No peace while "butcher Assad" remains

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says peace will only come to the Middle East when countries and their peoples take control of their own future.

Syria will not have a lasting peace while "the butcher Assad" remains as its leader, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says.

The only way there would be peace in the Middle East was when the region's nations and their peoples took control of their own own future, he said.

"There can be no lasting peace if you keep the butcher Assad in power," he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.