Media Release – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR) has warmly welcomed the news today that the Albanese government will hold a parliamentary inquiry into how Australia makes decisions to send service personnel into international armed conflict.
“We believe the current system whereby the Prime Minister and the executive can make this crucial decision without reference to Parliament is outdated and needs urgent reform,” said Dr Alison Broinowski AM, President of AWPR.
“At present the Prime Minister can make the decision, often without even consulting his or her own cabinet. This means the most serious decision of all can be a “captain’s call”, left up to just one person. Surely in 2022, with threats of war mounting, that is no longer acceptable.”
“We will make a constructive submission to the inquiry and we hope it will receive views from the wider community on the matter.
We applaud the government for tackling this issue and being open to investigate genuine reform”.
“The results of this year’s election show that the community wants greater transparency and accountability in decision making, as well as measures to deal with global warming. Both are connected with military operations.
We need to move away from top down, behind closed doors, decision making, particularly in the way Australia joins overseas wars.”
Government announcement Media Release and Terms of Reference
I know it’s not over the line yet, but this is good news. Really it’s all about the democratic process.