Julia Gillard has weighed in on the US presidential campaign in a video released in support of Hillary Clinton that warns against the “cheap and easy statements” of Clinton’s Republican rivals.
Several Republican presidential candidates – including the frontrunner, Donald Trump – have made inflammatory comments about Muslims and their link to global terrorism, which Gillard said was an oversimplification of “complex foreign policy”.
“Hard words often get really ugly reactions, and there’s a real risk when people are campaigning for office that they use a characterisation that is quick and might play with some constituencies back home, but which does damage, does reverberate for years and years,” Gillard warned.
“If I was an American, I would want to see the reputation of my country always getting stronger and stronger and never at risk because of cheap and easy statements being injected into complex foreign policy debates.”
In October the former Australian prime minister backed Clinton for president in a campaign video after the pair struck up a friendship when both were in office.
The Democratic frontrunner’s time as secretary of state overlapped with Gillard’s period as prime minister.
Thursday’s video, tweeted by The Briefing, the Clinton camp’s brand, was part of the earlier interview. It is understood Clinton’s office asked Gillard if it could use the excerpt, and she was happy to oblige.
Former Australian Prime Minister @JuliaGillard on "cheap and easy statements" to complex foreign policy questions: https://t.co/9od2GxVpbt
— The Briefing (@TheBriefing2016) December 16, 2015
Republican candidates have tried to one-up each other in relation to their law and order credentials after Trump’s call for Muslim Americans to carry special identification and for a ban on Muslims entering the US.
On Tuesday night the Texan senator Ted Cruz vowed to “carpet bomb” Islamic State during the Republican debate. A fellow candidate, Chris Christie, defended his proposal to stop Syrian refugees being resettled, including widows and orphans under the age of five.
Clinton’s camp shot down the Republican debate saying it was “two hours of bluster and fear”.
Americans need more than “shallow slogans” to keep safe, a campaign advertisement said.
