Selective conscientious objection

... The generally accepted doctrine of CO, which depended upon the objector demonstrating their complete inability to fight in any war, does not fit such a citizen. And, more intriguingly, what of a citizen who is a member of the armed forces of his society, and is thus presumably prepared to fight, who objects to a particular conflict and refuses to participate. This is termed Selective Conscientious Objection (SCO) ...

He goes on to confirm that conscientious objection:

... is available to volunteer personnel during peacetime through the routine administrative procedure of applying for discharge from the ADF ... It is possible that a similar procedure may operate during a period of hostilities with a CO tribunal determining the absolute CO of the serviceperson ... both the ALP and the Coalition oppose SCO for volunteer service personnel. This position will be difficult to maintain ...

He then explains the many reasons why, including the fact that it is reasonable to assume that support for the rights of the individual will continue to expand in Australia.

Lieutenant Colonel Wing’s assumption about increasing support for individual rights may have been sadly wrong - he couldn’t have anticipated 9-11 or the hysterical “anti-terrorist” response of the Howard government - but his conclusion may still be proven true. The Australian parliament had no say in Howard’s decision to go to war, and the Australian people have never popularly supported it. Now, on the back of the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and being bogged down in an interminable and expensive occupation with a mounting toll of dead and injured young Australians that is predicted to worsen before it improves, there is a noticeable shift in the public mood. “Bipartisan support” is no longer a sufficient justification for the Labor-Liberal “bloc” dictating policies that the proponents are too afraid to submit to parliamentary scrutiny, let alone to public criticism and debate.

Every aspect of war, from our involvement as a nation to the rights (PDF 185KB) of individuals to resist being compelled to fight a war they believe on reasonable grounds to be unlawful or unjust, should be scrutinised at the same time as the imminent parliamentary debate on Afghanistan. And with luck the Greens and independents, finally, will be able to force the “bipartisans” to address these issues with the level of sincerity and truth that the Australian people (and our troops) deserve.