Abbott urges national service for school-leavers

Tony Abbott has called for a return of compulsory national service, saying school-leavers should be forced to spend up to 12 months giving back to their country.

Tony Abbott says 18-year-olds should be expected to volunteer for a “significant” period of time in the community in a bid to improve social cohesion. Picture: Supplied

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called for a return of compulsory national service, saying school-leavers should be forced to spend up to 12 months giving back to their country.

Speaking to the Institute of Public Affairs’ Heartland podcast, Mr Abbott said 18-year-olds should be expected to volunteer for a “significant” period of time in the community in a bid to improve social cohesion.

He said governments had an obligation to take care of the Australian public, but it should also be a “two-way street”.

“We constantly talk about rights,” Mr Abbott said.

“We constantly talk about what we’re going to do for people. Yes, we have rights and the government has certain obligations to us, which it should do. It’s best to discharge, but this is a two-way street.

“It’s about giving as well as receiving and I think we do have to talk more about what we can give back to our country.”

Mr Abbott said national service could include serving time in the armed forces, but could also be broadened out to other forms of volunteering in the community such as work in Indigenous communities, aged-care homes or deployment to the Australian Peace Corps in the South Pacific.

“Saying to people who turn 18 or who leave school, ‘We expect you to spend a significant period of time, six months, 12 months, whatever, doing something for our country, giving something back, whether it’s putting on the uniform and becoming at least a basically trained infantry soldier’,” he said.

“There are all sorts of things which people could do, whether it’s going to volunteer in a nursing home or something like that for a period of time.

“There are all sorts of things that I think we could very usefully talk about asking of our young people.”

Mr Abbott also slammed the Albanese government’s push for an Indigenous voice to parliament, saying it would divide Australia and “substantially worsen” the system of government.

He said it would give Indigenous people – who make up around 4 per cent of the population – veto powers over government actions that affect all Australians, and would be a step towards New Zealand’s co-governance with the Maori people.

“I just think this is a giant step down the path towards New Zealand style co-governance and I can’t think of anything that is more likely to divide our country and further gum up what is already, frankly, a pretty clogged up system of government.

“It’s a seriously bad idea.”

Mr Abbott he was willing to be “heavily involved” in a no campaign against the voice to ensure the “right thing” is done by Indigenous Australians and the ­nation’s migrant history.