So far, Her Majesty's Australian government has stood foursquare behind the British-American-Commonwealth (BAC) cabal"s insane assaults on Iraq and Yugoslavia. Australia has supplied ships, troops, and intelligence for the war against Iraq, while its satellite intelligence facility at the joint U.S.-Australian base at Pine Gap in central Australia, has been key for targetting bombs against both nations. On April 12, Yugoslavia arrested two Australians in Kosovo, and charged them with spying, under cover of working for the aid agency, Care Australia. Whether the two, one of whom was an Australian Army major whom the Iraqis had earlier charged with espionage, are guilty or not, Yugoslavia has de facto recognized Australia's status as a belligerent.

However, led by Lyndon LaRouche's associates in the Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), many citizens of this Commonwealth nation have, by signing two CEC petitions which were officially presented to the federal parliament in Canberra in March, challenged their government's support for the BAC's drive for World War III. The first, signed by more than 1,500 citizens, and introduced on March 8, "draws the attention of the House to the fact that thousands of Australian citizens and elected officials have endorsed the following Appeal to President Clinton," to immediately appoint the statesman and economist LaRouche as his economic adviser. The included Appeal is identical to that being circulated worldwide.

After denouncing the "misuse of the American Congress" for an "attempted coup d'etat" in the "style of a British parliamentary system" against the U.S. President, the petition notes the disastrous failure of the Group of Seven, the Group of 22, and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to deal with the "urgently required reorganization of the international monetary and financial system." LaRouche, on the other hand, "has been right," and "all of his critics are today fully discredited," the petition said. It concluded, "Your petitioners therefore request the House to approach President Clinton, and ask that he appoint Lyndon LaRouche has his economic adviser in this period of grave crisis." After its incorporation into the parliamentary record, the document was sent to the White House.

The second petition, introduced on an emergency basis on March 29, with its 479 signatures having been gathered in less than two weeks, attacked the December 1998 "Operation Desert Fox," and pointed to the danger of an upcoming "all-out assault" against Iraq, one which could involve "the likely use of nuclear weapons." Furthermore, the petition said, "that faction which has often been called the British American Commonwealth grouping associated with Wall Street and the City of London have contemptuously ignored any objections," either to their assaults on Iraq, or to the rewriting of NATO doctrine to enable "out of area military strikes ... featuring the 'first use' of tactical nuclear weapons."

The petition continued, "These same circles view China and Russia as the enemies in a 'new Cold War'—an outlook entirely contrary to the foreign policy of President Clinton—and one which may, given the emphasis on the use of nuclear weapons, quickly escalate into a global war."

The petition demands that the Australian government, which has numerous military agreements with the United States and the U.K., "take a firm public stand" against the Iraq war and the new NATO doctrine, and that it "communicate such a stance on these two issues directly to the relevant officials in the U.S. and U.K. immediately."

The petitions, part of a campaign by the CEC to educate the parliament on the nature of the BAC cabal and its chief front-man in the United States, Vice President Al Gore, have had an impact. The chairman of the House-Senate Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade, Sen. David MacGibbon, for example, in response to one CEC supporter"s lobbying, wrote, "The Committee has taken a great deal of interest in this matter and is watching developments very carefully." However, he said, "You appear to be placing much of the responsibility for these actions on Vice President Gore. However, there is nothing that I have seen or read that would lead me to conclude other than that President Clinton is firmly directing U.S. policy in this matter."

CEC National Secretary Craig Isherwood told EIR, "Our relentless campaign to attack and expose this BAC drive for world war to protect their bankrupt financial system will continue. It is crucial that the world knows, that even within the bowels of the Commonwealth, there is widespread opposition to this lunacy."

Both petitions were introduced into Parliament by senior Australian Labor Party MP Kelvin Thomson of Melbourne, many of whose constituents signed them.