On Friday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott gave a strong indication he was prepared to, saying “when they [IS] don’t respect the border [between Syria and Iraq], why should we?”
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Mr Shorten on Saturday said he would be seeking reassurance from the Abbott government that Australian warplanes bombing targets in Syria had legal backing while underscoring Labor’s support for the war against Daesh/Islamic State.
AUSTRALIAN air strikes against IS may be expanded from Iraq into Syria in the coming weeks.
“The United States have asked us to be engaged in supporting manned strikes, but also intelligence surveillance, reconnaissance, air refuelling and the like”.
Labor frontbencher Ed Husic also voiced concerns about a potential escalation of air combat operations into Syria before receiving the US request.
Ms Bishop said she had already spoken with Canada and other Coalition allies about their involvement in Syria but ultimately Australia would come to its own decision about whether or not we were needed in Syria.
“We’re not going to rush a decision”, he said.
A top Syrian official told Rudaw, a news agency in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, that both the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and Syrian government troops had successfully been able to push back ISIS militants from the Syrian town of Hasaka.
Vice Admiral David Johnston says Australia joining in on air strikes in Syria would not be a “game changer” for the overall mission.
“This is an opportunity in this electorate to put down some markers to Mr Abbott and his Liberals to say enough is enough”. The United States has made a formal appeal to Australia to play an extended part in the coalition forces attack in Syria.
She said the government had Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s full support but his deputy always seemed to take another stance. “So it’s something she’s been doing for quite some time”, Ms Bishop said.
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“(Tanya Plibersek) always takes another position”, she said.
