Australia’s defence minister, David Johnston, says he does not want to get into a “rule-in rule-out guarantee game” on the possibility of sending troops into Iraq.



But when asked about definitive statements by American leaders that the US would not deploy its combat forces to the region, Johnston acknowledged that it was “very reasonable” to conclude Australia would not do so either.

The comments followed Tony Abbott’s refusal to rule out Australian military action. “Well, we certainly don’t rule that out,” the prime minister said after talks with British foreign and defence secretaries in London on Tuesday.

The uncertainty prompted the opposition to call on ministers to stop sending mixed messages on such a serious matter.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said after pre-planned talks with Australian ministers in Sydney on Tuesday: “There will be no reintroduction of American combat forces into Iraq.”

Kerry’s statement reinforced comments last week by the US president, Barack Obama, when he authorised air strikes targeting the group known as Islamic State (Isis): “American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq.”

During a visit to the Northern Territory on Wednesday, Johnston emphasised that Australia’s role in Iraq was to help drop food and supplies.

“Our assistance to Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government is the provision of two C-130 aircraft for humanitarian air drops into the mountains surrounding Irbil to provide humanitarian assistance to the 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 people that are apparently isolated and trapped in those mountains, surrounded or partially surrounded by the Islamic State terrorists,” Johnston said.

“That is the extent of our operations; that is what we are doing in Iraq.

“I’m not ruling anything in or ruling anything out and I’m not getting into the rule-in rule-out guarantee game. What we are doing and what the government has committed to do is to provide two C-130 aircraft. They don’t have any weapons onboard. They are a heavy lift aircraft. We are providing those to assist our American friends and other friends, the Brits, the French, in providing humanitarian relief into Iraq.”

A journalist asked Johnston whether Kerry and Obama’s clear statements ruling out American combat forces on the ground effectively ruled out involvement of Australian combat troops.

“I think that’s a very reasonable conclusion to draw,” Johnston replied.

“We can equivocate for hours at a time on this. What we have seen is an extreme act of barbarism by the group of terrorists. What the future holds no one can predict. The Australian government has signed off on providing humanitarian relief and that is all.”

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, backed the humanitarian air drops and the condemnation of Isis, but called on the government to express a common position about combat troops.

Labor had been told the government did not want to send troops and this was a position the opposition supported, Shorten said.

“We’d like to see different government ministers clarify what exactly is the government’s position on this important matter of national security,” he said.

“The government has given us the clear indication that they don’t want to send troops but then every time we turn on a television set we see different positions from the government.”

Johnston raised the spectre of possible military involvement in an ABC interview on Monday, when he said he did not think “right-minded countries can just sit back and watch atrocities unfold on their nightly television without taking some action”.

Pressed on whether or not Australia was ruling out military involvement if it came to that, Johnston said: “We’re not ruling out providing some back-up assistance to the Americans as they go in and deal kinetically with this terrorist organisation.”

The next day the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, played down the prospect of Australian troops being sent back to Iraq.

“I don’t envisage that,” she told the ABC. “There’s been no request for it. We’ve been asked to support the humanitarian response and that’s what we’re doing.”