Australian Academics, Doctors, Diplomatic heads call for Truth in Government by SBS World News / The Age / ABC News 1:15pm 27th Sep, 2004   27.9.2004.    "Australian Academics call for Truth in Government". (SBS World News)    A group of senior academics from every public university in Australia has added its voice to those of other professionals calling for truth in government.    Earlier, 43 retired military chiefs and senior diplomats and 54 doctors and medical specialists issued statements criticising Australia's role in Iraq. In the statements, they called for greater honesty.    Now, more than 380 academics, including 160 professors, have urged the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader to restore the country's reputation for honest government.    Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees, Sydney University's director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, says Australia's trust in democracy is at risk. "That splendid parliament down the road in Canberra is meant to be the people's house, not the possession of John Howard or Mark Latham or anybody else, and there's a sense that, if the pack of lies that are being told in the United States about Iraq become the standard of governance in this country, then the whole notion about trust in democracy will disappear," he said.    The academics say Australia's reputation has been tarnished by events including the children-overboard affair and the reasons for going to war in Iraq. Professor Rees says all levels of government and their executive arms are affected and the academics are seeking independence, impartiality and decency in public service.    "One of the consequences of the practice of deceit in government has been to have a subservient public service. If public servants — in particular, senior public servants — are frightened to speak their mind or are stopped from doing so, then that's another erosion of the whole notion of governance," he said.    Canberra.September 5, 2004    "Now doctors condemn war", by Michelle Grattan. (The Age)    Fifty-six of the nation's most eminent doctors will today drag Iraq back onto the election stage with an open letter accusing the Government of taking Australia to war on "false and misleading" grounds.    They will call on an incoming Howard or Latham government to make amends for a policy they see as immoral and a "tragic mistake", and for a war still killing and injuring Iraqis without an end in sight.    The letter comes as a special Sunday Age study of voter attitudes on social and political issues found one-third of voters say they seldom or never trust political leaders, and only one in five believes politicians put the national interest first. Older people were found to be less trusting of federal leaders.    The doctors and professors from around the country say the post-election government must redirect Australia's civil and military personnel into purely civilian reconstruction under the United Nations.    Restoring the health system must be an urgent priority, and the Government and Australian people are urged to give more financial assistance.    The medicos were prompted to speak out by the example of the 43 retired military and diplomatic figures who released a statement calling for "truth in government" and condemning the Howard Government's foreign policy.    The declaration by the 43 prompted former defence official Mike Scrafton to make public his claim that he had told Mr Howard before the 2001 election that the "children overboard" story was wrong.    The Iraq controversy has been pushed aside in a campaign that is being fought on domestic issues.    Neither the Government nor the Opposition perceives any advantage in highlighting it.    The doctors do not call for Australian troops to be pulled out - as Labor promises - but they attack the original decision to support the Americans in going to war. They declare the commitment was immoral, because it came before peaceful alternatives were exhausted, without adequate public debate and lacked UN backing.    "It is . . . immoral for governments to declare war before all peaceful processes have been truly exhausted, and before there has been a full public debate by a truthfully informed people, and before there is a full and clear mandate from the UN under international law," they say.    "We call on the Howard Government or an elected Latham government to meet its moral responsibility to make amends for this tragic mistake of Australian Government policy."    The doctors' spokesmen will highlight the death and injury that the war continues to cause, and will stress the need for help to rebuild the health system. The devastation of Iraq's water supply and the destruction of the sewerage system has caused an outbreak of hepatitis affecting an estimated 15,000, and there is a high risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases.    The statement's weight comes from both the names themselves and the medical profession from which they are drawn. Most of the signatories come from universities, and the majority are professors, many with international standing. They come from every state and most specialties.    August 8, 2004 (The Age)    A who's who of Australia's former military chiefs, departmental heads and top diplomats launched a scathing attack on John Howard's foreign policy and called for "truth in government" from whichever party wins the election.    The statement from more than 40 former military and diplomatic officers condemns Australia's commitment to the Iraq invasion as based on deception, and calls for Australia to stop rubber-stamping US policies.    The former heads of mission have represented Australia in all the major posts, including the US, China, Japan and Indonesia, as well as in Middle Eastern countries. Three former heads of mission to Iraq are believed to be on the list.    