With virtually no media coverage, let alone public discussion, the Albanese Labor government last week released its official response to a parliamentary committee report on the power to go to war by sending troops overseas.
Under conditions in which it is already participating in an escalating US-NATO war in Europe against Russia and intensifying preparations for a US-led war against China, the government doubled down on having unlimited powers to launch military operations entirely behind the backs of the population.
The government welcomed and praised the committee’s primary recommendation that “decisions regarding armed conflict are fundamentally a prerogative of the Executive”—that is a backroom cabal formally consisting of the prime minister and the national security committee of cabinet.
Significantly, the government rejected a proposal from the committee that such decisions be formally made in the name of the governor-general—as per the country’s 1901 Constitution—particularly in conflicts not rubberstamped by the United Nations Security Council or by a supposed invitation from the country invaded.
That recommendation by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade inquiry was revealing. It was, in effect, an indication that preparations are being made for wars that are illegal under international law, most obviously against Russia and China.
The committee sought to protect the government from popular opposition and the danger of war crimes charges. It said such decisions made by the governor-general were not “justiciable”—that is, they could not be challenged in court.
The Constitution, a colonial-era document adopted by the emerging Australian capitalist class, deliberately retained the centuries-old “prerogative” powers of the British monarchy, which include the power to declare war, and vested them in the hands of the governor-general.
The government brushed aside the committee’s suggestion, saying it would cut across the “existing arrangements.” These “support timely and flexible decision making as well as the security of highly-classified information that is necessary for governments to make critical decisions” to enable the military to “effectively and efficiently deploy into contested environments.”
That is, as it ramps up its commitment to a US-led war on China, including via the AUKUS pact and the opening of bases across the country to the US military, the Labor government is adamant that any decision to go to war, or deploy troops anywhere, must be made entirely in secret, with no formal process required whatsoever. This secrecy is directed against the people, not the designated enemy, which would be quite aware of military intervention.
In reality, fearing deep-seated public concern and opposition to being plunged into potentially catastrophic wars, the government adopted suggestions from the committee for a token debate in parliament—but only after the war was already underway, and confident of support from the parliamentary establishment.
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