What\u2019s wrong with National Service? Nothing.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the name that\u2019s the problem\u2026<\/p>\n
Mention \u2018National Service\u2019 to anyone over fifty and you\u2019ll receive exactly the same reaction.\u00a0Vietnam.\u00a0Birthday ballots.\u00a0Young men desperately hoping their number never came up.\u00a0Political leaders who seemed more interested in pleasing Washington than listening to Australians.<\/p>\n
Poorly trained conscripts being sent into an unpopular war\u2026<\/p>\n
For many Australians, National Service is remembered not as nation building, but as political failure wearing camouflage.<\/p>\n
Understandably so.<\/p>\n
But what if we\u2019ve been throwing away a good idea because of one disastrous execution?<\/p>\n
My son is eighteen.\u00a0He wanted to join the Australian Defence Force, like his Father, Uncle and other Family before him.\u00a0He wasn\u2019t pushed.\u00a0He wasn\u2019t persuaded.\u00a0He wanted to serve.<\/p>\n
He wanted to sign that unwritten contract every serviceman and woman understands:<\/p>\n
\u2018Dear Australia. Do with me what you will.\u2019<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, circumstances beyond his control meant he was medically unsuitable for military service.\u00a0That was disappointing. Not only for him but for me as a Veteran. I knew the adventures and fun he was about to embark on and now unfortunately misses out on.<\/p>\n
But it also made me ask a question.\u00a0Why is military service the only recognised form of national service?\u00a0Surely defending a nation isn\u2019t limited to carrying a rifle.<\/p>\n
A hospital orderly serves Australia.\u00a0A teacher\u2019s aide serves Australia.\u00a0A volunteer firefighter serves Australia.\u00a0A park ranger serves Australia.\u00a0An aged-care worker serves Australia.\u00a0The young woman helping Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land is serving Australia just as surely as the sailor patrolling the Timor Sea.<\/p>\n
One protects the nation from enemies.<\/p>\n
The other strengthens the nation from within.<\/p>\n
Both matter.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it\u2019s time we stopped thinking about National Service as military conscription and started thinking about it as civic duty.<\/p>\n
Imagine every Australian leaving school knowing that before university, before apprenticeships, before careers, they would spend two years contributing to the country that raised them.<\/p>\n
Not marching through jungles.\u00a0Building Australia.\u00a0Working in hospitals.\u00a0Helping disability services.\u00a0Supporting remote Indigenous communities.\u00a0Assisting emergency services.\u00a0Restoring national parks.\u00a0Maintaining local infrastructure.\u00a0Helping councils.\u00a0Supporting schools.\u00a0Working alongside aged-care providers.\u00a0Learning how Australia actually functions.<\/p>\n
The military would still play a role, but not because everyone needs to become a soldier.\u00a0Because nobody organises people better than the Australian Defence Force.<\/p>\n
Anyone who has spent time around the military knows that discipline, punctuality, accountability and teamwork are not optional extras.\u00a0They\u2019re habits.<\/p>\n
Imagine creating a fourth arm of national service.<\/p>\n
Not Navy.\u00a0Not Army.\u00a0Not Air Force.<\/p>\n
A National Service Corps.<\/p>\n
Its mission would not be preparing Australians for war.<\/p>\n
Its mission would be preparing Australians for citizenship.<\/p>\n
The discipline would remain.\u00a0The uniforms would remain.\u00a0The expectations would remain.\u00a0The objective would change.\u00a0Instead of producing infantrymen, we\u2019d produce capable adults.<\/p>\n
Of course there would be incentives.<\/p>\n
Pay them properly.\u00a0Provide accommodation.\u00a0Feed them well.\u00a0Complete two years of service and your HECS debt disappears. Maybe.\u00a0Want to study medicine?\u00a0Excellent.\u00a0Spend your national service working in hospitals before entering university.\u00a0By the time you become a doctor you\u2019ll understand how hospitals actually function, not simply from the operating theatre but from the laundry, wards, administration and patient transport.<\/p>\n
The same applies to nursing.\u00a0Radiography.\u00a0Allied health. Engineering.\u00a0Construction.\u00a0Teaching.\u00a0Imagine future teachers spending two years working in classrooms before they ever stand in front of one.\u00a0Perhaps then we\u2019d begin treating teachers as they deserve to be treated.\u00a0Not as an expense. As the architects of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n
If teachers shape every profession that follows, why aren\u2019t they among our highest-paid professionals?<\/p>\n
Why shouldn\u2019t teaching degrees be fully funded?<\/p>\n
Why shouldn\u2019t our best students compete fiercely for teaching places?<\/p>\n
If education is truly our future, our schools should be our finest public buildings, not afterthoughts squeezed into state budgets.<\/p>\n
National Service becomes the bridge between education and adulthood.<\/p>\n
Not a punishment. Not forced labour.\u00a0A finishing school for citizenship.\u00a0Naturally there will be objections.<\/p>\n
Some will call it authoritarian.\u00a0Others will compare it to conscription.\u00a0Someone, inevitably, will invoke slavery before the ink has dried.\u00a0The same criticisms greet almost every idea requiring citizens to place obligations alongside rights.<\/p>\n
Yet we\u2019ve somehow accepted that 18-year-olds can borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars, vote for governments, drink themselves unconscious and sign mortgage contracts.\u00a0But asking them to contribute two years to the nation that educated them, fed them, clothed them, invested in them?<\/p>\n
Apparently, that\u2019s outrageous.<\/p>\n
Countries with compulsory national service, whether military or civilian, often report stronger civic participation, lower youth unemployment, and higher levels of social cohesion than many comparable nations. Their systems differ substantially, and outcomes depend on culture and implementation, but they demonstrate that structured national service can be more than simply preparing for war.<\/p>\n
Australia doesn\u2019t need to copy another country\u2019s model.\u00a0We should build one that suits us.\u00a0One that strengthens regional Australia.\u00a0One that fills chronic workforce shortages.\u00a0One that develops practical skills.\u00a0One that creates friendships across class, postcode and politics.\u00a0One that reminds us that citizenship is more than possessing an Australian passport.\u00a0It means belonging to something larger than yourself.<\/p>\n
Perhaps some people will discover that their calling is in that National Service Corps.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they\u2019ll stay.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they\u2019ll spend their lives serving Australians.<\/p>\n
There is no shame in that.<\/p>\n
There is honour in every honest job that strengthens the country.<\/p>\n
The ANZAC spirit was never really about war.\u00a0It was about service.\u00a0About putting the nation ahead of yourself.\u00a0About the quiet understanding that if everyone carries a little of the burden, no one carries it alone.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that\u2019s the lesson we\u2019ve forgotten.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve spent decades arguing about what Australia owes its citizens.\u00a0Maybe it\u2019s time we also asked what citizens owe Australia.\u00a0Because nations aren\u2019t built by governments.\u00a0They\u2019re built by people who decide they\u2019re worth building. I wonder do we have any leaders left with the ability to build this Nation again, the ones we have seem content presiding over a ruin of ashes and the tears of our forebears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s wrong with National Service? Nothing. It\u2019s the name that\u2019s the problem\u2026 Mention \u2018National Service\u2019 to anyone over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,9616,44],"class_list":["post-799609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-flat-white","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}