“Regrettably, for some time to come, Australians will have to endure more security than we’re used to, and more inconvenience than we would like,” he said.
“There may be more restrictions on some, so that there can be more protection for others.
“The potential is there for a journalist or a blogger who writes about a special intelligence operation to go to jail for 10 years,”
From the Iraq war to terrorism laws, politicians are using the idea of an irrefutable “national interest” to avoid community debate and parliamentary scrutiny, writes Danielle Chubb.
Before you do that, you must tell me what the national interest is.
Who gets to decide the national interest?
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop seems unwilling to entertain the idea that the national interest might be open for debate. “We would only act in our national interest.” Whatever the government decides, it will be “in the national interest”.
The idea that foreign policy is an elite decision-making arena, beyond the ken of the average Australian, and should not be submitted to the vagaries of Parliament, is one that serves governments well. Labor in opposition knows it too will benefit from such a formulation when in power. It is in the Opposition’s interest to continue the myth.
Why should complex legislation regarding carbon trading regulations be considered by Parliament and not questions of national security? The argument that intelligence briefings provide the clarity required to inform such decision-making is a smokescreen. We learned this back in 2003, after we had been told that reliable and sensitive intelligence pointed to the possession of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Today John Howard is saying sorry but….
When we submit to these arguments, we sacrifice exactly the democratic values we profess to defend. A functioning and responsive parliament is at the core of this
The Australian public deserves to be part of the conversation. Once troops are committed, it is difficult for politicians to properly represent the views of their constituents, for fear of appearing to denigrate the work of those Australians putting their lives on the line. It is imperative that we allow such opinions to be aired – through the democratic mechanisms we are so fortunate to have at our disposal – before we embark on military adventures.
olddogthoughts 