I remember this. For months #Howard refused to discuss possible deployment, saying ‘it’s hypothetical & I will not discuss hypotheticals’. Then it was ‘oops too late’. It was brazen.

So much of the poison we see manifest in Australian politics today was seeded & cultivated under Howard. The ‘nation of shareholders’. The demonisation of anyone who was not cis het white Anglo people with well paid work. Reframing social problems as individual deficits. Sending our country to war based on a lie. The tragedy is, as politics, it worked. Howard the cruel, unscrupulous ‘strategist’ is still their hero.

That government caused so much damage. We remember. #AusPol #CabinetPapers #IraqWar

Australia kept quiet about early deployment of forces ahead of Iraq war, cabinet papers show https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/01/australia-kept-quiet-about-early-deployment-of-forces-ahead-of-iraq-war-cabinet-papers-show?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

“Morrison’s Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet had, it emerged on January 1, failed to hand over to National Archives certain cabinet papers from 2003…

“The reasons for joining the [Iraq] war have never been properly explained to the Australian public…

Dennis Richardson has been appointed to conduct an “independent review”.

“From 1996 to 2005 Richardson was Director-General of intelligence agency ASIO.

“As previously revealed, this meant he was present at all the 2003 National Security Committee meetings.”

Richardson left the Public Service in 2017.

“The Coalition, in power from 2013 to 2022, was one of, if not the most, corrupt governments in Australian history.

“According to Transparency International, between 2012 and 2022, Australia fell faster toward corruption than any other OECD nation, except for Hungary, with which it tied.”

#auspol #IraqWar #CabinetPapers #LNPCorruptionParty #LiberalParty #ScottMorrison #TheKlaxxon

https://theklaxon.com.au/auditor-general-action-on-national-archives/

#Auspol

The annual release of historical cabinet papers is both interesting and infuriating particularly as it shows how callous and self serving the government of the time was.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-01/cabinet-papers-2002-release-war-in-iraq/101792688?utm_source=abc_news_web&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_web

#AusPol #CabinetPapers