A new report suggests that the Australian Defence Force should create a Pacific battalion with Australian and Pacific troops to strengthen regional ties and address staffing issues. The government is also urged to allow the direct recruitment of Pacific Islanders into the ADF, potentially overturning the requirement of Australian citizenship. This move is being considered to meet recruitment goals and alleviate concerns about poaching staff from other Pacific countries.
The Australian Defence Force should consider establishing a Pacific battalion with rotating Australian and Pacific troops to help boost regional ties and address the military’s staffing crisis , a new report has argued.
Several Pacific countries – including Nauru, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Solomon Islands – do not have formal militaries, reducing concerns about Australia poaching staff from other nations’ defence forces. A better option may be the creation of a Pacific battalion that could be stationed and deployed across the region, with a focus on maritime security, national resilience and humanitarian and disaster response.that “we are certainly looking at all options that we need to look at in terms of how we can grow our Defence Force and that includes looking at how we might be able to grow it from friendly forces”.
“One thing is certain: Australia needs to develop more creative and bold recruitment and retention strategies,” authors Bec Shrimpton and Zach Lambert argue in the paper, Britain’s armed forces have long recruited soldiers from other countries, including Nepal and Fiji, as well as from nations in Africa and the Caribbean.The battalion could be raised as a combined force with a rotating mix of Australian and Pacific Island officers, including soldiers from other like-minded countries, or police and paramilitary forces from those countries without militaries.
Australian Defence Force Pacific Battalion Regional Ties Staffing Crisis Recruitment Pacific Islanders Australian Citizenship Direct Recruitment Military Pacific Countries
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