BY ALISON DELLIT
A Greens proposal to hold a Senate inquiry examining the legality of the Iraq war and looking into ways to ensure wars cannot be embarked upon without parliamentary approval was defeated in the Senate on March 27.
The commitment of troops to the war on Iraq has been supported by the House of Representatives, in which the Coalition government has a clear majority, but rejected by the Senate, where the Coalition parties are outnumbered by the ALP, the Greens, the Democrats and a few other senators.
All the non-government parties voted to reject the troop deployment. Under Australian law, however, the government can authorise war without either parliamentary approval or the approval of the governor-general, the titular head of state.
"The ALP should have backed the other opposition parties to really put the pressure on the prime minister over this illegal war", Greens Senator Bob Brown argued in a press release sent out on the same day as the vote. "A Senate inquiry over the parliamentary break would have been an ideal mechanism to test these issues for the nation."
The proposed inquiry would have examined the likely implications on international law of the war and what constitutional changes and/or changes to the defence act, could ensure parliamentary consent for military commitments.
On March 26, the Greens also moved that "the Senate supports the establishment of a free, viable and independent state of Palestine". This was also defeated, with Labor voting against.
From Green Left Weekly, April 2, 2003.
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