Professor Ray Murphy:

I thank the Senator. That is actually an impossible question to answer for me. I do not have alternatives and I am not being smart. The triple lock has worked.

I am not actually opposed to participating in a NATO-led peacekeeping operation so long as it has the mandate from the Security Council or the General Assembly and so long as it has the legitimacy of the United Nations behind it. My biggest fear is that without this legitimacy we will end up participating in operations that are inconsistent with the foreign policy, objectives and principles we have adhered to over many decades. I emphasise we should not change the triple lock and we should not get rid of the requirement for UN approval. That would be a grave mistake. I cannot think of something that would work and that would salvage the legitimacy because the EU and regional organisations throughout the world do not have that legitimacy, credibility and global authority that the UN has.