A push to reform the Australian government’s war powers has been dealt a blow, with the deputy prime minister telling an inquiry he is “firmly” against giving parliament the power to veto deployments.
Despite ordering a parliamentary inquiry into the issue, Richard Marles has written to the investigating committee saying the current powers – in which governments can commit Australia to war without parliamentary authorisation – should “not be disturbed”.
The defence minister has instead proposed more opportunities for non-binding debates in parliament.
Given the Coalition has also signalled its opposition to reforming the war powers, the intervention by Marles suggests the inquiry is unlikely to result in significant changes.
Marles told the committee conducting the review that under the existing system, decisions about the deployment of the Australian defence force into international armed conflicts were “within the prerogative powers of the executive”.
“I am firmly of the view that these arrangements are appropriate and should not be disturbed,” he wrote in a letter to the chair of the joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade.
“They enable the duly elected government of the day to act expeditiously on matters of utmost importance in the interests of the safety and security of our nation and its people.”
Marles suggested that those powers could be retained alongside a commitment to greater parliamentary debate, transparency and scrutiny.
He said governments had typically – as a matter of practice rather than necessity – provided explanations to the parliament of their decisions to deploy the ADF into hostilities abroad.
Marles argued the practice was strengthened under the former Labor government, with the then defence minister, John Faulkner, committing in 2009 to providing regular reports on Australia’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
But the frequency of such statements “decreased significantly” from 2014, he said.
Marles included his views in a letter to Shayne Neumann, the chair of the joint standing committee, when formally setting the terms of reference for the inquiry. Having an inquiry into the issue was a Labor election promise.
He asked the committee to report back by the end of February on how Australia compares with similar democracies and opportunities for parliamentary debate “to provide greater transparency and accountability on the deployment of the ADF”.
But the committee must also weigh up the security implications of pre-notification of ADF deployments “that may compromise the safety of ADF personnel, operational security, intelligence and/or have unintended consequences”.
Dr Alison Broinowski, a former Australian diplomat and president of Australians for War Powers Reform, told Guardian Australia the parliament should have a binding vote except in limited emergency situations.
“These are our elected representatives and we want them to be responsible to us, the people,” she said.
The Howard government sent troops to the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 despite opposition from the Labor party and significant public protests.
The Greens senator Jordon Steele-John said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan showed “the dire consequences of what happens when that decision is made too quickly with too little scrutiny”.
