Top End troops at 11-year low, at odds with defence of Australia

THE number of troops stationed in the NT has reached an 11-year low — at odds with the nation’s strategic priorities, an independent think tank has warned

Tanks from the Australian Army’s 1st Armoured Regiment were moved to Adelaide in 2017 after they were deemed unsuitable for wet season conditions in the Top End.

THE number of troops stationed in the NT has reached an 11-year low — at odds with the nation’s strategic priorities, an independent think tank has warned.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s John Coyne said Australian Army forces had led the decline, leaving a gap between “the big ticket strategy requirements” and actual boots on the ground.

“I would say it is in the face of the strategic situation and it’s incongruent with the government’s strategic policies on the defence of Australia,” he said.

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Dr Coyne said multiple White Papers had identified the Top End as “pivotal” to Australia’s national security and the incremental loss of troops to the south was out of step with the nation’s defence interests.

US Marines with the Aviation Combat Element arrive at the Royal Australian Air Force base for the upcoming Marine Rotational Force. PICTURE: SGT. JORDAN E. GILBERT

He said the most recent troop loss came when the Australian Defence Force moved the 1st Armoured Regiment to Adelaide, as its tanks couldn’t cope with wet season conditions.

“The next thing then was ‘Well they can’t be on their own down there so we need to send the infantry battalion that works with them, we need to send a range of other capabilities and units’ — so that’s had a significant impact in terms of capabilities that are in the north and taken with it large number of troops,” he said.

“The army would say ‘Well of course if you can’t train for six months of the year because of The Wet then tanks shouldn’t be up there’ but it does raise a whole range of other questions around were the tanks that were selected the right armoured vehicles for the defence of Australia and the defence of the north if they can’t operate there?”

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Dr Coyne said the factors that led to a greater focus on the north in defending Australia from attack in the late 1980s had gotten “significantly worse” since the globe’s major hot spot shifted from Eastern Europe to the South Pacific.

“We were a long way from the front line but now with China in the South China Sea and their expansive activities in terms of maritime aggression, what we see is conflict much closer,” he said.

“Our army should be trained in the conditions in which they should be preparing to deploy.”

Dr Coyne said the haemorrhaging of ground troops out of the Territory while its air force capabilities ramped up through the deployment of Joint Strike Fighters to RAAF Base Tindal was a double edged sword.

“There will be increasing demand for the army to be able to, on short notice, defend that air base as well as other critical infrastructure in the region,” he said.

The ADF was contacted for comment.