Editorial: Looking back to look forward | ADM October 2012

It never ceases to amaze me how much Army is made up of its people more than perhaps its sister services. In a nutshell Air Force has its planes and jets, Navy has its ships and submarines and Army has trucks and people. Of course, there is so much more to it than that but the essence of what Army does is about the solider on the ground.

In this edition of ADM we pay tribute to the soldiers who have died in the line of duty in Afghanistan. We honour these brave men and their sacrifice through the pages of this edition of ADM. The loss of these young lives is a stark reminder of what is at stake when a government decides to go to war.

From all that I’ve read and heard about Army’s Plan Beersheba, I have great hopes that it will deliver a more agile and adaptable Army for the Australian Defence Force. I also hope that it is funded for the long haul otherwise, it will remain a really great concept of what could have been. The funding issue in Defence has become the main topic of conversation at all gatherings. Gone is the “How ‘bout that local sporting team?” query only to be replaced by “So how have the budget cuts affected your business?”. And then it begins. The tales of woe, cutbacks and pessimism flow forth, a dam unleashed. Travel to the US or UK and then speak of our cuts in a wider context - the moral of the story is that things could be much worse than they are. Despite the current economic gloom, I must admit to being an optimist. I am optimistic that everyone in the Defence community will do their best based on the hand they’ve been dealt, despite the fact that the hand changes constantly.

2013 will be an important year of change for Defence with a raft of key guidance documents appearing: a new White Paper, the Defence Planning Guidance document in partnership with an updated Defence Capability Plan and a new industry policy statement as the harder PIC health checks are released in the coming few months. Plus throw in a Federal election at a date yet to be decided.

‘The Australia in the Asian Century’ White Paper from the government will also appear soon after this edition of ADM hits the streets. The impacts for our regional security arrangements have yet to become clear but I have no doubt that Defence will be mentioned as the magic pudding that can do anything and everything the government of the day asks of it.

This Asian Century, the US pivot back to the Pacific and the drawdown of Australian troops in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands in the very near term mean that the Australian Defence Force may face the dreaded peace dividend. The economic and political thinking behind the concept is that since we have peace, we can therefore spend the money elsewhere in the economy. A most excellent idea until reality comes back to bite you.

Looking at the historical ups and down of defence capability, particularly that of Army, in post-conflict times and the so-called peace dividend comes into sharp relief. The lessons learned from Korea were lost and re-learned in Vietnam. The hollowed force from the 1990s went into East Timor unprepared but enthusiastic. The list goes on. We are now coming down from a decade that has seen a high operational tempo for the ADF where many lessons have been learnt and honed. As Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Brown pointed out at the recent Sir Richard Williams Foundation seminar on winning the air/land battle, these lessons learned take roughly four years for the organisation to lose if not used. Use or lose it has never been more apt.

The budget has been under severe pressure thanks to wider economic issues not under the purview of Defence. Planning in the early 2000s did not account for the global financial crisis. The September 11 effect has worn off. We are safe. We are stable. The world is a good place and will remain so for the foreseeable future, (except for those far flung pockets that have always been broken).

Part of defence planning is being professionally paranoid. The world isn’t always safe and stable and this can change quite suddenly. Defence of the realm is a key federal government responsibility. Without it, all other federal government services become somewhat moot.

Clear guidance from government about what they are willing to spend on Defence, what they want and when, will give much more certainty to the wider defence community. I speak for defence industry when I say that we really don’t mind how or which government does it but it needs to be accessible and reliable. Defence and Defence industry will then get on with the job. Doing a job with only partial or changeable information is in no one’s interest. And yet, as ever, I remain optimistic.