Institute of Public Affairs calls on government to close down ADFA, slash senior officer ranks

Bursting the ‘Canberra bubble’ plaguing the military’s leadership woes must be a priority, argues a group of defence experts, who are urging the next government to shake up the ADF’s hierarchy.

The Institute of Public Affairs has called on the next government to scrap the Australian Defence Force Academy and instead have trainee officers educated across the nation.

Bursting the ‘Canberra bubble’ plaguing the military’s leadership woes must be a priority of the next federal government, argues a group of defence experts, who are urging whoever wins the upcoming election to slash one-third of the organisation’s senior officers, as well as shut down the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) in a bid to shake up the ADF’s hierarchy.

The call comes as both major parties continue to jostle over defence funding ahead of a looming election, which appears to have a khaki tinge.

However, while the major parties debate who would pump more billions into defence, a team of defence experts at the Institute of Public Affairs have penned a report urging both parties not to be swept up in a funding tit-for-tat, but to remove the “unimaginative” and risk-averse” senior officers leading the military.

“Government must reduce by one-third the numbers of ADF senior officers and Senior Executive Service public servants in Defence,” the report said.

“We must rapidly shrink a level of senior management which has become too unimaginative and risk-averse, strengthening Defence’s ability to make quick decisions, push delegated decision-making to the right management and accountability levels.”

Despite the ADF enduring a retention crisis, star commander numbers have ballooned. Source: IPA.

With the ADF having doubled its number of generals in 20 years, IPA director of law and policy John Storey said the top-heavy presence had led to “cultural issues”.

“We’re talking about (commanders who) have become excessively bureaucratic, excessively career-focused - rather than mission focused - excessively insular and resistant to change,” he told the NT News.

“A lot of these generals need to find something to do, so they get allocated various roles that are really secondary to defence.”

The report also called on the next government to close down ADFA - a university campus responsible for educating trainee officers across Army, Air Force and Navy.

“Rather than concentrating university education for officers in Canberra, we think that Defence should locate officer trainees broadly across Australia,” the report said.

“Part of this training might be in a Defence University, which operates small education facilities in our major capital cities, perhaps co-located with current Defence establishments and linked to different civilian universities.”

Mr Storey says ADFA graduates who become senior officers are too closely tied to the Canberra bubble.

Established in the 1980s, the bulk of the ADF’s senior leaders have graduated from ADFA.

However, Mr Storey maintained ADFA had come at a cost, limiting the average ADFA graduate’s understanding of civilian values, ideas and expectations concerning defence.

“(By removing ADFA), it would address the tendency to think of a career in the ADF as tied to Canberra and everything that entails, such as bureaucracy, managing government, public affairs and procurement,” he said.

“It would also mean graduates would have a broader experience, have contact with people in the private sector whose skills and experience will become more relevant.”

The IPA say the ADF has become “less publicly connected”. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The report also said ADFA had contributed to the ADF becoming a “less publicly connected” organisation.

“(The ADF is) less inclined to to explain its business to the public, media or Parliament, more controlling of information, more inclined to see engaging outside of its own ranks as a risk rather than an opportunity,” the report said.

“The more defence does this the less there is public understanding, interest and support for spending the massive sums of money needed to modernise and strengthen the ADF.”

Former Army officer and Solomon MP Luke Gosling maintained ADFA was a “world-class” which provided “cutting-edge” military training to its cadets.

“However, ADFA is much more than just an educational institution — it’s a place where lifelong friendships are built. People from all walks of life come together, united by a shared commitment to serving Australia,” he said.

“Trainee Officers graduate with strong academic capabilities, a global perspective, and the ability to work in diverse cultural contexts, shaped by three years of international exchanges and collaboration.”

Mr Gosling also rejected the notion ADFA was an echo chamber of military dogma.

“ADFA’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths. It brings together people from the west coast, east coast, the south, and the Top End, combined with cadets from partner countries fostering camaraderie and providing an unmatched leadership and teamwork experience.”

Originally published as Institute of Public Affairs calls on government to close down ADFA, slash senior officer ranks