Insurgent Intellectual: Essays in Honour of Professor Desmond Ball

16. The defence of Australia

16 THE DEFENCE OF AUSTRALIA Ross Babbage and J. O. Langtry THE NEED FOR ORIGINAL RESEARCH Desmond Ball’s interest in the challenges of planning for the defence of Australia was triggered by the unusual circumstances of the early 1970s. Australian and American forces were completing their withdrawal from Vietnam, Washington was abandoning its military presence elsewhere in Southeast Asia and the principles of the Guam Doctrine made clear that United States involvement in Southeast Asia was undergoing fundamental change. The long-standing foundations of ‘forward defence’ strategy in Australian defence policy were crumbling and there was a need to develop a well-thought-out new approach that was robust and sustainable. Des Ball was familiar with the academic writings on Australian defence policy and planning from the previous decade authored by T.B. Millar, Max Teichman, Harry Gelber and others. However he realised that these earlier works did not address the fundamental challenges now confronting Australian defence policy. Des was also broadly aware, largely from ministerial statements and informal discussions with politicians and officials, that the Department of Defence was starting to give serious thought to the demands of focussing more strongly on what might be required for the direct defence of Australia with a higher level of self-reliance. 176 Ross Babbage and J. O. Langtry He realised that the core foundations of Australia’s future security would be determined during the next few years and that they were deserving of a great deal of deep analytical thought. When Des Ball was appointed as a research fellow in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC) in 1974, he found himself working alongside a kindred and energetic spirit in the Head of the Centre, Robert O’Neill. Unlike Ball, O’Neill brought a broader background to the defence of Australia agenda. He was a former Army officer who had served with distinction in Vietnam and who retained strong links into the Defence Force and the Defence Department. O’Neill also recognised the need for serious research intoAustralia’s future defence and broader security options and so together they started to conduct research in the field, stimulate discussion on relevant topics and build a small team that could work on key issues in a sustained manner. The emergence of a strong and energetic research team at the ANU working on many of the key issues then facing the senior leadership of the Defence Organisation received a mixed reception initially. Some senior officials were suspicious about academics researching the principles and options for defence policy. While they were used to academics debating the more general and conceptual dimensions of foreign relations, and describing defence issues in general terms, some felt that academics were simply ill-equipped to contribute to the practical issues of detailed defence planning and that they might confuse or mislead the public. There were also some concerns about potential breaches of national security. Above these concerns was a sense amongst a few senior officials that defence policy and planning was their prerogative and should not be shared with academics or with members of the public. These defensive bureaucratic responses were not, however, shared by the majority of those serving in the Defence Organisation. From early stages, senior military and some senior civilian officials were happy to engage in discussions on a wide range of contemporary issues. They clearly enjoyed and valued these interactions and, in particular, the opportunity to test aspects of new thinking and planning with informed outsiders. Des’ early work on the Defence of Australia soon attracted the attention of ministers and other politicians. In consequence, Ball and O’Neill were invited to brief senior politicians and parliamentary committees on a variety of topics. They also soon became regular presenters at the Defence Force’s Staff Colleges. The Defence of Australia 177 MODES OF OPERATION Des realised from the outset that the scale and complexity of the research that was needed on Defence of Australia issues would require much more than his own time and energies. In consequence he worked closely with O’Neill to build a strong team to work on these issues at the SDSC. An opportunity arose early in 1975 to invite a young civilian Defence official, Ross Babbage, to join the Centre to work on strategy and planning options for the defence of Australia. Des had first met Babbage at the University of Sydney in 1973 when he helped supervise...