RSL Australia encourages domestic political, social reawakening in new report

The RSL has released the detailed paper, An Australian National Security Strategy – Adapting to Poly-Crisis, in a bid to encourage Australia to strategically harness its natural and human resources to successfully meet future challenges.

The report campaigns for priorities such as increased Defence spending, stronger connections with ASEAN nations, a compact with South Pacific countries, a national community service scheme with elements similar to the US Peace Corps, strengthening Australia’s strategic and economic ties with the United States, and setting up a new national institute to monitor strategic threats.

The strategic paper details key emerging threats such as changing climate; a cleaner, greener industry; stretched health services; deepening geopolitical shifts; accelerating technological transformation; increasingly autonomous systems; and growing challenges in governing cosmopolitan societies.

The primary author of the paper is former military officer John Blaxland, professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies at the Australian National University, and currently director of the ANU’s North America Liaison Office. Professor Blaxland’s work was supported by other members of the RSL’s national defence and security committee.

RSL National president Greg Melick says the paper speaks to the nation, not just veterans, and those in Defence.

“This is a matter for all Australians, it impacts everyone”, Melick said.

“War, famine and disease, daily in the headlines, make for an uncertain future while politicians struggle to rise above the tyranny of the urgent.

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“Following the Defence Strategic Review, the government has committed to follow through in principle on many of its recommendations yet has chosen to do so by readjusting internal defence priorities rather than significantly boosting funding. The result is a mixed message to the Australian people about the gravity of the challenges and the urgency of our response.”

The range of conclusions and recommendations include the establishment of a statutory National Institute of Net Assessment, akin to the Productivity Commission, to consider the full spectrum of challenges, drawing on research expertise in the university sector, as well as industry, think tanks, government and beyond.

The report recommends deepening Australia’s ties with ASEAN and its member states (especially Indonesia) and addressing the Rohingya and broader Myanmar refugee crisis to prevent it worsening (the report suggests former foreign minister Julie Bishop is well-placed to play an instrumental role in this).

In addition, the report recommends developing a federation-like compact of association with South Pacific countries, perhaps with residency rights, educational and financial connections.

The report recommends strengthening economic and security ties with United States and other aligned states, as well as consideration of a universal national community service scheme with elements similar to the volunteer US Peace Corps.

“Australia currently has limited sovereign capacity to respond to the growing range of threats. This means investing further in the capacity of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) as well as state police and emergency response services and related government instrumentalities and infrastructure," according to Melick.

“All of the proposals outlined in An Australian National Security Strategy require adequate resourcing and the nation must brace to face the reality of the challenges emerging and the urgency of visionary engagement in response.

“In Defence, nuclear propulsion submarines are in the mix but must not come at the expense of other capabilities required to increase resilience and preparedness for the full spectrum of challenges on the horizon.

“In terms of military capacity,100 fighter aircraft, a dozen or so warships, three regular force combat brigades and some special forces are no longer enough. The plan to expand the surface naval fleet and acquire advanced submarines is a positive step, but this requires more than a shuffling of internal defence funding priorities – it requires a substantial increase in resourcing in the short, medium and long term. It is not something which we can afford to delay.

“A key issue is that the current Defence budget has not really increased, instead, a readjusting of funding is occurring. Preparing the nation’s defences from an inadequate situation is not going to be cheap and we need to be serious about this.

“As well, Defence needs to reassess recruiting standards to seek more flexible entry conditions, amidst changing modern combat roles in cyber and space security and offer more flexible employment conditions to retain personnel.

“The RSL strongly supports the paper’s conclusion that the old approach is no longer viable. The time to act is now.”