The statement will be a blow for the Prime Minister, especially as it comes at the start of what could be the last week of Parliament before the election and amid speculation that Mr Howard could announce, in the next week, a poll for September 18. But a source in the group said it was not designed to be partisan - rather a call for whoever won the election to learn from the lessons of Iraq. The sheer number of signatories and their prominence in the nation's diplomatic and military life of several decades give the declaration great weight.    The statement strongly condemn the misleading of the Australian people about the reasons for invading Iraq, and carries the message that if what the Australian Government says cannot be trusted by its own citizens, Australia cannot expect its word to be trusted internationally..    August 8, 2004    Australian Prime Minister John Howard rejected suggestions that Australia went to war on the basis of lies. ''I've always recognised that some people opposed our decision.. "There was no pressure put on intelligence agencies. The argument that we took the country to war based on a lie is itself a misrepresentation and I continue to reject it.''    Mr Gration, who headed the Australian Defence Force from 1987 to 1993, said the signatories wanted get their views out before the election was called. He said this was intended to be a bipartisan call on whichever government was elected to give more priority to truth in government.    ''Demonstrably over the last year or two, truth in government has been less than it should be,'' he said. ''The primary focus is on Iraq where the government took us to war - the most serious decision a government can take - on the basis of false assumptions and arguably deception. ''A number of serving offices do share these concerns, and serving diplomats too I guess. But quite properly in their present positions, they can't speak out.''    General Gration says the criticisms are widely held. "I and all the other signatories have had quite senior positions in Government over a long period of time and the fact that 43 of us are very senior people have signed this statement, gives an indication of just how seriously we take the issues."    Ron Walker, a former special disarmament adviser and ambassador to the UN in Geneva, says in a letter to The Age that he and others would not have signed a letter accusing the Government of deception "if we only believed it had been misled by faulty intelligence". He also says most signatories had no ties to either side of politics, "just a strong commitment to Australia".    Richard Woolcott, former head of the Foreign Affairs Department, said people had felt they should speak out when the integrity of the democratic decision-making process was being undermined.The statement said the war was destructive, especially for Iraq, had subjected the international system to enormous stress, and had given Australia a higher profile as a terrorist target. "We do not wish to see Australia's alliance with the United States endangered... but to suggest that an ally is not free to choose if or when it will go to war is to misread the ANZUS treaty," it said..    This is the complete text:    We believe a re-elected Howard Government or an elected Latham government must give priority to truth in government. This is fundamental to effective parliamentary democracy. Australians must be able to believe they are being told the truth by our leaders, especially in situations as grave as committing our forces to war.    We are concerned that Australia was committed to join the invasion of Iraq on the basis of false assumptions and the deception of the Australian people. Saddam Hussein's dictatorial administration has ended, but removing him was not the reason given to the Australian people for going to war. The Prime Minister said in March 2003 that our policy was "the disarmament of Iraq, not the removal of Saddam". He added, a few days before the invasion, that if Saddam got rid of his weapons of mass destruction he could remain in power.    It is a matter for regret that the action to combat terrorism after September 11, 2001, launched in Afghanistan, and widely supported, was diverted to the widely opposed invasion of Iraq. The outcome has been destructive, especially for Iraq. The international system has been subjected to enormous stress that still continues.    It is of concern to us that the international prestige of the United States and its presidency has fallen precipitously over the last two years. Because of our Government's unquestioning support for the Bush Administration's policy, Australia has also been adversely affected. Terrorist activity, instead of being contained, has increased. Australia has not become safer by invading and occupying Iraq and now has a higher profile as a terrorist target.    We do not wish to see Australia's alliance with the US endangered. We understand that it can never be an alliance of complete equals because of the disparity in power, but to suggest that an ally is not free to choose if or when it will go to war is to misread the ANZUS Treaty. Within that context, Australian governments should seek to ensure that it is a genuine partnership and not just a rubber stamp for policies decided in Washington. Australian leaders must produce more carefully balanced policies and present them in more sophisticated ways. These should apply to our alliance with the US, our engagement with the neighbouring nations of Asia and the South West Pacific, and our role in multilateral diplomacy, especially at the United Nations.    Above all, it is wrong and dangerous for our elected representatives to mislead the Australian people. If we cannot trust the word of our Government, Australia cannot expect it to be trusted by others. Without that trust, the democratic structure of our society will be undermined and with it our standing and influence in the world.
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