A spokesperson for Liberal National Party of Queensland MP Luke Howarth told MWM that “Mr Howarth supports the Executive Government making that decision – Cabinet, not Parliament. He supports status quo arrangements.”
Mr Howarth gave a more lengthy opinion on the issue in an interview with ABC Radio Brisbane in 2021:
Presenter: “I’m keen to get your view on the debate that was put in the senate by the Greens on on war powers. The suggestion is that both houses of parliament need to debate any war that Australia gets involved with or goes to, or starts, prior to declaring it. At the moment the cabinet and the prime minister can do this, but the suggestion is that war powers need to be given to the parliament as a whole and only after being debated by both chambers. As someone who’s got children in the ADF, how do you feel about this?
Luke Howarth: I don’t want the Greens making decisions on anything that my kids are involved with, to tell you the truth. I don’t support that at all … I think that the appropriate process is in place. There’s the executive government of the day that’s elected for a three-year term. Australians get to decide every three years at the national level whether they want that government to continue, and the cabinet …. decide on those decisions. Then you also have the national security committee, which is … the top five or so ministers with the chief of the defense force, our intelligence agencies, foreign affairs, and others that decide on that. Now putting that into context with the United States, where you’ve got a president and a commander-in-chief – one person that decides whether they go to war – I think the Australian model works pretty well … The government of the day makes that decision and they’re accountable to the people every three years on that, so I support that decision … I think the cabinet process works well, so I’m not in favor of changing it.
