Today, the government has responded to the report by the Parliamentary Inquiry Into Conflict Decision Making by affirming its decision to refuse giving the parliament a vote, thus ensuring that Australians can be dragged into more illegal wars at the whims of the United States.
Senator Jordon Steele-John, Greens spokesperson for Peace and Foreign Affairs said:
“The Government’s response to the War Powers inquiry is proof that the Albanese government is refusing to embrace meaningful reform of Australia’s archaic and unaccountable process for going to war.”
“No other democracy in the world has an executive government that holds such unilateral power to send troops to war.”
“The Labor party took a promise to the election to conduct a fair inquiry into how Australia goes to war. The Defence Minister and Foreign Minister have spent the past two years doing everything in their power to unwind that promise; including stating their opposition to meaningful reform before the inquiry’s completion.
“We have seen over and over that the mechanism for sending Australians to war lacks accountability and results in significant human disaster. Hundreds of thousands have died, millions have been displaced, and, to this day, ADF personnel find themselves in overseas conflicts that were never subject to debate, vote, or scrutiny.”
“Today ADF personnel are still deployed to conflict zones globally without any meaningful engagement done with the Australian people or the parliament about why they are there, the contribution to national interest or the flow on effects these conflicts have.”
“The proposed changes by the government leave our Australian community vulnerable to the whims of the United States. The decision to go to war should be a vote of the Australian Parliament. When Australians get dragged into the next war the Australian Labor party should spare us their feigned outrage because the truth is they had the opportunity to stop it and didn’t, the blood will be on their hands.”