Media
AWPR in the Media
06.04.20 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Healthcare Not Warfare | Sue Wareham
04.10.17 | The Conversation | Beyond sanctions: A diplomatic path to peace on the Korean peninsula | Michael Hamel-Green
17.05.17 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | More troops to Afghanistan: at best a patch job; at worst perpetuating futility | Andrew Farran
26.04.17 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | What Australian foreign policy? | Alison Broinowski
25.04.17 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | The Australians War Memorial and weapons manufacturers | Sue Wareham
25.04.17 | Echo Net Daily | Alternative Anzac service promotes peace | Chris Dobney
06.04.17 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | How independent is the Australian Strategic Policy Institute? | Sue Wareham
10.03.17 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Howard’s war – a continuation of politics by other means | Paul Barratt
11.10.16 | ABC Online | Victorian man to walk to Parliament with legislation that changes the way Australia goes to war | Larissa Romensky
27.08.16 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Would war powers reform really leave national security in the hands of the minority parties? | Paul Barratt
01.08.16 | Arena | Lessons from Chilcot: Understanding the Iraq invasion and reforming Australia’s war powers | Paul Barratt
22.07.16 | New Eastern Outlook | The Case for an Australian Iraq War Inquiry is Compelling | James O’Neill
14.07.16 | Policy Forum | Iraq, Chilcot, and questions for Australia | Ramesh Thakur
13.07.16 | Croakey | Chilcot: the costs of war and silence | Sue Wareham
13.07.16 | Independent Australia | Life After Chilcot | Alison Broinowski
12.07.16 | The Lowy Interpreter | Chilcot: Intelligence, policy and war | Allan Behm
12.07.16 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Faulty intelligence, or a war pre-ordained? | Paul Barratt
09.07.16 | Independent Australia | Chilcot Report shows Blair and Howard were simply Bush’s lapdogs | Alison Broinowski
08.07.16 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Bush’s Poodles | Alison Broinowski
08.07.16 | Sputnik International | Iraq War Contibuted to Rise of Terrorism – Australia Ex-Defence Secretary | Sputnik News
14.06.16 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | The silence is deafening: review of James Brown’s Quarterly Essay | Alison Broinowski
04.05.16 | John Menadue: Pearls and Irritations | Who decides when we go to war? | Alison Broinowski
November 2014 | The Monthly | One man, one vote | Judith Brett
October 2014 | Arena | Here We Go Again | Paul Barratt
April 2015 | Tony Abbott’s Iraq Adventure | Paul Barratt
23.09.14 | Australian Institute for International Affairs | Taking the Fight to ISIL | Ramesh Thakur
May 2014 | Global Change, Peace & Security Journal | Vol 26, #3, 2014 | The case for an Iraq War inquiry in Australia | Paul Barratt
22.02.14 | The Spectator | Don’t mention the war | Richard and Alison Broinowski
01.04.13 | The Nation | The Iraq Invasion, Ten Years Later | Jonathan Schell
18.03.13 | Informed Comment | What We Lost: Top Ten Ways the Iraq War Harmed the US | Juan Cole
16.08.12 | The Conversation | Why supporters of ANZUS should support an Australian Inquiry into Iraq | Charles Sampford
26.08.16 | ABC | Lateline: MPs and former military chiefs push to broaden war powers beyond PM, Cabinet | Featuring Paul Barratt
05.07.16 | ABC | Foreign Correspondent: The Reckoning | Featuring Kellie Merritt
19.10.15 | ABC | Alison Broinowski on Q&A
19.03.13 | ABC24 | Interview with Paul Barratt
16.08.12 | Sky News TV | Short interview with Paul Barratt
16.08.12 | Sky News | Interview with Malcolm Fraser
16.08.12 | ABC 24 News Breakfast | Interview with Malcolm Fraser
16.08.12 | ABC TV | Jim Middleton’s Newsline with Paul Barratt (first screened 15.08.12 in Asia only)
03.09.18 | ABC Late Night Live | The war in Yemen: the Australian connection | Richard Tanter (mentions AWPR)
05.03.17 | ABC Sunday Extra | The world’s shifting, so what should Australia’s foreign policy look like in 2017? | Alison Broinowski
12.12.16 | ABC World Today | Intl relations experts urge Government to focus on Indo-Pacific in post Trump transition | Paul Barratt
29.09.16 | ABC Between the Lines | Iraq Inquiry?
