ADF rules out conscription despite recruitment crisis

Australia faces a critical shortage of armed forces personnel but that has not swayed the ADF’s position on national conscription.

Australia has ruled out any form of national service conscription despite the urgent crisis in armed forces recruitment and retention and calls for it to be a national debate.

The decision comes on the eve of Defence expected to announce a significant boost to maritime defences with a new fleet of Navy ships despite too few sailors to staff them.

The Navy is in particular dire straits with not enough personnel to crew the ageing fleet it already has let alone the new more agile and better armed fleet to be announced Tuesday.

Part of the new fleet including the Hunter-class frigate will be built in South Australia and SA MLC Frank Pangallo said reintroducing national conscription needed to be part of the discussion.

“We simply do not have enough boots on the ground or sailors on our ships and subs yet here we are spending untold billions on machines of war that will need personnel we currently can’t find,” Mr Pangallo said.

Evolved Hunter Class design for guided missile frigate being offered to replace ageing Anzac-class frigates. Image: supplied by BAE Systems Australia

“Given the ADF’s staffing crisis and the changes it is making to its recruitment processes, why shouldn’t national conscription form part of that discussion.”

According to the Navy, the service can only muster four and a half crews for its eight current fleet of frigates which Tuesday’s released review will describe as “the oldest the navy has operated in its history”.

At least one frigate is so old, it could be deemed too costly to attempt to undergo repairs or an upgrade ahead of the new fleet being introduced, which could be sooner than expected if some are built overseas for more rapid RAN service.

As revealed last week, the chronic workforce shortfall, notably in technical roles like engineering, has left the Australian Defence Force with 4300 personnel short needed to operate and well below the target it set to grow the force by 25 per cent by 2040.

Chief of the Defence Force of Australia, Angus Campbell looking to overhaul ADF for the future. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Navy has a personnel shortfall of 881, Army is understrength by 2891 and RAAF is short 534 staff

National service came up for discussion in ADF circles after the UK’s Chief of General Staff and chief of Army General Sir Patrick Sanders late last month called on his government to consider a “citizen army”.

The UK is also facing an armed forces recruitment crisis but Gen. Sanders call for some form of national service like other European nations, with a minimum 6-month commitment, could alleviate pressure with a predicted war involving Europe within three years.

The ageing HMAS Anzac frigate, as seen through an equally outdated submarine periscope, could face the axe sooner than expected under the surface fleet review.

Internally the ADF has ruled out any notion of any form of forced national service or a prospect of conscription which was formally abolished in Australia in 1972.

Sources said the notion had been raised with talk of Australia getting dragged into conflict as a faithful ally but Defence was not considering conscription.

“While we do need to grow our force, a relatively small force by comparison to places like the United States, we have a proud history of punching above our weight as a highly professional force that undertakes rigorous training at all levels,” one source said.

ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre fellow Dr Matthew Sussex agreed.

“I’m not a fan of conscription, I think it’s last century’s solution for this century’s problems,” he said. “Increasingly the type of people you want in the armed forces is going to have to be highly skilled and trained and you just don’t get that with subscription.”