Shadow home affairs minister calls on Australia to learn lessons of the past to face the future

We have heard it time and again from Australia’s political leaders, with various iterations of it being told, “we live in the most dangerous time since the Second World War”, with both sides of Australian politics seeking to polish their national security credentials and policy platform ahead of the next election.

Entering the fray from the Opposition, senator for Victoria and shadow minister for home affairs and cyber security, James Paterson has used an Anzac Day address to the Robert Menzies Institute, University of Melbourne, titled, “Recognising the Lessons of the Past to Secure the Australia of the Future” to detail the Coalition’s reinvigorated and renewed focus on national security.

Senator Paterson begins by saying, “Anzac Day serves as a powerful moment to reflect on past sacrifices and how we should seek to honour those who served by working to uphold the principles of liberal democracy today...

“Today, I will reflect on the lessons we should take from both Australia’s wartime experience and Menzies’ time in office as we navigate the difficult strategic challenges that lie ahead.”

Whether it is the challenge presented by increasing political division, the rising aggression and adventurism of revisionist powers in Europe, the Middle East or more concerningly, closer to home in the Indo-Pacific or stagnating economic opportunity, both the nation and public face immense challenges.

The way we have mobilised the nation in the past has typically seen the nation revert to conscription, nationalisation (at least in part) of industry, and the formation of industrial policy to marshal the nation’s resources to respond to the challenges.

Harkening back to the earliest days of the Second World War, Senator Paterson detailed the approach taken by the then prime minister Robert Menzies, saying, “Menzies immediately set to work putting Australia on a war footing, reintroducing compulsory military training and announcing the formation of the Second Australian Imperial Force.

VIEW ALL

“In November 1939, Menzies announced the Citizen Military Forces – the army reserves – would be bolstered by conscription, although these men could only serve in Australia or its territories, which at the time included what is now Papua New Guinea.”

Fast forward to the challenges we face today, Senator Paterson stated, “we do again face grave strategic circumstances. Circumstances which, in the view of Sir Angus Houston – who completed the Defence Strategic Review for this government – are even worse than what Menzies confronted in the 1960s.

“So what are the steps we must take today to make sure that future Australian political leaders never again have to contemplate resorting to conscription in the name of defending our national interest? And what lessons can we take from Australia’s historical experience 110 years since the Great War and 60 years on from Menzies’ decision to reintroduce conscription?” Senator Paterson posited.

Building Australia’s military preparedness

Enhancing and expanding Australia’s military preparedness has emerged as one of the most important priorities identified by both sides of Australian politics, particularly in light of mounting Chinese antagonism and hostility in the western Pacific.

One of the common criticisms often cited by Australians in particular concerning their representatives and governments is that we often think in terms of “bandaid” solutions, with short-termism coming to dominate policy making both here and across the West.

When it comes to national security and military preparedness at such turbulent times, this is particularly dangerous.

Senator Paterson highlighted this, saying, “If we want to avoid seeking bandaid solutions to systemic issues in the event of a crisis, we need to invest in our military preparedness now ... The lesson of Ukraine which we must urgently heed is that a sovereign defence industry supply chain cannot simply be switched on and off on demand.”

Adding to this, Senator Paterson is particularly pointed when it comes to the government’s own assessment of the 10-year warning time, saying, “The government says the 10-year warning time for conflict has gone. And yet it does not plan to materially lift defence spending for a decade. Only a small fraction of this increase occurs over the next four years.”

People power is just as important to the Australian application of military power, with both sides of Australian politics recognising the increasingly challenges in defence recruiting, with Defence facing a 10 per cent separation rate and recruiting 4,400 below its authorised strength.

However, increased domestic social division and polarisation, as well as a growing undercurrent of dislocation, disconnection, and lacking investment in the nation are driving generations of young Australians away from national service.

Highlighting this, Senator Paterson stated, “There’s something even deeper and more profound which we must honestly examine which is holding us back from recruiting and retaining the personnel we need. It is a crisis of self-belief.”

Confronting our ‘crisis of self-belief’

Australia, like many Western contemporaries, faces mounting domestic challenges, namely a belief in the values, principles, and opportunity central to life in the West.

Senator Paterson stated, ”In Australia, we have seen our shared sense of national identity coming under pressure on a number of fronts. Globalisation has weakened our attachment to nationhood.”

In laying some blame at the feet of the era of globalisation that dominated the post-Cold War world, Senator Paterson echoed the analysis of many across the Western world and cited the work of David Goodhart, who explained two different categories of people: “somewheres” and “anywheres”.

“Somewheres: people of more modest means who retain a commitment to traditional values like patriotism and are rooted to where they live. And we have anywheres: an unrooted, globally mobile and affluent class with more affinity with each other than those they might share a passport with,” Senator Paterson explained.

In overcoming these challenges, Senator Paterson stated, “The weakening of these bonds is reflected in our Defence Force recruiting. Where once we would have directly appealed to Australians’ commitment to empire or country, now we appeal almost exclusively to self-actualisation and personal development.

“The ADF has become just another workplace where we can personally ‘grow’, instead of somewhere Australians go to serve with pride. I’d like to think there is a generation waiting to be inspired to sign up for something bigger than themselves, and the chance to defend our way of life,” he explained.