The slouch-hat mystique has great power in Australia. We’re about to salute a full-force expression of the slouch-hat aura as the centenary of Gallipoli commemorates the ANZAC creation moment. These columns on the Canberra officer—military …
The avowed purpose of the Canberra officer project is to get an officer corps that can better serve Australia’s political leaders and win the bureaucratic battles. An undeclared purpose is the creation of political nous. …
Previous posts in this series explored the Canberra officer project; Arthur Tange; the promised land of Jointery; taming the service chiefs; the Vice CDF; and CDF atop the diarchy. The military venturing into politics is …
The headline gives you the guts of the idea. In the diarchy that runs Defence, the military man sits atop the civilian: the chief of the Australian Defence Force now looms above the secretary of …
The Canberra officer project, like the art of strategy itself, is about the creation of power. And the position of Vice Chief of the Defence Force is a striking example of the project’s building effort. …
When the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force make a combined visit to the Prime Minister, it can mean coup, revolution or war. So when the three service chiefs met John Howard, in …
Tribalism isn’t the scourge it once was in the Australian military. Sure, they still have tribes, but they don’t go to war with each other as often. And the tribes have found better ways to …
Here’s one version of the creation story of Australia’s defence organisation and civil–military relations: God made heaven and earth, and on the sixth day, just before He rested, God made Arthur Tange. No, wait, that’s …
The Australian military spends years and effort to create the modern Canberra officer. Like many Defence building efforts, this one is complex with no real end point. With each generation, the requirements expand (and don’t …
On 17 March, Rear Admiral James Goldrick died in Canberra after a brave battle with illness. He was a naval officer of exceptional intellect and influence who became Australia’s most internationally acclaimed naval historian. Goldrick’s …
Australia, through its diverse communities, expansive geography and entrepreneurial spirit, maintains deep, yet often not well understood, regional connections beyond its borders. If we are to build on these connections, then Australia’s Department of Foreign …
It was Prime Minister Robert Menzies who told President Lyndon B. Johnson bluntly but accurately what the simple requirement happened to be for an effective US ambassador to Australia. The ambassador had to have the …