Parliament Should Approve Any Troop Deployment: Bandt
Deputy Leader Adam Bandt MP today announced that the Greens will today give notice of a Bill in the House of Representatives requiring parliamentary approval of deploying Australian troops overseas.
“People will be seeing the atrocities occurring in Iraq and wondering how best we can assist, but military intervention won’t necessarily make things better,” said Mr Bandt.
“Tony Abbott may think it’s as simple as ‘goodies’ and ‘baddies’ but the reality is usually more complex because if military intervention were a cure-all, we wouldn’t be witnessing the current atrocities in the first place.
“For momentous decisions like this, where the lives of defence personnel are on the line, it is appropriate that Parliament has the final say.
“This Bill would also allow Parliament to debate the reasons for and against a particular conflict and whether it is in the country’s interests to become involved. Many countries around the world have already given this authority to their parliaments.
“This would represent a major step forward in strengthening our democracy and is clearly in the national interest,” said Mr Bandt.