The Wire

The Government has announced a plan for when Australian troops serving in Iraq can come home – according to Prime Minister John Howard, all it will take is a stable government. But critics have taken the announcement with a pinch of salt, saying the Prime Minister is backing down from his former position of ‘democracy or nothing’. Prime Minister Howard maintains Australia’s position is the same as it was before, but Leader of the Democrats, Senator Lyn Allison says that’s not the case.