Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Right now, we are watching in real time what happens when the power to go to war sits with a handful of people behind closed doors. Australia has been dragged—no, we haven't been dragged. Australia has chosen to go into an illegal US-Israel war in Iran—a war that began with strikes that have escalated across the region, killing civilians and destabilising an entire region; and a war now spiralling with missile exchanges, regional escalation and thousands of people already dead. And what say did this parliament have in Australia's involvement? None, zip, zero! And what say did the Australian people have? Zero!

The Albanese government has already deployed 85 ADF personnel, a Wedgetail surveillance aircraft and advanced air-to-air missiles into the region. Let's be clear, you do not deploy surveillance and targeting capability into a war zone and pretend you're not part of that war. No weasel words from the minister in this place, Minister Penny Wong, will negate the fact that we are at war. Flipping through her thesaurus of excuses and weasel words—the Australian people see through it, and they are disgusted. This is how war always starts—'support', 'assistance', 'defensive'—and, before long, we will be embedded in another forever war.

These decisions were not made in this chamber by the elected representatives from right across this country; they were made in closed rooms by a small group of ministers under pressure from allies. War should never, never be decided like that, not when the consequences are measured in human lives, because, when decisions are made in the dark, it becomes easier to ignore the civilians killed, easier to ignore the trauma carried by veterans and easier to ignore the families who pay the price for decades.

We are now backing in a war driven by Washington and Tel Aviv with no regard for the human cost—a war that is escalating every single day, with news today of more troops being prepared and no clear end in sight. Yet Australia is once again falling into line as that deputy cowboy, not because the public demanded it and not because parliament debated it but because that's what that group of a few ministers in their closed rooms, probably smoking cigars, as Senator Shoebridge alluded to, decided was best. Well, it's not in the public interest. The war parties in this parliament will tell you that it's necessary, and that is Labor, that is the LNP, and that is One Nation.

But we have to ask: who benefits from this? Because, when decisions are made behind closed doors, the public is shut out but the influence of the defence industry is not. In fact, it benefits from that darkness—billions of dollars in contracts, deep access to decision-makers and no democratic check when the drums of war start beating. Of course, then there are their mates in the oil and gas industry who are now poised to make billions in blood soaked profits. So many people benefit from war, but it is everyday people—the people with no voice in these decisions—who pay the ultimate price.

This bill changes that through a vote in both houses, open debate and ongoing reporting to parliament. Doesn't that sound pretty bloody straightforward? Doesn't that sound like the absolute bare minimum? It forces every single one of us in this place to take responsibility and accountability—no more hiding behind 'no, that was a cabinet decision' or 'we had no choice'. The public is already ahead of us. Ninety per cent of Australians support war power reform—90 per cent of Australians. Parliament must be a check on the rush to war, not a rubber stamp after the fact.