2021-09-14
New polling released today shows 87% of Australians are supportive of The Greens’ calls to change how Australia goes to war.
The poll of 1500 people, commissioned by Mike Smith, a journalist, former Howard Government adviser, and supporter of Australians For War Powers Reform, found that support for war powers reform has jumped 4% in less than a year.
Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, Peace Spokesperson said:
“Right now the Prime Minister and Cabinet can unilaterally decide to follow the United States into conflicts like Afghanistan and Iraq with disastrous outcomes. Our community is overwhelmingly supportive of our Greens bill that would change the law so that a vote of both houses of parliament is needed to deploy the Australian Defence Force overseas.
“So many in our community have watched the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Afghanistan with deep sadness. At the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, we must immediately begin to assess and evaluate how it came to this. The proposed reform will ensure that a peace-focused approach is brought to our defence force and that members of parliament will be held to account for the consequences of sending Australians to war.
“We must never again participate in a colonial war of aggression. Our goal must always be peace.”
Media contact: Sophie Greer; 0448 316 387
Additional Information:
- • Senator Steele-John’s War Powers Reform Bill is currently being reviewed by a committee, with submissions welcome from the public. More information.
- • Today’s national poll results can be found here: www.mikesmithcanberra.com
- • The 2020 Roy Morgan national poll can be found here