Letters | As Australia boosts its defence capabilities, will young citizens volunteer for war?

Readers discuss Canberra’s defence strategy, and the scourge of armed conflict

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A missile is launched during joint military drills at a firing range in northern Australia as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre, the largest combined training activity between the Australian Defence Force and the United States military, in Shoalwater Bay on July 22. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 8 Oct 2023

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I felt a touch of déjà vu when I read the op-ed warning of dangerous superpower tension in the South China Sea (“South China Sea: US-China confrontation looms large”, September 29).

All the more so because here in Australia, preparation for possible military conflict in the region continues apace with the implementation of the Defence Strategic Review announced recently by our federal government.

That review urges the reconfiguration of our defensive capacity aimed at placing our military on a much sounder footing. Australian defence weaponry and personnel are being concentrated in northern Australia, with a long-range missile base to be located in the South Australian capital Adelaide.

So urgent is this, a video of Australian army chief, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, delivering a morale-boosting address was released on YouTube calling on soldiers to prepare themselves for whatever contingencies, including war, might confront us.

This articulate and measured summary of where our fighting forces are headed in the future was well short of an immediate call to arms. But it is an uncomfortable reminder that such a call may be closer than we think.

For me, all this is reminiscent of our preparation for war against the Japanese in the 1940s.