Why the Greens want to 'defund the military' in radical plan for 'global peace'
The Greens policy of cutting defence spending has been ridiculed by two former Coalition heavyweights. The Greens policy, which on their website is labelled as 'Peace, Disarmament and Demilitarisation', states that Australia's military must be used only for 'defence and peace-keeping and emergency relief operations, and not for offensive action'. It states that 'investment in offensive military capabilities undermines the environmental sustainability and social development necessary for global cooperation and peaceful non-violent conflict resolution'. 'The Greens will cancel defence contracts, and cut defence spending. Twill focus on promoting peace in our region, increasing global aid to 0.7% of GNI, increasing our humanitarian intake, and looking after people in times of climate crisis,' the party says. Former Nationals deputy prime minister John Anderson told former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello scoffed what they called the Greens proposal to 'defund the Australian Defence Force' during a filmed conversation last month. 'I amused myself over the weekend by reading the Greens defence policy,' Mr Anderson said. 'They want to defund they want to defund the Australian defence forces, they are completely opposed to the Americans, they are the only country listed as a bad actor, the Americans. 'It's not the Chinese, it's not the North Koreans, it's not Iran and it's not Russia.' Mr Costello responded that he was amazed by that and asked what the Greens policy is on the bloody Russian invasion of Ukraine that has dragged on for over 15 months. 'They do have an answer,' Mr Anderson replied. 'All conflict must be resolved by peaceful means, we need to sit around the table and Australia should put together and internationally respected team of peace negotiators, which is politically correct in terms of its composition.' Mr Costello responded with heavy sarcasm. 'Putin will just sit down and say 'you were right, we shouldn't have invaded Ukraine',' he laughed. 'Let's fix it then, it's that easy'. Mr Anderson's assertion the Greens would want a 'politically correct' negotiating party references their call to promote 'the role of women, LGBTQIA+ people, First Nations peoples, and multicultural communities in decision making in all stages of peace processes, agreements and transitional governance structures'. The Greens also call for Australia to end its 'participation in the development and production of military systems for the international arms trade'. It is unclear if this would mean the end of all manufacture of 'offensive' military hardware in Australia. Senator Jordon Steele-John, the Greens spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Peace, delivered a jab of his own after being asked by Daily Mail Australia to respond to Mr Anderson and Mr Costello's remarks. 'I will not take policy advice from Peter Costello or John Anderson, men responsible for taking Australia into an illegal invasion in Iraq, creating a humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan and the deaths of hundreds of thousands across the world,' Senator Steele-John told Daily Mail Australia. 'The Australian Greens are a party founded on peace and non-violence. The cost of war is borne by ordinary people. 'The Australian Government must show its solidarity with the people of Ukraine including putting harsher sanctions on Russian oil and gas, advocating for forgiveness of Ukraine's debt, and increasing our refugee intake to give a home to Ukrainians fleeing the conflict.' To pursue global peace the Greens call in their police statement call for 'a high-level international peace conference, under UN auspices, to reach consensus on a comprehensive global disarmament strategy'. The Greens Senator did not answer a question about whether it was wrong for Australia to send military aid to Ukraine. In February Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles announced that would send more military aid to Ukraine in the form of Uncrewed Aerial Systems and would further widen sanctions of Russia. The new measures included targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on 90 individuals who supported the Ukraine invasion with targeted financial sanctions on 40 people or groups. Australia imposed more than 1,000 sanctions in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It has also sent more than $510 million worth of military aid including 90 Bushmaster armoured personnel carriers and 28 M-113 armoured troop carriers, six howitzer guns, drones and ammunition. Australia also joined 140 other member states to support a resolution calling for a just peace in Ukraine at an Emergency Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on February 23.