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Under an intelligence-sharing arrangement, Australia receives JIC reports. Mr Howard's refused to confirm that Australian authorities had received the February 10 report, declining to answer verbal or written questions on the issue. But the former senior Office of National Assessments analyst who who quit in protest over the war, Andrew Wilkie, said the ONA "routinely received JIC assessments and would have received that assessment". The ONA reports directly to the Prime Minister's office.
Moreover, Mr Wilkie said, its contents were consistent with the view of ONA analysts. "Because of material like that, and ONA's own work, it was clearly understood there would be an increasing risk of terrorism if Iraq was invaded and this risk was communicated to the Government," he said.
However, in an address to the nation on the eve of the war, Mr Howard said the exact opposite: "Far from our action in Iraq increasing the terrorist threat, it will, by stopping the spread of chemical and biological weapons, make it less likely that a devastating terrorist attack will be carried out against Australia." It was a stand he and his ministers often repeated in the weeks leading up to the war
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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/09/12/1063341770496.html