Defence diplomacy
the defence White paper 2013 speaks of new opportunities for Australian activities with regional countries to build regional cooperation and capacity. this report puts forward some recommendations to take advantage of those opportunities, including making more use of the Bradshaw field training Centre and providing new opportunities for regional defence forces to exercise in Australia.
to bring increased focus to regional defence engagement at the operational and tactical levels and to coordinate activities, an Australian defence Regional engagement Centre should be established in darwin or at RAAf tindal
under the Chief of Joint operations and plans. putting the centre there would exploit darwin’s proximity to the region and to the main exercise areas in northern Australia, as well as building on the success of exercises, such as pitch Black and Kakadu, conducted out of darwin.
the roles of the Australian defence Regional engagement Centre would be to:
• promote regional interoperability, capabilities, operational experience and habits of working together in a multinational environment
• share doctrinal development for joint and combined operations to help build the capacity of regional defence forces for such operations
• provide a professional centre of excellence to bring leaders of regional defence forces together for regular symposiums to exchange views, doctrinal best practice and information
• have oversight of Australia’s military exercise program with regional countries
• provide networking opportunities for regional military and civilian defence personnel.
the centre would become the key place to go for professional military interaction in the region. if the uS and Australian governments wish, it could also be used to help integrate rotating uS marine deployments into the regional security architecture.
the staff of the centre would include Adf officers and liaison officers from the regional defence forces in Southeast Asia and the South pacific. models for the centre include Singapore’s information fusion Centre with its regional liaison officers and the Jakarta Centre for Law enforcement Cooperation.
the centre would build on and continue the invaluable contribution made to interoperability experience gained from the now‑concluded military element of RAmSi. ultimately it might develop the doctrinal basis for a pacific‑focused rapid reaction force. this would be consistent with a longstanding desire of several important pacific countries to form a standing regional emergency response force.
Defence Cooperation Scholarships
table 3 (see Appendix) shows the universities and postgraduate programs used by foreign students with defence Cooperation Scholarships in Australia in 2012 and 2013. the 70 officers with the scholarships took a wide variety of courses. the most popular courses were the master of maritime policy (10 students) and master of Science (Logistics) (7 students) at the university of Wollongong and the master of policing, intelligence and Counter‑terrorism at macquarie university (7 students).
Seventy‑five defence Cooperation Scholarships are to be offered in 2014, with the most going to pakistan (15), thailand (13) and vietnam (12), but only four to indonesia. the low number for indonesia is explained by the concern that the return from the scholarships was low because they were being taken up by officers with english language skills rather than by ‘high‑flying’ officers. the same concern might well apply in vietnam and thailand, although there’s no evidence that it’s been considered.
it’s understood that there’s no dCp‑approved list of courses that are recommended for defence scholarships.
it seems largely a matter of the individual officer selecting a course and putting their application through their own service and the Australian defence attaché’s application process. proven english language skills are an essential prerequisite.
despite being the ‘defence university’, the university of nSW at the Australian defence force Academy has had no defence scholarship graduate students in recent years from among regional military officers. this is because its defence studies programs are now offered only online. this is an unattractive medium for overseas students:
it denies them the interpersonal contacts that are the key benefit from studying in Australia.
the defence Cooperation Scholarship program offers financial support to help students successfully complete their academic studies, including study and living costs. it’s an expensive program, and it’s not clear that we’re getting full value from it. Although defence has recently called for tenders to engage a professional service provider to coordinate the program, along with providing administration for other foreign officers taking staff courses or doing undergraduate training in Australia, the program should be reviewed.18
Think tanks
there’s a clear value in supporting strategic dialogue at the track 2 level with increased liaison between regional strategic and defence think‑tanks. the dCp could also support the attendance of regional officers as visiting fellows at the Sea power Centre, Land Warfare Studies Centre and Air power Centre.
Australian Civil‑military Centre
one of the Australian Civil‑military Centre’s roles is to work with regional and international counterparts to build Australian civil–military capability and to promote Australian capacity to prevent, prepare for and respond more effectively to disasters and conflicts overseas.
the centre’s focus is on improving Australian capacity to cooperate in an international, multiagency environment rather than seeking to influence how other countries manage their own civil–military–police relationships.
But building understanding of how we do it is important to both Australia and the region. the Australian Civil‑military Centre’s network of engagements through international and regional organisations, collaborative research, joint policy coordination and workshops will be important.
nurturing the young
Along with attention to the longer term benefits of interpersonal relations, more attention could be paid to identifying and helping the region’s future military leaders. As a means of identifying young leaders, we could select the top graduates of military staff colleges in the region each year for a guided tour of Australia and major defence facilities. the Colin east Awards are already in place for this purpose with indonesia, but the idea could be extended to other regional countries. this would be broadly similar to dfAt’s special visitors’ program.
Recommendation: A defence special visitors’ program should be established to bring upwardly mobile staff college graduates and others to Australia for short‑term organised visits.
Alumni associations
Australian defence alumni associations have now been established in indonesia and malaysia to help strengthen defence relationships. they provide a framework for enhancing the professional and personal relationships that have developed between members, and former members, of the respective defence organisations. membership is open to military and defence civilians who have trained in, been posted to, or participated in, an exchange in Australia. membership is also open to personnel from the Australian defence organisation with similar experience in the other country. As an indication of the size of the applicant pool, the Australian Command and Staff Course for majors (and equivalents), for example, would normally host around 175 members, with about 45 overseas personnel each year.
the defence Alumni network set up by the Australian defence College already provides an effective forum for Australian defence College graduates to stay connected, share knowledge and promote the achievement of excellence in professional military education. the defence Alumni network portal is now being extended to include graduates of courses for foreign students conducted elsewhere, including at the Australian defence force Academy and other Australian defence College learning centres, such as the School of Languages and the defence international training Centre.
Recommendation: in addition to the existing arrangements in indonesia and malaysia, Australian defence alumni associations should be organised in countries where there are significant numbers of Australian alumni, such as thailand, the philippines and vietnam.
Language training
the Australian defence force Academy offers only one Asian language for undergraduates: Bahasa indonesia.
there are currently around 50 students taking indonesian as a major.
the Australia in the Asian Century White paper recommended that all Australian students have the opportunity to take a continuous course of study in an Asian language throughout their years of schooling and that all students have access to at least one priority Asian language. the priority languages are Chinese (mandarin), Hindi, indonesian and Japanese (Australian Government 2012:16).