An investigation has been launched into why dozens of cabinet documents from 2003 were not handed over to the National Archives.

The documents included files about the decision by John Howard’s cabinet to commit Australia to the Iraq War.

The 2003 cabinet records were provided to the National Archives by Scott Morrison’s Coalition government in 2020. They were released publicly on January 1.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed the Morrison administration failed to provide 78 documents during the transfer.

“Let me make my government’s position clear: Australians have a right to know the basis upon which Australia went to war in Iraq,” he said on Wednesday.

“Australians lost their lives during that conflict and we know that some of the stated reasons for going to war were not correct, in terms of the weapons of mass destruction that it was alleged Iraq had at that time.”

The Albanese government has started an independent review led by former director-general of security of Australia Dennis Richardson.

“Australians do have a right to know what the decision-making process was, and my government believes that this mistake must be corrected,” Albanese said.

After consulting with national security agencies, Albanese said there was no reason the documents should not be released, unless it put people in danger.

The government has requested the release of remaining documents and will examine whether to take further action to try to improve transparency.

The review is expected to report back within a fortnight.

-with AAP