Fifth International Defence and Security Dialogue
Friday, 27 June 2025
Parliament House Theatrette, Sydney
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, Governor of New South Wales
Thank you, Colonel Turner, [1]
I acknowledge the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather and pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and future. I extend that respect to Elders of all parts of our country from which you travel.
Major General Irving,[2] the Member for Terrigal,[3] Lieutenant General Fox,[4] Major General Burr,[5] Professor Leahy,[6] members of the Australian Defence Force past and present, Board and members of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, distinguished guests, friends all,
The United Service Institution of New South Wales was formed in 1888, with Major General John Soame Richardson, Commandant of the Military Forces of New South Wales as its first President and my predecessor Lord Carrington, 16th Governor of NSW, as its first Patron.[7]
It was inspired by, and formed along the lines of, the United Service Institution in London—founded by the Duke of Wellington and a “veritable roll-call of […] [officers from] the Battle of Waterloo” in 1831, with King William IV as Patron.[8] As a pioneering defence ‘thinktank’—to use the modern parlance, it quickly became the “primary platform for debates in the field of defence and technological innovation”[9] during the 19th century, a primacy it still holds today.
Its importance, as well as its ability to keep step with contemporary developments in all things military, is well illustrated by any survey of Australian newspapers of the period. Hence, for instance, in 1888, the year the NSW Institute’s foundation, the many inches of column space in NSW newspapers, metropolitan and regional, devoted to reporting on, and discussing, a recent lecture delivered to Royal United Service Institution members in London titled “Machine Guns, Their Tactics and Equipment”.[10]
Back to the NSW Institution, Major General Richardson remarked during his inaugural address at a meeting held on the 3rd of January 1889, that its foundation marked “a very important step in the history of the Defence Forces of New South Wales.”[11]
He also outlined the “main object [of the new body to be] “the higher professional education of officers, and as a corollary the maintenance of the forces in such a state of efficiency and preparation as would in an emergency bear the strain of war.”[12]
That corollary, voiced 136 years ago, bears for all in this room today, I am sure, particular resonance.
As primarily a mechanism for professional development of military officers, membership to the United Service Institution of NSW was initially restricted to commissioned officers.[13]
These educative aims were proposed to be facilitated through “a Library, containing historical, scientific and professional works; a Topographical Room, with maps, charts and plans; a Museum for objects illustrative of the progress of military and naval art among all nations; and the reading of papers and discussion on professional subjects.”[14]
Soon after, Institutes formed in other Australian colonies—Victoria and Queensland in 1890 and 1892—and, following Federation, the States—Western Australia in 1902, South Australia in 1904, and Tasmania in 1924[15].
In 1973, the separate state-based United Service Institutions federated to form the United Services Institute of Australia, which was granted permission to use the prefix ‘Royal’ in 1979. The NSW body was granted the same permission in 1990, with the other states receiving similar permission soon after.[16]
Over the years, the various Institutes have broadened the scope both of their membership, as well as their audience. No longer with an aim focused on the provision of professional development for military officers, the Institutes now act as independent, apolitical, public education associations promoting informed debate and public awareness of defence and national security.
What has not changed, however, is the emphasis on issues of the day of particular importance to national defence and security.
In 2011, the Royal United Services Institute of NSW initiated a biennial series of International Defence and Security Dialogues. To date, four have been held. The first focused on the global security outlook, the second, in 2013, on the strategic outlook in Australia’s immediate neighbourhood, and the third, in 2015, on Australian and Indonesian regional security. Two years ago, I was privileged to open the Fourth Dialogue, ‘Managing Strategic Tensions in the Indo-Pacific Region,’ much of which drew on the recalibrations of strategic thinking implicit in the just-published 2023 National Defence Strategic Review.
This year’s theme ‘Recruit and Retain—Challenges in Sustaining a Defence Force in a Modern Democracy’ is again a timely and pertinent topic for discussion.
As Australia’s Ministers for Defence and Defence Personnel, Richard Marles[17] and Matt Keogh,[18] made clear in the foreword to last year’s Defence Workforce Plan 2024-2034, and I quote here, “The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is experiencing a crisis in recruitment and retention.”[19]
According to last year’s Defence Annual Report, in the years 2023–24, a total 5,297 members entered the permanent ADF workforce.[20] Marking a drop of 247 recruits compared to the previous year, this intake reached only 66% of the 2023–24 target.[21]
On the retention front, there was better news, with a lowering of separations from the ADF permanent Force on a year-on-year basis[22], but “not enough to make up for the shortfall in enlistments.”[23]
Not that much of this is new; the ADF has struggled to meet its recruitment and retention targets for many years.
