{"id":77032,"date":"2022-12-08T17:30:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T06:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=77032"},"modified":"2022-12-08T18:02:54","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T07:02:54","slug":"government-must-retain-unfettered-power-to-send-australians-to-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/government-must-retain-unfettered-power-to-send-australians-to-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Government must retain unfettered power to send Australians to war"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

Tomorrow afternoon, the Australian Parliament\u2019s Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade will hold a public hearing<\/a> for its inquiry into international armed conflict decision-making<\/a>. In our submission<\/a> (number 86) to the committee, made in a personal capacity in line with ASPI\u2019s charter<\/a>, we argue that decisions about the deployment of the Australian Defence Force should remain the prerogative of the government, acting in cabinet in accordance with the constitution and longstanding precedent. While precedents aren\u2019t everything, this is one that is worth continuing.<\/p>\n

Parliament has a crucial role to play in holding the government to account, and we encourage the strengthening of practices and conventions to facilitate that. But parliament should not compel the government to provide pre-notification of ADF deployments. Nor should parliament have decision-making power over the ADF\u2019s engagement in conflict.<\/p>\n

A nation\u2019s defence force is a potent symbol of its sovereignty. In our political system, effective civil\u2013military relationships for accountability and oversight are enshrined in Defence\u2019s leadership diarchy<\/a> at the departmental level, and in ministerial control and cabinet decision-making at the political level.<\/p>\n

This inquiry is the latest stage in a long-running debate. Since 1985, there have been several legislative efforts, first by the Australian Democrats and then the Australian Greens, to revise the exclusive power of the government to commit Australia to war. The focus has been on revising the Defence Act 1903<\/em> to give parliament a vote over certain overseas deployments of the ADF. Parliament has consistently rejected these bills.<\/p>\n

However, this inquiry is focused on a different set of issues to parliamentary approval. Fulfilling a pledge<\/a> in the Labor Party\u2019s national platform, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles asked<\/a> the committee to focus its inquiry on four areas:<\/p>\n