ADA discussion papers tackle major or recurring subjects in Australian debate on national security issues. Each paper is a comprehensive and stand-alone contribution to informed public debate.
Recent discussion papers:
ADA discussion papers
Asylum and refugee policy
Asylum and refugee issues are first and foremost a matter of strategic policy because they are just one part of our broader and longer-term strategic relationships with neighbouring countries. But instead of acknowledging this, the vast bulk of public (and party-political) argument on asylum and refugee matters has long tended to revolve around the recurrent symptoms of Australia’s dilemma, rather than seriously examine and fix its actual strategic, legal and moral causes. This narrow and mistaken focus on the symptoms, not the causes or the cure, is both ineffective and immoral.
National service
In 1909-11, under the Fisher Labor Government, Australia was the first democracy in the world to introduce universal military conscription in peacetime. Australia has adopted national service schemes five times in our history: 1905-09 (selective cadet scheme), 1911-1929 (universal), 1939-45 (universal), 1951-59 (mostly universal) and 1965-72 (selective). Several factors need to be addressed when seriously considering the current and future strategic utility, and citizenship equity, of reintroducing compulsory national service.
Women in combat
Much public argument on the issue of broadening the employment of female personnel in combat roles is misinformed and based on assumptions and outright myths supposedly supporting or disproving the validity of such employment. Informed debate, on the other hand, cannot occur unless it addresses the many complexities involved. These include tackling what combat actually entails (rather than what many wrongly assume it entails); what gender-based restrictions set by government actually apply currently, how they apply and the reasons for them; how they might be further refined; what and how various operational contexts are relevant; what physiological, bio-mechanical, physicality, equipment procurement and training implications need consideration before further changes are introduced; what strategic, operational, professional or technical matters and nuances need discussion; what are the potential moral dilemmas that need considering; and what risks of equity-intent versus inequity-result paradoxes need to be avoided or risk-managed when further refining combat employment policies.
