Writer
Paul Barratt
Paul Barratt AO is the President, Australians for War Powers Reform; former Secretary, Department of Defence.
-
Not much for Australians to feel ‘relaxed and comfortable’ about in US policy towards China.
Many of the problems in our relationship with China are of our own making – the consequences of our own inept diplomacy – and we should seek to resolve them bilaterally. Attempting to resolve them by snuggling up closer to Uncle Sam and miscellaneous US allies with different agendas and history will only make matters Continue reading »
-
Defence legislation re call-out of Reserves should not proceed
As currently drafted, the legislation to facilitate the call-out of the ADF Reserves contains too many risks for too little benefit. It should not proceed in its current form. Continue reading »
-
We Need a Freestanding Trade Department
Our difficult relationship with China in recent years highlights once again the need for a free-standing Department of Trade, led by a very senior Minister, to ensure our trade and commercial relationships with other countries are adequately represented in any Cabinet deliberations. Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT.-War in Afghanistan: 18 years of lies and obfuscation.(War Powers Bulletin 68, 1.3.2020)
The real story behind the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 Continue reading »
-
Morrison’s Public Service “reforms” do us no favours
The mergers of Australian Public Service Departments announced by Scott Morrison on 5 December will do nothing to advance the cause of good government. The claims of efficiency gains that invariably accompany such announcements always turn out to be illusory, and, far more importantly, result in matters that ought to be debated out in full Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. It’s too easy to take us to war
Where we are today is that the practice of the last twenty years has purportedly taken the power to send Australia to war away from the Governor-General and placed it at the disposal of junior ministers in the Defence portfolio. This cannot be allowed to stand. The war powers must be relocated to the Australian Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. What are we to make of Iran’s nuclear program?
Iran’s nuclear program, never out of the news for long, is on the front pages of the world with President Trump’s insistence that his belligerence towards Iran is driven by a desire to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. The facts are that there is no reason to believe that Iran has made Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Australia should not participate in conflict with Iran.
Australia should not participate in any military action against Iran. The current tensions have been created by the Trump Administration, and the ANZUS Alliance creates no obligation for us to assist. President Trump may think that a war against Iran “would not last very long”, but any significant military action really would set the Middle Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Ten Neglected Issues that Australia21 Believes Should be Addressed During the Election Campaign.
The 2019 election campaign having begun, I wish, on behalf of Australia21, which I chair, to draw attention to a number of issues that require proper attention and debate in order to enable Australian voters to make an informed choice about the candidates and parties they wish to support. Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Time for a new Royal Commission into the Australian Public Service
On 7 March Pearls and Irritations published my Are all those consultancies really necessary? This dealt with the $129 billion spent by the Commonwealth over the last five years on services the content of which no doubt include a great deal that would traditionally have been regarded as core business for the Commonwealth, and for Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT: Time to involve Parliament in decisions about sending the ADF into combat.
Today 20 March is the 15th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” which was led by the US and included the UK, Australia and others. Far from making the world safer, and establishing Iraq as “a shining beacon of democracy” as its proponents proclaimed it would, the invasion Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Are all those consultancies really necessary?
The Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit is currently conducting an inquiry based on any items, matters or circumstances connected with Auditor-General’s Report No. 19 (2017-18). This report reveals enormous expenditure on consultancy contracts, and the matters being inquired into by JCPAA include the effects on APS capability and capacity; the extent to which Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Growing momentum for drug law reform. Part 1 of 3.
The war on drugs has failed. There was a buzz across Australia in March 2017, when former premiers, police chiefs, prison officers and lawyers stood side-by-side with drug users and their families, to throw down the gauntlet on drug law reform. They called for an end to criminal penalties for personal use and possession and a Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Howard’s War – a continuation of politics by other means
For the discerning reader the Palazzo Report, the classified internal report on how we got into Iraq and how we fared, prepared by Army Historian Dr Albert Palazzo and now released in redacted form, is a remarkable document. Although heavily redacted in places, it offers a rich store of information about how the Howard Government Continue reading »
-
A transformational foreign policy
Some of Australia’s most experienced former foreign policy and defence bureaucrats have issued an open submission to the Foreign Minister calling on her to rethink the Australian-US alliance now that president-elect Donald Trump is set to lead the US. Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Managing ANZUS in the age of Trump. Quo vadis series.
Quo vadis – Australian foreign policy and ANZUS. Summary. Australia should do a ‘really deep stocktake of what is in our vital national interests and what we are prepared to sign up to’ . Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Would war powers reform really leave national security in the hands of the minority parties?
During a segment on war powers reform on ABC TV’s current affairs program Lateline (25 August – see http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-25/mps-call-for-iraq-war-inquiry/7786424 ) Australian Strategic Policy Institute Executive Director Peter Jennings expressed opposition to parliamentary involvement in decision-making about deployment of the ADF, saying: If you look at how parliaments are structured, you’re really saying that you’re Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Faulty intelligence, or a war pre-ordained?
In releasing his momentous report on 6 July Sir John Chilcot stated that the judgements about the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction – WMD – were presented with a certainty that was not justified. He also said it is now clear that policy on Iraq was made on Continue reading »
-
PAUL BARRATT. Attorney-General’s move to control access to Solicitor-General
On 4 May 2016, the last sitting day before Parliament rose for the forthcoming election, Attorney-General Senator Brandis tabled new guidelines in the Senate which ruled that no one in government, including the Prime Minister, could seek the Solicitor-General’s advice without getting permission from Senator Brandis. Continue reading »
-
Paul Barratt and Chris Barrie. The case for building the future submarine in Australia
When charting a trajectory to a desired end point it is as important to have an accurate fix on the starting point as it is to know where one wants to end up. So it is with SEA 1000, the Future Submarine (FSM) project. Much of the commentary is based on a politically inspired perception Continue reading »
-
Paul Barratt. Goodwill between countries matters.
In his Australia Day post Abbott’s relations with China Australia’s first Ambassador to the People’s Republic, Stephen Fitzgerald, begins ‘Can you believe the Abbott government has any idea where it’s headed on relations with China? Whatever you think of China’s politics, you can’t just take sides against China or meddle in the tense and volatile Continue reading »
