Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam says the Prime Minister must prevent repeating the mistakes of the illegal invasion of Iraq, by supporting his Private Senator's Bill to ensure parliamentary approval for taking the country to war. The push comes as Britain's Gordon Brown announced an Inquiry into his Government's involvement in the Iraq war.

In 2003, in the absence of any checks or balances that many other democracies have, Australian Prime Minister John Howard requested that the Governor-General deploy troops to Iraq, without Parliamentary approval.

"Mr Rudd can take some real action to safeguard against this ever happening again," said the Greens' Attorneys General Spokesperson, Senator Scott Ludlam.

"My Private Senator's Bill will subject a decision to go to war to the scrutiny of Parliament as is the case in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. In these countries troop deployment is set down in constitutional or legislative provisions. This is a subject of intense debate in the UK - where the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives are both pressuring the Prime Minister to take this step."

"Deciding whether or not to take the country to war - the responsibility of sending Australian men and women into danger and quite possibly to their deaths, is the most serious decision a Government can make. Had the representatives of Australians been given the opportunity to consider Bush's War on Iraq, then Australia most certainly would not have become involved in what is now widely understood to be an illegal war."

"The legitimacy of Australia's democracy is called into question for as long as one individual has the power to take the country to war on a whim," concluded Senator Ludlam.

The Private Senator's Bill was first introduced by Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett. Senator Ludlam took carriage of the Bill after Senator Bartlett departed the Senate mid 2008.