This is the text of a published article by the Leader of the Opposition, Simon Crean.
The article was published in The Australian and on the ALP website
Article by Simon Crean, Leader of the Opposition.
Contrary to recent assertions by Greg Sheridan, (‘Trashing alliance just plain dumb’, The Australian, Opinion, July 4), there is no reflex anti-American position in Labor ranks – just a clear-headed sense of our national interests. No one on the Labor side is arguing for a diminution of our alliance relationship with the US.
The fact is, Labor strongly supports the alliance. It always has. It was the Labor governments of Curtin and Chifley that brokered the original alliance relationship in the 1940s. And it was Doc Evatt, as Labor’s foreign minister, who negotiated Australia’s inclusion in the 1947-48 UK-USA intelligence agreement, which has remained at the core of the alliance relationship for more than 50 years.