07.07.16 | The Wire | Chilcot Report prompts calls for for Australian Iraq War Review
21.03.15 | ABC Brisbane Mornings | Iraq War: reflecting on peace on 13th anniversary
08.09.15 | The Wire | Letter to the PM: Parliament should get a vote on any Syria bombing
29.10.14 | ABC Radio National Breakfast | Former Defence chief Paul Barratt calls for war powers reform
17.06.14 | RRR Radio, Melbourne | Paul Barratt on Spoke
11.05.14 | RTR FM, Perth | Alison Broinowski on the Australians for War Powers Reform Initiative
14.04.13 | ABC Outsiders | On Howard’s Iraq speech featuring Paul Barratt
18.03.13 | ABC World Today | Call for Iraq War Inquiry
16.08.12 | Triple J The Hack | Extended story – Paul Barratt and others
16.08.12 | ABC News Radio around lunchtime Donna Mulhearn live-to-air interview
16.08.12 | SBS Radio | Interview with Paul Barratt (plus Malcolm Fraser and Senator Ludlam excerpts from launch)
16.08.12 | ABC Radio Australia | News story (quotes Fraser, Barratt and Downer)
16.08.12 | ABC News Radio breakfast | Paul Barratt interviewed by Linda Mottram
15.08.12 | SBS Radio | Interview with Scott Ludlam
31.7.20 | The Courier | Defence veteran warning on South China Sea
06.07.20 | The Guardian| Parliament must be given power to vote on whether Australia goes to war, inquiry hears | Daniel Hurst
08.05.17 | Sydney Morning Herald | Rein in the executive: let the people, via Parliament, decide whether we go to war | Julian Cribb
23.04.17 | The Northern Star | Remembering and Healing ANZAC Day events for the North Coast | Jasmine Burke
20.04.17 | The Age | Are we truly ready for the consequences of a war with China? | Senator Nick Xenophon
22.02.17 | Sydney Morning Herald | Australia’s unprecedented decision to snub nuclear talks is irresponsible | Sue Wareham and Paul Barratt
01.02.17 | Sydney Morning Herald | With Donald Trump in power, Australia urgently needs to re-evaluate its US bases | Margaret Beavis
10.07.16 | The Age | The Coalition of the Willing – still willing to deceive | Sarah Gill
10.07.16 | The Age Letters | Susceptible to flattery | John Phillips, AWPR member
14.2.15 | Saturday Paper | Time to strip PM Abbott’s war-making power | Hamish McDonald
7.11.14 | Canberra Times | SAS troops ready, willing but uninvited, so it appears | Alison Broinowski
2.11.14 | Canberra Times | War widow Kellie Merritt renews campaign for Iraq war inquiry after death of husband Paul Pardoel | Ross Peake
29.10.14 | The Age Opinion | Democracy is missing in action as we rush to war | Paul Barratt
20.10.14 | SBS | Australia’s war in Iraq: Veterans and widows reflect | Hannah Sinclair
08.09.14 | The Australian | Going to war is a matter for parliament | Malcolm Fraser and Paul Barratt
3.09.2014 | The Guardian | Kellie Merritt, Australia’s first Iraq widow, is an anti-war campaigner. Parliament should listen to her | Paul Daley
22.06.14 | Eureka Street | Iraq needs a local solution, not another intervention | Donna Mulhearn
13.06.14 | The Conversation | Grattan on Friday: Should parliament have the right to say whether Australia goes to war? | Michelle Grattan
24.04.14 | New Matilda | A Fitting Codicil To A Century Of War | Jake Lynch
26.06.13 | Online Opinion | The Streaker’s Defence | Alison Broinowski
27.04.13 | Canberra Times | What Price Humanitarian War? | Kellie Merritt
27.04.13 | Canberra Times | Airman’s widow calls for inquiry into decision to enter war with Iraq | Tom McIlroy
12.04.13 | Canberra Times | Gimmick exacted a great cost on Iraq | Ramesh Thakur
12.04.13 | Sydney Morning Herald | Howard ignored official advice on Iraq’s weapons and chose war | Margaret Swieringa
09.04.13 | The Australian | Errors were made but we did not go to war based on a lie | John Howard
19.03.13 | Canberra Times | Price of Iraq War too great to repeat | Sue Wareham
19.03.13 | Eureka Street | Watching as Iraq crumbled | Donna Mulhearn
18.03.13 | Eureka Street | Australia’s ten wasted years of war | Tony Smith
18.03.13 | Herald Sun | We believed what we were told – an unmitigated failure of intelligence and diplomacy | John Cantwell