With the current accelerated rate of change in the geo-political strategic environment, of which we are all uncomfortably aware, it is an issue that is becoming only more pressing and urgent.
A strong, sovereign Australian Defence Force with an integrated defence industry is central to our national security.
Amongst the challenges to recruitment and to retention currently is a highly competitive national labour market and low levels of unemployment.
ADF is also in a critical catch-up phase following a period of lower levels of recruitment, and I might add here, less emphasis during that period on cadets. This of course is changing, cadet numbers are up and there are other initiatives, including the gap year, and greater support for new recruits, all of which will make a mark, but don’t fully answer the need for a more immediate uplift in recruitment.
In outlining the ‘lines of effort’ required to ensure not only that our Defence Force has enough people to execute the vital responsibilities it is entrusted with, but also that those people have the right skills, or capacity to learn these, the Defence Workforce Plan identifies the following aims:
- stabilise the numbers of ADF members before 2026 by bringing the inflow into balance with the outflow of members leaving the permanent force
- remediate the necessary depth of ADF members in junior and middle ranks by 2030, especially in the employment categories identified as ‘critical’ and ‘at risk’
- and grow the size of the ADF’s permanent force to 69,000 by the early 2030s,[24]
To do all three, it states, inflow into the permanent ADF workforce “must increase from approximately 5,500 per annum to 9,000 per annum over the coming decade. In parallel, the median length of permanent ADF service must increase from around 7 years to around 12 years.”[25]
These are bold and ambitious goals, requiring bold but considered transformation of the way we might think about recruitment and retention in the ADF, as well as the practical details of how programs are implemented.
In terms of practicalities, this has already included widening eligibility criteria, improving processes to enable faster recruiting, and implementing better retention initiatives.[26]
There remains, however, much still to be done.
I congratulate the Royal United Services Institute of Australia and NSW for co-facilitating today’s Dialogue on a topic of vital importance to our national interest.
You have assembled a comprehensive and formidable array of speakers and panellists, including those offering an international perspective[27]
To all participants today, I offer the warmest of thanks for your expertise, clear-sighted analysis, and informed discussion, as well as the considered reflection it will undoubtedly provoke.
It gives me great delight, then, as Patron of the Royal United Services Institute NSW, to formally declare the Fifth International Defence and Security Dialogue ‘Recruit and Retain—Challenges in Sustaining a Defence Force in a Modern Democracy’ now officially open.
[1] Colonel Kim Turner RFD (Retd), President, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, New South Wales.
[2] Major General Paul Irving AM PSM RFD (Retd), President, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Australia
[3] Mr Adam Crouch MP, Member for Terrigal, Parliament of NSW
[4] Lieutenant General Natasha Fox AM, Chief of Personnel, Australian Defence Force
[5] Major General Matthew Burr AM, Commander 2nd Australian Division, Australian Army, and Vice Patron, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies NSW
[6] Lieutenant General Professor Peter Leahy AC (Retd), Director, National Security Institute Canberra University
[7] ‘Brief History’, RUSI NSW website, available here
[8] ibid
[9] ‘A History of RUSI’, RUSI [UK] website, available here
[10] For instance, ‘Lieutenant Benson, RA, On Machine Guns’, The Yarrawonga Mercury and Mulwala News, 26 January 1888, p.8, available here
[11] ‘United Service Institution’, Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 1889, p.3, available here
[12] ibid
[13] ‘Brief History’, RUSI NSW website, available here
[14] Rules of the United Service Institution of NSW 1889, quoted in Australasian Naval & Military Annual, Angus and Roberts, 1911-12, p.132.
[15] ‘About Us’, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Australia website, available here
[16] ‘About Us’, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Australia website, available here
[17] The Hon. Richard Marles MP, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence
[18] The Hon. Matt Keogh MP, Minister for Veteran’s Affairs and Minister for Defence Personnel
[19] The Hon. Richard Marles and the Hon. Matt Keogh, ‘Ministerial Foreword’, Defence Workforce Plan 2024-2034, available here, p.4.
[20] Of those, 1,184 entrants (22%) had prior military service in the Reserves through the ADF Gap Year program, in another country or through previous permanent force service; 4,113 (78%) had no former military service: Defence Annual Report 2023-24, available here, p.108
[21] “This [recruit intake] was 247 less than in 2022–23”: ibid
[22] Down from 11% to 9.5%: ibid
[23] ibid
[24] Defence Workforce Plan 2024-2034, available here, p.10
[25] ibid
[26] ibid, p.8
[27] Mr. Paul O’Neill, Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies [UK], and Ms Camilla Haugland Fischer, Senior Adviser for Personnel and Competency, Norwegian Ministry of Defence.