Would-be prime minister Tony Abbott has signalled that if he wins Saturday's poll, Australia will take a cautious approach to international affairs, saying that as a middle power Australia should not "be getting ideas above our station" in considering involvement with a possible US strike on Syria.
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Appearing on ABC's 7.30, Mr Abbott said "we have to be very careful, because if we break something, we own it".
"I don't think we should be getting ideas above our station, " he said.
While "Australia has some heft in the world", and Australian governments of both sides had historically supported the US in military endeavours, Mr Abbott said "I just think we need to be very careful in a situation like this cause we can easily make a bad situation worse by acting precipitously. I would be very cautious about this."
"I don't think we should be getting above ourselves here. We are a significant middle power but no more."
Mr Abbott was grilled about his claims during the week that the conflict in Syria was "baddies versus baddies", but he was unable to explain who he had meant when he was asked to name the "baddies" among the anti-government forces that he said had links to al-Qaeda.
"So do you mean specifically the Free Syrian Army of being the group that's of concern, or do you mean sort of the more political aspects of the Syrian opposition like the national coalition and the Syrian national council?" host Leigh Sales asked.
"It's a very disparate group," Mr Abbott replied. "But some of the elements appear to be al-Qaeda influenced and we've got to be very careful dealing in a powder keg like the Middle East that we don't take action, well-intentioned action, which could end up making a bad situation worse."
Mr Abbott said he had supported military interventions in the past, and would now take a more cautious approach.
"Let's face it, we've had extensive Western interventions. We had intervention in Iraq; I supported it, but a lot of people would question its wisdom and its outcomes, we've had intervention in Afghanistan, again I supported it; a lot of people would question its wisdom and its ultimate outcomes ... We have to be very careful because if we break something, we own it."
And Mr Abbott came under fire from social media when he suggested that asylum seekers fleeing the violence should seek refuge in nearby countries including Iraq.
"They've got Lebanon, they've got Jordan, they've got Turkey, they've got Iraq – any person person fleeing Syria winding up in Australia would be in much the same situation as Hazaras and others who are coming by boat at the present time and our position very clearly is, you should come through the front door, not through the back door."
The majority of Syria's population are Sunni, which is the minority group in Iraq that formerly held power under deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.
