ArticleCan the Australian government justify an increase in defence spending when we have so many important and underfunded needs in the areas of housing, NDIS, clean energy, healthcare, and improving the lives of indigenous Australians?
I remember watching the news one evening in the 1980s where a man was in trouble with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) because, as a Pacifist, he refused the pay the percentage of his taxes that contributed towards defence. He attempted to reach a compromise by buying a number of shovels and spades that could be used for agriculture purposes to the same value and left them at the door of the ATO headquarters. The ATO did not accept the payment in kind in lieu of the taxes that the man owed them. While I am sympathetic to pacifists, I must demur from their naïve dismissal of the notion of having a national defence force.
I joined the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 1992, at the end of the cold war, when western nations were slashing defence budgets as there were no more enemies left to fight.
New recruits were told that the most we could expect was the odd peace-keeping mission in Africa or Asia. I distinctly remember in 1995 the Chief of the Army, Gen. John Sanderson, telling my battalion that there was no prospect for future conflict. In addition, even if there was a peace-keeping mission, the operational deployment force based in Townsville would be the ones deployed, not us.
As much as I enjoyed my time as a paratrooper and intelligence operator, I was training for an eventuality that nobody thought was going to take place. It was made worse by seeing defence capabilities repeatedly degraded and recruitment continually decline. It reached the point where it was increasingly challenging to maintain interest in my profession. So, in early 1999, I resigned from the regular Army to pursue tertiary studies in Christian ministry.
However, later that same year the bulk of the Australian Army deployed to East Timor. The following year was 9/11, which gave way to 20+ years of operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East.
Here is the lesson: The geo-political situation can change very, very quickly and one cannot acquire platforms and produce combat-ready people at the drop of a hat. If the ADF is the national version of “In case of emergency, break glass!” then you need something in the glass cabinet that is going to be effective when you really need it.
The purpose of the ADF is to defend Australia, as well as its strategic interests and allies, from enemies both foreign and domestic.
The Australian mainland has been directly attacked by foreign adversaries during the second world war.
Australia experiences cyber-attacks on a daily basis by foreign governments and foreign actors are attempting to manipulate and subvert our liberal democracy right now.
In such a world, defence policy is about threat mitigation and management.
A “threat” is defined by the formula of capability + intent.
There are governments and groups around the world who have both the capability and intent to harm Australia, the Australian people, and Australian independence. The reasons vary from economics to ideology to geography to our liberal democratic system. In sum, there are bad hombres out there who mean us harm, and they will not be assuaged with a handshake and a jar of vegemite.
I add too that we live in an age of ascending autocracies where China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and other supporting nations are attempting to undermine if not eliminate western democracies and their global influence.
One aim of this autocratic axis is to end the monopolar order centred around the US and to establish a multi-polar order that is dominated by regional hegemons.
A further objective is to destabilize and defeat western nations in terms of economic strength, political unity, and diminish their ability to resist aggressive actions by autocratic actors.
We must stop thinking about Russia-Ukraine, China-Taiwan, Iran-Middle East, and the Korean peninsula as distinct and separate conflicts. They are different theatres of the one struggle of autocratic regimes against liberal democracies. These nations, radically diverse as they are, are committed to autocracy and defeating the western world. They cooperate materially, militarily, politically, and economically. Australia is, by virtue of our liberal democratic system, and whether we like it or not, a party in this new cold war.
We face an adversary in China who wishes to press its influence in the Asia-Pacific region, which requires uncoupling Australia from its ties to the UK and USA, expelling US military forces from northern Australia, and then by coercion or incentive, turning Australia into a nation oriented towards China’s political, military, and economic interests. In a word, vassalship.
China’s new military relationship with the Solomon Islands is a good example of the indirect pressure exerted against Australia. A Chinese military presence in the south west Pacific would have the same purpose as Japan’s occupation of the Solomon Islands during WWII, namely, to cut off Australia’s sea lines of communication from the USA and render Australia vulnerable to attack by air and sea.
Christians have long wrestled with military service, peace-making, and the ethics of warfare.
Generally speaking, Augustine’s argument for just war theory has been influential on much of western thinking as it espouses certain conditions and certain principles that make the conduct of warfare morally justified. Of course, whether many of the wars western nations have engaged in actually met those criteria is a good question, though one I think actually proves the point: some wars are morally justifiable and others are not.
Christians are called to be peace-makers. In the cause of peace, there is an old saying si vis pacem, para bellum, “if you want peace, then prepare for war.” Deterrence of aggression by means of strength and solidarity is an instrument of peace, something all nations generally adopt.
Accordingly, in an age of autocracies, for the sake of the nation, the ADF must focus on deterrence, defence, and dependability as an ally. That requires investment in strategic capabilities, platforms, and personnel to meet the challenges of a very complex geo-political environment. At a time when the nature of warfare is changing so profoundly – we did not have cyber-attacks, social media, or drones when I was in uniform – we need to wisely invest in our defence industry and forces. As the level of threat ratchets up, so too must the spending. It is as simple as that!
The fact of the matter is that the world right now feels combustible, like Europe and North Asia in the 1930s, and a single spark could engulf us in a multi-theatre global conflict. May it never happen, but it could, and it is incumbent upon the Australian government to prepare for it in the interest of its people.
Lest I be dismissed as a warmongering hawk, let me add some anecdotal commentary. I have spent recent months interviewing Christian leaders living under often deadly conditions in Myanmar, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, occupied Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine. Whether it is religious nationalism, terrorism, or foreign invasion, they all live in the grim grip of violence and terror by those who despise their existence. Ukrainians are now fighting for their freedom from the brutal and corrupt oligarchy of the Russian political class who seek to dominate and exploit them.
There are governments and groups who despise Australia with the same passion and the only thing stopping them is the fact that we do not let them.
If we value our liberal democratic society, the country of the Fair Go for everyone, where citizens do not live in fear of the government and its international backer, then we must commit ourselves to a responsible defence budget that is appropriate for the geo-political threats that we find ourselves facing.
Timothy Snyder is an expert in totalitarian regimes, in particular, how they rise, and his final lesson on how to prevent living under tyranny is very simple: “If none of us is prepared to die for freedom, then all of us will die under tyranny.”
To that end, God bless the ADF, we must fund them as appropriate, and hope they never need to fire a shot in anger.
Rev. Dr. Michael F. Bird (PhD University of Queensland) is Deputy Principal at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. He served in the ADF from 1992-2005 as a paratrooper, military intelligence operator, and chaplain’s assistant. He writes about biblical studies and political theology and is the author several books including Religious Freedom in a Secular Age and with N.T. Wright, Jesus and the Powers. He can be found on X at @mbird12.