Through both the Vietnam war and the Gulf war. The Australian government supported U.S. backed UN actions strengthening support for the argument that Australia was supporting it's main military ally. Both Labor and Liberal governments support the U.S. with economic sanctions and military numbers however it must be seen that the two situations were vastly different. Therefore a comparison of the two government's reactions to the wars can not be accurately given without some analysis of the economic and political dimensions involved in a war with the middle east and one with Vietnam.
Australia's trading relationship with the Middle East is not overly significant with only approximately 3% of exports being bought by the region. However despite a lack of an overly important percentage of the export market, the Middle East does contribute significantly to particular areas such as the agriculture area. When UN sanctions included trade bans with the Iraq people Australia was eager to show its participation in supporting the role of the United Nations.
However it may be argued that the lack of significance of the trading relationship with Iraq made it easy for the Australian government to be so supportive. Prolonged trading barriers with the region would significantly affect the agriculture section however this was a small loss compared with hypothetical bans with other nations. For example a ban on exports to Indonesia would be far more detrimental and therefore Australia would be far more reluctant to support such a move despite human rights violations and political unrest.
At the time of the conflict with Vietnam, the United Nations was a force paralyzed by the soviet veto. So it may be misleading to compare any involvement with the United States over the United nations with that of the Labor government in the 1990's. However there were...