For perspective: America has what’s known as the “Selective Service System” where it’s compulsory for every male citizen to register within a month of their 18th birthday for potential conscription. Now, Trump is considering on making the process automatic by December.
In their case, the current system works under mandatory registration which isn’t automated. Not only does it apply to citizens, but also residents, aslyum seekers and immigrants. Now, imagine the same thing happening in Australia, would it be supported or opposed?
Like this: the Australian government in Canberra refers from the database on where every Australian male possesses state photo ID, driver’s license or passport (all states and territories) by putting their name onto a draft lottery (the registration process for conscription has been automated).
It would mean, in some time: you can be called up by the ADF saying you have to serve when the circumstances deem it necessary (and failing to comply results in imprisonment) and they are not excluding male Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders from the draft (making it mandatory to serve).
You ask this like we don’t know the answer. We had the draft in living memory.
We need a proclamation of a call to war before parliament 90 days before it can be activated. The government needs parliamentary approval from both houses. All Australian residents 18-60 can be called up (not only men in the 21st century) but the government can call up a subset of this cohort (‘only men’, ‘only women with red hair’, ‘only residents of Bankstown’ or whatever ‘class’ they wish).
Then everyone loses their shit, we storm our politicians and threaten them with being the first to war or something if they even think of voting this in. It would be so wildly unpopular and I can’t see any government passing it.
It’s not something the PM or Governor General can unilaterally do. Hooray for checks on politicians in Australia.
What would happen if the PM enforces an automatic draft register in Australia towards all adult male citizens?
We’d tell him to get fucked, mate. And just for emphasis, we’d add, “Yeah, nah” before it.
Realistically, it would doom any political party that introduced it to the political wilderness, particularly nowadays.
‘For King and Country’ doesn’t wash anymore, so very few people here would approve our sons and daughters being sent off as cannon fodder for Charlie.
Nor does running to defend our ‘greatest ally’, given how Trump has been jamming his dick in our ears, demanding we like it, and getting shitty at us when he finds out we don’t.
I can’t think of a war we’ve been involved in since WWII where we rushed off to help GB or the US to counter an invasion force, to defend our shores (or those of our allies). Since then, the reasons have been dubious - even outright fraudulent - like ‘they have weapons of mass destruction!’
Previous generations have experienced things they don’t want their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to experience. Us common folk now also have more access to footage of what happens in wars. And access to information showing how poorly treated veterans of war are treated by western governments when (if) they return.
So … yeah, nah.
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Useful summary of the last time we had conscription and the opposition movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Australia#Vietnam_War
Also: haha
In 1969 the Gorton administration was severely embarrassed by a renowned This Day Tonight story in which a conscientious objector, who had been on the run from police for several months, was interviewed live in the studio by the journalist Richard Carleton, who then posed awkward questions to the Army Minister about why TDT had been able to locate the man within hours and bring him to the studio when the federal police had been unable to capture him, and the event was made even more embarrassing for the government because the man was able to leave the studio before the police had arrived to arrest him.
As a middle aged mother. I would rather I go to war than my child. I would also rather go to prison than to war in the middle east.
This would only fly if there was an active war in Australia or maybe NZ ?
Probably be a few more of us volunteer if there was war here, right now its yeah nah get fucked.
I’d be OK with PNG and probably a bunch of our close island nation friends too.
I have some colleagues from Singapore, and from what I’ve heard, they have to do something similar there.
The weird thing to me in the US is that they’re making the enrollment for Selective Service automatic, but they can’t make enrollment for voting automatic. 🤔
Yes, Singapore has national service. Male (note the inherent sexism) citizens and second gen PRs are required to perform 2 years of service in the armed forces, police, or civil defence (ambos, firies, etc). I have one kid in service and another about to.
Priorities
Considering we haven’t used conscription for over 50 years, and each time after WW2 it’s been highly controversial, and that Australia has no active war… I think this begs the question why the fuck would a politician do that, except to commit political suicide?
Last time I looked the laws (long time now, but I think I’d have heard) from the Vietman war haven’t been repealed, so lottery by birthdate of male citizens again?
No
