expats. We don’t have any plans to participate in military activities in the strait.
Butler also avoids making running commentary on Donald Trump, and says despite the escalation in the Middle East, he believes the alliance and Aukus agreement with the US is rock solid.
double quotation markWe’re very confident about the future of Aukus, the US, president, the administration, more broadly, the Congress, has made clear its commitment to that important security partnership …
This is why we don’t provide a daily commentary on the remarks made by the US president. We’re focused on the substance of our relationship.
