The #Senate this morning debated a #bill that will require #both #houses of #Parliament to vote before the #Government can send #Australians to #wars overseas.

90% of Australians support this reform with most astounded that the Parliament does not already have this reform.

The #Albanese #Labor Government and the #Liberals #oppose this.

Both are committed to keeping the decision to send Australians to war as a #secret decision made by a handful of #cabinet members with no democratic #oversight.

Currently, in Australia, the #PrimeMinister or #DefenceMinister can #unilaterally take Australia to war with no parliamentary oversight before that decision is made.

#Polling has routinely shown an #overwhelming #majority of Australians want there to be parliamentary oversight prior to the #deployment of #troops.

War power reform bills have been proposed in various forms for over 20 years, but have been routinely rejected by the Liberal and Labor parties.

The Albanese Labor Government has sent 85 military personnel, including an RAAF E-7A Wedgetail aircraft and medium-range air-to-air missiles, to the #UAE.

This decision was made in a closed room by a handful of Labor cabinet members, with zero parliamentary or public engagement or consent.

We now know that the information collected by the E-7A Wedgetail is being provided to the #US in this disastrous war of choice on Iran.

Senator #DavidShoebridge, Greens spokesperson on Defence and Foreign Affairs, said: "The Albanese Labor Government has dragged Australia into another US #foreverWar, and the public never got a say.

"Having Parliament vote before sending a country to war is common in #democracies. That is the case in #Germany, #France, #Finland, #Denmark and #Spain, to name a few. But the war parties here want to keep making that decision in a dark room that only they can enter.

"The majority of Australians do not support #Trump and #Netanyahu's war on Iran or the Albanese Labor Government backing it in. This is why the war parties are so resistant to giving Australians a say on this latest disastrous war.

"We are living through the chaos of a war that was supported by a handful of powerful people without public consent. If we had this law in place, then the Government would have had to justify their position before committing troops and the public would have had a chance of stopping it.

"Right now we are seeing death and violence spreading across the #MiddleEast, and Australians are feeling the #economic #impacts with cost-of-living increases and #chaos.

"Australians should decide if we go to war, not #Washington, not a handful of people in the war parties and not #Trump.

"We needed this law before #Vietnam, before #Afghanistan, before #Iraq and we certainly need it now." #auspol

#Greens senator #DavidShoebridge says the deployment of #troops (85 defence personnel will be sent on the surveillance E-7A Wedgetail) is contrary to the national interest.

“It’s been just over a week & the mission creep & deception from #Labor is frightening. Labor has gone from supporting the war politically, to having #Australian personnel part of US military attacks, to now putting troops on the ground.” #auspol

#Greens’ Shoebridge on #Iran strikes: ‘#Labor knows it’s illegal’

Greens senator #DavidShoebridge has accused Labor, the #Coalition and #OneNation of being the “three war parties”, and criticised the government for “rushing” to back the strikes on Iran.

Speaking on his amendment to the Coalition’s motion, Shoebridge doesn’t hold back, saying the three parties have “never seen an attack by #DonaldTrump, an attack by #BenjaminNetanyahu, that they haven’t wanted to back in and support”.

“We have seen the #Albanese Labor government rush to be the first country in the world to back in Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest #illegalwar, literally rushing to back in a war that Labor knows is in #grossbreach of #internationallaw.

There’s a reason that the foreign minister has refused to discuss, even discuss, whether or not this war is illegal. It’s because Labor knows it’s illegal.”

Shoebridge accuses the government and opposition of being “reckless” about the consequences of the #bombing on the Iranian people.

“I can tell you that the mums who are pulling their kids out of the rubble, they don’t see freedom. They’re not talking about #regimechange. They’re grieving about the loss of their kids, their daughters.
They see through your endless support of war … they see their country potentially being thrown into chaos.“ #auspol #TrumpRegime #RogueNation #uspol

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/mar/02/politics-updates-federal-parliament-anthony-albanese-labor-angus-taylor-coalition-nsw-budget-estimates-iran-war-reactions-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-69a4d5508f0863f6a3eff706#block-69a4d5508f0863f6a3eff706

The #Greens defence spokesperson, #DavidShoebridge, was scathing of #Trump #BoardOfPeace plan, writing on social media:

“Trump is trying to sell #Palestinian sovereignty for $1 billion per seat while Palestinians are still being bombed and starved under the so-called “ceasefire.”
This isn’t #diplomacy, it’s #profiteering off #genocide. #Australia better not touch this with a 10-foot pole.”

#auspol #TrumpRegime #IsraelGenocide #Gaza