15.03.13 | The Age | Iraqi farce reeks of dead pigeons in the water tank | Tom Switzer
14.02.13 | The Age | For Democracy’s sake, let’s talk about the war in Iraq | Sue Wareham
23.08.12 | Canberra Times | (Lead) letter to editor opposing below letter
21.08.12 | Canberra Times | Letter to editor opposing Thakur Op Ed, “Iraq Action,”
19.08.12 | Sydney Morning Herald | It’s only right, says voice from left | Michelle Grattan
18.08.12 | The Age | Letters: “We have not learnt” | Andrew Farran
18.08.12 | Canberra Times, Opinion | Strolling down memory lane, please don’t mention the war | Judith Ireland
16.08.12 | Sydney Morning Herald | Smith dismisses call for inquiry | Judith Ireland
16.08.12 | AAP | Robert Hill (at National Press Club) dismisses call for inquiry
16.08.12 | Sunshine Coast Daily | Fraser calls for Iraq war inquiry | Adam Carroll
16.08.12 | Canberra Times, Opinion | Why did we go to war in Iraq? | Ramesh Thakur
15.07.16 | Japan Times | Lessons of the Chilcot Report | Ramesh Thakur
15.03.13 | Japan Times | Leaders we can trust again | Ramesh Thakur
23.08.12 | Japan Times | Australia’s call for thoughts on Iraq | Ramesh Thakur
22.08.12 | Ottawa Citizen | Sampford and Thakur Op Ed
16.08.12 | UK Guardian | Australian politicians demand inquiry into Iraq invasion | Richard Norton-Taylor
AWPR media releases
AWPR welcomes parliamentary war powers bill | 1st September 2016
UK’s Chilcot Report released: Australia needs similar process | 7th July 2016
Long overdue Chilcot report due on Wednesday in UK, calls for similar process in Australia | 5th July 2016
Anniversary of March 2003 Iraq Invasion Observed: lessons relevant for Syria and elsewhere, but still ignored | 18th March 2016
Government makes the future worse for Syrians | 7th September 2015
Open letter to Prime Minister Abbott about military action in Syria | 4th September 2015
Government challenged to provide legal basis for Syrian bombing | 26 August 2015
Legality of Bombing Syria Does Matter, Mr Abbott. | 23rd August 2015
Launch: “How Does Australia Go To War?” | 17th July, 2015
STATEMENT on the death of Rt. Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC CH | 20th March, 2015
AWPR media briefings
Released in the lead up to the 12th anniversary of the war on Iraq in March 2015
The new media briefing kit from Australians for War Powers Reform offers seven papers on issues of importance when considering the question of reforming Australia’s war powers.
The media briefing kit includes:
This paper argues that under present arrangements, committing the Australian Defence Force to international armed conflict (currently the prerogative of the Executive) is far too easy for such a grave and far-reaching matter
This paper examines some of the important sources of advice that Parliament could use in a democratised process of deciding for or against ADF deployments.
A brief examination of how a range of other democracies make the decision to commit troops to overseas conflict.
In 2014, the Centenary year, much was made of the marking of the First World War, but this paper also examines how Australia was drawn into the war back in 1914 and what the consequences for Australia were.
This paper examines a century of political decision-making in Australia that has led us into wars from the First and Second World Wars through to the current conflicts in the Middle East.
This paper examines the historical development of the notion that Parliament cannot be trusted with matters of foreign and defence policy.
A brief summary of some of the human and economic costs of recent wars in which Australia has taken part – including deaths, physical and psychological injuries, displacement and economic impacts.
DONATE NOW
Together, let's change Australia's war powers for the better! Your donation will help change how Australia goes to war. It will ensure greater transparency, debate, and laws requiring Parliamentary approval before our troops are deployed.