On the MH17 response, Mr Brown said Australia's military planners "worked up options" for Mr Abbott to send as much as a brigade – about 3000 soldiers – onto Russia's doorstep to help secure the crash site, though this would have included a contribution of Dutch forces. Australia's relationship with Russia was strained after Tony Abbott led condemnation of Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine. Credit:Reuters Previously it has been reported Mr Abbott flagged sending up to 1000 Australian troops to provide protection. In the end, Australia quietly deployed about 200 special forces soldiers in a low-key role supporting police investigators. But Mr Brown, who is now research director at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, has also written that "further curious military proposals were floated by staff from the prime minister's office" including one that would have had Australian troops effectively involved in the conflict between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Kremlin forces. "One of them – to commit uniformed Australian military logistics personnel to help the Ukrainians improve their own systems – seemed to ignore that this would make them legitimate targets for separatists fighting in Eastern Ukraine," he said.

Mr Brown, who is also Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's son-in-law, called for the creation of a national security council to better advise the government and also for greater "democratic accountability" on defence issues. Australian Federal Police and their Dutch counterparts searching at the MH17 crash site. Credit:Kate Geraghty "This concentration of war powers in the hands of the prime minister, when combined with the institutional shortcomings, creates potential problems in decision-making that could cost lives. There are very few checks and balances," he said. Mr Brown used the Abbott example as part of a ruthless dissection of the superficial way Australia's political system and public debates deal with war. James Brown with his father-in-law, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, at Government House last year. Credit:Andrew Meares

He said Mr Abbott wanted to use the Australian Defence Force to make Australia a muscular middle power but concluded his approach was "problematic – chaotic even" and could have "exposed Australian troops to substantial danger in pursuit of lofty objectives misaligned with national interests". With the risk of conflict in Asia a real possibility, Australia needs to hone its decision-making process for going to war, Mr Brown said, calling for the creation of a "national security council" made up of "the best and brightest strategic thinkers". He said the Australian public's view of going to war had been shaped by the controversial 2003 commitment to Iraq, and this had tainted perceptions of the US role in Asia, including the stationing of American marines in Darwin. There was a "dangerous naivety" in Australia's thinking that it would not be affected by the massive strategic changes under way in Asia, he said. "It seems to me that many Australians want to default to the role of bystander, particularly when it comes to the changing power balances in Asia, and the role of the United States."