A clip of Byron Bay locals being asked if they’d fight to defend Australia has gone viral

A group of Byron Bay peace-loving hippies were asked whether they’d fight to defend Australia in the event of war, with some surprising answers.

A journalist who asked the free spirits living in and visiting Byron Bay whether they’d be willing to defend Australia in the event of war received some surprising responses.

Fred Pawle, a media veteran who has worked at The Australian and Sky News, took to the streets of the hippy capital to ask “peace-loving dudes” how far they’d go to protect their freedom.

A clip of his conversations, shared to the social media platform TikTok, has been viewed more than 611,000 times and sparked debate among commenters.

“If war broke out tomorrow, would you fight to defend Australia?” Pawle asked locals in Byron and nearby Mullumbimby during a recent visit.

A clip of Byron Bay locals being asked whether they'd defend Australia in the event of war has gone viral.

Speaking to news.com.au about the clip – part of a series where he poses the same question in different locations – he admitted to being surprised by the answers.

“I was expecting to get a resounding no,” he said.

“They’re famously peace-loving pacifists up there. But it really didn’t take much to see that people would be willing to defend their homes … in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

“There are people living these sort of yoga, soy latte-loving dream, but they were open to the idea of defending their way of life.”

One local who said he wouldn’t be part of a war for Australia did concede he would probably be willing to fight to defend Byron itself.

“This is my home – this where I come from,” he said. “This is where my ancestors come from.”

@fred.pawle

Politicians around the world are itching for war. It’s reassuring that most young Aussies would fight to defend their country. But what would they be fighting for? Freedom? Hardly. See my thread here: https://x.com/fredpawle/status/1786305774786064778?s=46&t=m6qIkEd_n9a3uaLvqa3vxA

♬ original sound - Fred Pawle

Another man explained that he didn’t believe in “global politics” but agreed that Australia was worth defending.

A tourist said he would be up for fighting for the “beautiful country” he temporarily calls home, and was especially keen to protect animals “like [the] platypus or the marsupials”.

Even one interviewee who spoke of being opposed to war admitted he would change tact if an invading force “came rolling over the hills”.

“I feel like now I just contradicted myself,” he chuckled.

Fred Pawle is a journalist whose series has gone viral on TikTok.

As part of his series, Pawle has asked the same question of locals in Sydney, Melbourne, the NSW Central Coast, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast.

“I’d say across the board that about 70 per cent of people I’ve asked have said yes, they would fight to defend Australia.”

Even in Sydney, he found willing patriots in famed hipster haunt Newtown, as well as a migrant from Lebanon in bougie Bondi Beach who was emphatic in his support for his new home.

Melbourne proved to be an outlier, he found, with young men in the coffee capital of Australia largely opposed to the idea of defending Australia if called on.

Across the board, the majority of young men questioned were willing to fight for Australia.

Across the board, the majority of young men questioned were willing to fight for Australia.

Pawle said he was expecting to encounter a greater resistance given popular perceptions and stereotypes about younger generations.

After all, the Australian Defence Force is waging a seemingly losing battle against plummeting enlistment numbers, failing to hit recruitment targets.

Analysis published in The Conversation in June revealed the “acute crisis” facing the military, with the overall personnel count shrinking, attributing it to “a declining willingness of Gen Z to identify with – and fight to defend – their nation”.

The scenario has become so worrying that authorities have relaxed entry requirements, including medical and fitness thresholds, and even opened the door to foreigners.

The Australian Defence Force is facing a “recruitment crisis”. Picture: James McDougall

As of last month, Kiwis living here are now able to enlist in the ADF, while eligible applications originally born in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada will be able to join from 2025.

“But I was pleasantly surprised,” Pawle said.

“Gen Z and Millennials are digital nomads, they’re highly mobile, citizens of the world … and so I might’ve assumed they would have less of an affinity with the idea of Australia and Australian cultural compared to previous generations,” he said.

“When you put it in those terms of [defending the country], young people these days are just as quick to realise that freedom and prosperity are fragile, and if they’re threatened, then you’ve got to stand up and fight for them.”

The ADF is struggling to recruit, particularly among Generation Z Aussies. Picture: Adam Abela

Fawle’s inspiration for the series came about after he attended a lecture by Peter Jennings, a national defence contributor for The Australian and former executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“He spoke in quite emphatic terms about the country being mentally unprepared for conflict,” Fawle recalled.

“We’re also militarily unprepared, but that’s a whole other point. But the fact that we are mentally unprepared really stuck with me. Previous generations were perfectly prepared to sign up and go if needed.

“I wondered what new generations might think. It has been a really interesting exercise.”

Originally published as A clip of Byron Bay locals being asked if they’d fight to defend Australia has gone viral