Australia Defence Policy - Essay Example

Australia Defence Policy Name Institution Date Introduction The Australia defence policy has undergone a lot of changes since the formation of the security organs. Major changes have been experienced since 1945. The changes are mainly attributed to the experience of the country after engaging in various conflicts. It is also important to note that Australia has been involved in almost all the major conflicts in the world since 1945 (Dowding, et al, 2010). The involvement of Australia in the conflicts is due to the policies that had been put in place at the time of the conflict. The policies are guided by the political factors in the country during the time of conflict. The public have also contributed to the formation of policies that govern the security of the country. However, the main aim of the security policies in Australia is for the purposes of defending the country against foreign attacks and any other internal threats within the country. The interpretation of this objective is also a factor that has contributed to the development of different policies with regard to security policies. Since 1945, the Australian defence policies are divided into two eras; the forward defense era and the defence of Australia era. It is important to note that these two eras do not describe the evolution of the Australian defence policies. However, these two strategic policies are useful in terms of evaluating the present challenges facing Australia defence policies. The paper thus discusses the Australian defence policies in relation to the two eras. Forward defence era The forward defence policy era involved strategies and policies that were used until the late 1970s. Under this policy, the defence strategy of the country mainly involved supporting the actions of the allies in terms of dealing with the foreign threats. This era saw Australia deploying its troops to other countries that were facing conflicts. The purpose of the deployment was to support its allies to fight against the perceived terrorists or enemies. Through this measure, it was mainly believed that fighting the enemies wherever they were would ensure that they are weakened and hence preventing them from attacking Australia. The policies saw Australia supporting the United States in the Vietnam War which was fought for years. Australia was also engaged in other conflicts in the pacific countries. This is because it thought that the instability in the region will spill over to Australia and hence threatening the security of the country. During this ear, the Australian security personnel were mainly trained to respond to the deployments in other countries where it deem necessary. The forward defence ear was thus marked with a lot of deployment of Australian troops in Asia and the pacific. However criticism to the policy resulted to the changes in the defence policies. The cooperation with allied forces to counter threats was also changed after the allies developed new strategies. After the British and the United states who were the main allies started developing their own policies, the era of forward defence suffered a set back and hence ushering in a new era (Hartley, 2012). Defence of Australia era According to the security analysts in Australia, this era began in the late 1970s to date. This was after the forward defence era ended and hence ushering in the new era which had different policies. During the earlier times of the era, the new policies led to the restructuring of the military in Australia. The restructuring led to the development of the Australian Defence Force that is comprised of the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air force. The main strategies put in place were to strengthen the military capabilities to prevent direct attacks in the Australia soil. The Military was strengthened so as to enable it to strike the enemy forces within the Australia bases. This also led to the increase in the number of units in Northern Australia. This is because a chance of attack is mainly from the North of Australia. The strategies in this era were to ensure that the deployment of the military in combat zones outside the country was minimized. Reserve units were also established so as to deal with the issues of strengthening the capacity of the military. The number of military personnel was also to be increased so as to meet the security demands. Most of the policies were formed during the beginning of the era. However, changes were made to the strategies in 1997 so as to enable the strategies to be more effective. However, it is also important to note that the era has been faced with a lot of challenges leading to criticism (Markowski, et al, 2009). Why the eras do not correctly describe the evolution of Australia strategic policy The forward era was mainly involved with the cooperation with the allied forces to counter the threats of the enemies. However, during this era, the country was not actively involved with the conflicts with the allied forces in countering the threats. The major conflict that Australia was involved in during the era was the Vietnam conflict. However, it is important to note that the involvement of Australia led to a lot of public protest. This is because the conflict in Vietnam did not pose a serious security threat to Australia. On the other hand, despite the policy, the country continued strengthening its internal capacity. During the era, several units were also established and positioned in various parts of Australia. It is for this reason that the era does not correctly describe the evolution of Australia strategic policy. Most of the policies used during the forward era were also use during the Defence of Australia era. It is also important to note that the number of Australian troops has decreased in the defence for Australia era as compared to the forward era. This should not have happened as strengthening the internal capabilities also includes increasing the number of troops in the Australian soil. On the other hand, it is also important to note that the country was not able to achieve target of countering the threats where they were stationed. This is due to the public opinion and criticisms after the Vietnam War which resulted to casualties. The restructuring of the military is thus the only change that occurred due to the change in strategies (Cook, et al, 2011). The strategies during the defence of Australia era were aimed at minimizing the deployment of the Australian troops to combat zones in other countries. The main focus of the strategy was to ensure that Australia fully concentrates on securing its borders and hence eliminating the need for countering the enemies in their location. However, this has not happened to date. This is because the country has even been engaged in more foreign missions as compared to the forward eras whereby the strategies supported such actions. In 1987, the military was involved in Fiji in the operations called operations Morris Dance (Pietsch, et al, 2010). This was after a coup and the leadership of the country feared that the problem could spill over to Australia and hence affecting its security. This was thus aimed at countering the enemies on their soil. Soon after, the country was also involved in the Gulf war and it was also engaged in active combat during the mission. The Royal navy during the time also participated in the enforcement of trade sanctions against Iraq which was done by frequent patrols in the Persian Gulf. These missions were a continuation of the forward era policies which required the country to counter the enemies in their own bases. The country has also contributed to hundreds of troops in the peace keeping missions allover the world. In some of the peace keeping missions, the military experienced hostility. It is also important to note that the military has always been deployed for peace keeping missions in countries it considers hostile (Tubilewicz, 2010). Australia was also actively involved in the conflicts in East Timor in 1999. A high number of troops was deployed in East Timor and was actively involved in the conflict. The number of troops was also high and could only be compared to that sent to Vietnam. This is also an indication that the era does not correctly describe the evolution of Australian policies in terms of security. In the recent past, the country was also involved in the conflicts in Afghanistan after the September 11 terrorists attack in the United States of America. The military played an important role in supporting the actions of the allied forces including logistical support (Beeson, 2013). During the invasion of Iraq by the United States of America, the country contributed troops. This is despite the fact that Iraq did not pose any threat to Australia. The ties with the allied forces have also been strengthened during this era as compared to the past. This has led to the joint military exercise being carried out between the United States of America and the Australian Defence Force. The Australian Defence Force is also part of the ANZUS alliance which is comprised of different countries including the United States of America. This is an indication that the country is more focused on the foreign missions in the present era that any other time. This therefore contradicts the policies associated with the policies. The Australian Defence policy was also supposed to strengthen the logistics of the military but this was not the case as the military faced logistical problems during the conflicts in East Timor (Banks, 2011). The eras as prisms for analyzing the challenges being faced by the defence policy The eras can be used as prisms for analyzing the problems that has faced the defence policy. This is because the problems facing the military occurred in either of the eras and hence affecting the performance of the country in terms of security and defence. During the Australian Defence policy era, the military has been faced with a lot of problems as compared to the forward defence. This is due to the policies in place which has direct impacts operations of the military. The logistics problem is one of the challenges that faced the military during the era of Australian defence policy. The policies of the era were mainly focused in building the internal capacity of the military (Maddison, et al, 2013). However, some of the factors were overlooked during the policies. The issues of logistics in case of sudden deployment or threats were overlooked. It is for this reason that the country experienced a lot of logistics problems during its operations in East Timor. Although the problem was later solved, it highlighted how the policies at the era reflect on the challenges facing the military. On the other hand, the problem could still arise as some of the policies of the era still remain the same. The future deployments could suffer the same problems as the country has not been involved in any major deployments in the recent past. It is this evident that the eras may not represent the policies put in place but can be used to analyze the challenges facing the current defence policy. The current defence policies are also facing challenges due to the fact that it did not put into considerations the emerging trends in relations to security challenges. The issue of number of personnel is facing the military as the number is drastically reducing. The country may also face difficulties in future as most of the people are aging and the number of new recruits is decreasing. The number of recruits was also decreased during this era. This is because the policy assumed that since the country will not be actively deploying its military in the war zones, there was no need for increasing the number of troops. It is also for this reason that the country has more number of reserves. The country cannot rely on the reserve units as they will require training before any active engagement or deployment. This means that the capabilities of the military to respond to emergencies are not good. The era is an important prism for analyzing the policies of the current defence policies. On the other hand, it is also important to note that the policies during the forward defence era ensured that the country has adequate number of troops to deal with the threats in foreign countries. Although the government tried to change some of the policies in 1996, it had little impact as the country is still experiencing the same problems due to some of the policies that are still in place (Smith, 2009). This is also an indication that the era is directly related to the defence challenges being faced by the country. The geopolitical conditions have become less stable since the end of the cold war. This is one of the challenges that are facing most of the countries. However, due to Australia’s defence policy, the military may not be able to cope with such conditions. This has the potential of affecting the performance of the country due to the policies that are in place. On the other hand, it is also important to note that capabilities of the country in terms of responding to foreign threats have also decreased. This means that the country may find it difficult to counter threats in foreign lands. The current defence policies have also put more focus in dealing with direct attacks in the Australian soil. This policy has also contributed to the poor capabilities of the country in terms of dealing with the foreign threats. The policies in the current era have placed a lot of emphasis in the training of security personnel to counter the direct threats unlike the past era where training was mainly conducted with a view of responding to the threats in the foreign countries. On the other hand, it is important to note that the security threats in the modern times have changes and cannot be compared to the past. The advancement in technology has made it easy for terrorists to launch attacks using sophisticated methods. Since the policies have not changed in the defence era, the country may easily be attacked. The funding of the security agencies is also a challenge in the defence era. This has a direct impact on the operations, recruitment and training of the security personnel (Paull, et al, 2010). Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the policies put in place to counter threats in Australia have changed with time. It is however evident that the policies do not reflect what was happening on the ground in relation to the security issues. The policies that were used during the forward defence era were not a reflection of the security threats facing Australia. It is also evident that the policies at the time were for the purposes of ensuring that the threats are countered before they strike Australia. However, it is evident that the era saw the country engaging in conflicts that did not pose much threat to the country. On the other hand, the era of the defence policy has been faced with a lot of challenges. This is attributed by the failure of the country from changing some of the policies. It is also evident that the country has been engaged in more external conflicts as compared to the forward defence policy. This is despite the main objectives of the policies being reducing the involvement in foreign policies. The defence policy has also been met by multiple challenges. Reduction in the number of military personnel is one of the challenges that are attributed to the policy. On the other hand, the capacity of the country to deal with the foreign threats has greatly reduced. It is thus evident that the policies require some adjustments for the purposes of responding to the security threats that could impact negatively on the country. It is thus evident that the eras do not correctly describe the evolution of the policies in Australia in relation to defence. 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