The former shadow Foreign Affairs spokesman, Laurie Brereton, has spoken out against Australia’s involvement in a war against Iraq, likening military participation to the Vietnam conflict, and calling on the ALP to “differentiate” itself from the Howard Government.
Brereton has recently returned from three months in New York as an Australian parliamentary observer of the United Nations General Assembly. He was the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1996 and 2001.
Some will see Brereton’s public statement as a swipe at his successor, Kevin Rudd, whilst others will paint it as part of the Brereton family’s feud with the right-wing controllers of the NSW ALP. Brereton’s sister, Diedre Grusovin, recently lost pre-selection for her safe seat in the NSW Legislative Assembly in a bitter factional dispute.