Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR) and the activist group GetUp have launched a petition entitled ‘No more foreign wars without a vote in Parliament’.

This petition urges the Australian government to pass legislation requiring a mandatory parliamentary vote before committing Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to overseas conflicts. 

Under existing Australian law, the power to deploy troops to international armed conflicts rests solely with the Prime Minister and the Executive (Cabinet and the Governor-General), without requiring prior approval or a vote in Parliament.

Studies of European parliamentary democracies reveal a spectrum of war powers, ranging from very strong to very weak powers relating to the role of parliament  Australia can be classified as having very weak parliamentary war powers. Refer to a typology of European parliamentary war powers published in a previous post here.

The Albanese Labor government, along with the conservative Liberal and National parties, have repeatedly maintained the executive prerogative and declined to legislate mandatory parliamentary votes for military deployments overseas.

Fewer than 15% of Australians support the practice of the Prime Minister and Executive alone deciding when the nation goes to war. Urgently needed is an accountable system which governs such momentous decisions.

The petition can be signed HERE.