In boldly defending his government’s decision to commence direct arms shipments to the Kurdish regional government in Erbil, without a request from the government of Iraq or the UN, Prime Minister Tony Abbott proclaimed that Australia would not leave the Iraqi people to the mercy of the Islamic State ‘death cult’.

Given the military forces of the breakaway regional government include the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), a terrorist organisation that has been proscribed by most western countries, including the US & Australia, for more than a decade, it is entirely unsurprising that the Prime Minister is reluctant to canvass our involvement in America’s latest military adventure in our Parliament.

Of course, the presence of significant US oil interests in Kurdistan is doubtless no more than a happy coincidence?