Disarmament Minister Matt Robson is asking the Opposition leader Jenny
Shipley to reign in her defence spokesperson, after Mr Bradford today
appeared to denounce international diplomacy and conciliation.

In a press release this morning, Mr Bradford described support for
diplomatic initiatives in international conflict as 'Noddy land' and 'sweet
talking.'

"Every stable country in the world places a heavy emphasis on avoiding
conflict, through a mix of conciliation, diplomacy and aid," Matt Robson
said.

"The question for Mr Bradford is: Does National support disarmament and
international efforts to avoid conflict or does he want an international
'shoot first and ask questions later' approach?

"National in Government had a Disarmament Minister and participated in some
important conciliation efforts ? notably in Bouganville, where the full
range of military, diplomatic and development aid was used. For National to
walk away from that approach would be extremely damaging."

Matt Robson says National can't bring itself to tell the truth about the
Labour-Alliance coalition's commitment to increase defence spending.

"Here is a fact for Mr Bradford: defence spending is going up. Mr Bradford
keeps claiming the opposite, because he doesn't have the intellectual grunt
to debate the facts.

"Now he's making it worse. He's not just misrepresenting the Government's
position. He is publicly advocating the abandonment of peaceful conflict
resolution strategies.

"If Mrs Shipley still has any control over her caucus she will get this
wayward MP under control," Matt Robson said.

Ends

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