Tony Abbott makes push for mandatory national service for school-leavers

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is pushing for Aussie school-leavers to spend a “significant period of time” giving back to their country.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is pushing for Australian school-leavers to spend a “significant period of time” giving back to their country, through methods that could involve mandatory military service.

Speaking on the Institute of Public Affairs’ Heartland podcast, the former politician said the move could strengthen the “two-way street” between the Australian Government and its citizens.

“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 … but this is a two-way street,” the 65-year-old said.

The former prime minister wants military service brought back. Picture: John Appleyard

“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 then proposed a plan in which school-leavers, or Australians above the age of 18, would spent six to 12 months “doing something for our country”. At front of mind was military service in which residents would learn the skills to become “a basically trained infantry soldier”.

Other forms of community work could also include work in aged-care homes, work in Indigenous communities, or the Australian Peace Corps in the South Pacific.

“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,” Mr Abbott said.

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

Mr Abbott believed that the community service requirement would help enforce social cohesion. Picture: Floss Adams

A mandatory military service model is observed in some countries, where residents must undergo military training or serve for a specified period of time.

In South Korea, men between the ages of 18 to 35 are expected to serve between 18 to 21 months. Recently South Korean pop group, BTS announced they would be disbanding until 2025 so all members could fulfil their military requirement.

Austria, Cambodia, Norway, Israel and Finland also have a version of compulsory conscription for residents over the age of 18.

In Australia, the last incident of compulsory military training was in 1972, after troops from the Citizen Military Forces were sent to fight in Indonesia and Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.

The national service scheme was officially terminated by the Whitlam Labor government in 1973.

Despite Mr Abbott’s suggestion, he himself has not served in Australia’s military although he did train as a Roman Catholic seminarian after he completed his postgraduate studies at Oxford University.

Originally published as Tony Abbott makes push for mandatory national service for school-leavers