The Greens are warning it could take as little as a phone call from new United States President Donald Trump for Australian troops to be committed to joining a war.
This fear has prompted them to reintroduce the so-called "war powers" bill, calling for any such measures to first be debated in federal parliament.
Senator Scott Ludlam says it's a frightening prospect.
"The idea that on a phone call from a foreign president, from a foreign head of state, the Australian executive without any recourse to parliament, without any checks and balances, can deploy the ADF into harm's way. I would have thought that the horrific invasion of Iraq that absolutely tore that region apart, and that we still have Australian defence personnel and support personnel in Iraq and Syria and in Afghanistan on the back of these captain's calls to follow the United States government into harm's way."
The bill is a revised version of one introduced in the Senate in 1985 by the now-defunct Australian Democrats.
It has been revived several times, most notably in relation to Australia's involvement in the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The proposal was again floated when claims surfaced that former prime minister Tony Abbott had considered sending troops to Ukraine after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.
Speaking in parliament, Labor's Don Farrell says debate over the amendments have already been held a number of times - none of them successful.
He says changing procedures could endanger troops, as the current government is privy to top secret information the parliament is not.
"The government of the day must always retain the necessary flexibility to allow it to respond to threats to Australia's national security quickly and efficiently. To require a vote of parliament, or a proclamation from the Governor-General prior to deploying ADF personnel and assets, would unnecessarily increase the risk to the operation and the personnel involved."
Just who has the final decision on Australian military deployment is unclear, with the constitution pointing toward the Queen's representative - the Governor-General.
Countries such as Japan, the Netherlands and Germany all have some form of parliamentary consultation on military activity.
Rejecting the bill, Liberal Party Senator Barry O'Sullivan says the nation has representative democracy for a reason.
And he describes the Greens' proposal as unrealistic and counterproductive.
"So they say, every Australian should have a say in this. Let's just run this around a minute: our national security's under threat, and they want us to come into this place and debate every single aspect of it, every single aspect of the decision, and they don't just want to make a contribution, they want to go back to every single Australian...they want to go back to their mob and get their input as to whether we should go over there, protect our national interests security-wise, or take some rose petals and fling them in the air in the front of advancing troops. This would go on forever and ever and ever if the parliaments were involved in having to make a decision. We have good men and women, be they Labor, be they the Coalition, or in a hundred years' time perhaps, when the world has come to an end, the Australian Greens, in there making considered decisions."
