Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Peter Whish-Wilson for graciously giving me an opportunity to speak on this important debate, because it is an important issue. Can I say at the outset that if plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery, I will plagiarise from a speech that I gave on 1 September last year in this place in respect of this issue. I set out my position then, but it is worth setting out again and also worth updating the concerns that quite legitimately have been asked by the Australian community.

There are a number of issues that confound the proposition that parliament should be required to approve the deployment of troops prior to their deployment. It is important to distinguish between routine or non-warlike military activities—including peacekeeping, capacity building in other countries, humanitarian assistance and antipiracy actions—and activities involving the rescue or extraction of Australian citizens from threatening situations overseas, covert operations such as those involving special forces and, most importantly, full-scale deployment. These involve varying degrees of emphasis on the role of intelligence and classified materials that are available only to the executive.

There is also the requirement for Defence to mobilise its forces safely and effectively. All cases are not alike, and parliament's role differs where the specific constraints differ. The Constitution does not say anything about where the power to deploy troops lies. It is assumed that this is part of the executive power under section 61.

I note that Senator Macdonald is in the chamber. I am happy to truncate my remarks so that Senator Macdonald can have five minutes on this motion before the time for it expires, if that would be helpful to him. I have only just started, but I will try to wind up in the next two or three minutes if that would be helpful to Senator Macdonald. I am very happy to do that. I will be very quick.

Essentially, there is no constitutional requirement for the executive to seek the blessing of the Australian parliament before troops are committed to war. There is no constitutional need to even debate the decision to deploy troops, because the power to deploy troops overseas lies with the Minister for Defence, under section 50C of the Defence Act 1903.

In relation to an important issue such as this, I do not think it is practical and I think it could in some circumstances be quite dangerous to require parliamentary approval before troops are deployed because of emergencies that have arisen. But it would be reasonable, after troops have been deployed in a theatre of conflict, for us to have a debate within a reasonable period of, say, three months. A critical situation may arise for the deployment of troops, but we should eventually have a parliamentary debate and, if necessary, seek approval for that. So I take an approach that is not in line with what the Greens are suggesting, but it does say that we ought to have a debate in relation to this.

The Prime Minister is quite right to say that Daesh, or ISIS, is a death cult, but we need to look at how Daesh came about. I think it is reasonable to say, as sensible commentators have said, that, following the coalition of the willing invading Iraq in 2003 and overthrowing the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, recklessly dismissing the entire army and dismantling the Ba'ath Party sowed the seeds of what is now ISIS, because it radicalised the Sunnis in Iraq, it ignited a vicious civil war between the Shiites and Sunnis, it increased Iran's influence and, most tragically of all, it led to hundreds of thousands of deaths. We must not forget that. I do have more to say on this, because I am critical of Saudi Arabia and its role in fuelling this conflict.

In relation to this particular motion, I believe we must be mindful of the dangers of escalation and the dangers of mission creep. But, at the end of the day, I wish our troops well. I am sure they will do us proud. I hope and pray that none our Defence personnel will be harmed in any way in what appears to be an escalation of this terrible conflict.