- The Australian military will recruit non-citizens of Five Eyes countries with permanent residence in Australia to increase troop numbers.
- This measure is aimed at strengthening the military against future blockades of trade routes, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
- The government's goal is to address the deficit and increase the Defense Force to 80,000 personnel by 2040.
The Australian military will begin recruiting some non-citizens in a bid to boost troop numbers, the government said on Tuesday.
Only people from other members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing association who have permanent residence in Australia will be eligible.
The move is part of an effort to build a military that can resist foreign coercion through blocked trade routes in the future, Defense Minister Richard Marles said.
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Marles, who is also deputy prime minister, said the change was an important step in addressing a 4,400-person shortfall in the Australian Defense Force, which is targeting 63,600 full-time troops. The government intends to increase that number to 80,000 by 2040.
Students climb a wall at the Recruit Training Unit course at the Royal Australian Air Force Base in Wagga, Australia, Feb. 23, 2024. The Australian military will begin recruiting some non-citizens in a bid to increase troop numbers, the government said Tuesday. (Australian Defense Force via AP)
Relatively low unemployment is one of the factors preventing the Australian military from attracting and retaining personnel.
Australia is particularly reliant on open air and sea routes as an island nation that trades with the world and is therefore suspected of suffering coercion from foreign militaries, Marles said.
“We are not trying to become peers of the United States or China,” Marles told delegates at a security conference. “To propose that is not credible.”
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“In a much less secure world, do we have the ability to resist the coercion of any adversary and make our way?” he added she.
New Zealanders who have lived in Australia for at least a year will be eligible to join the military from July, and permanent residents of the United States, Britain and Canada will be eligible from January 2025.
Five Eyes' Australian partners are also struggling to meet military recruitment targets. In Britain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised that 18-year-olds will have to undertake a year of compulsory military or civilian service if his government is re-elected in next month's election.
The New Zealand Defense Force is short 1,300 uniformed personnel, officials reported in February, after losing 30% of its military personnel between 2021 and last year.
New Zealand Defense Minister Judith Collins said Australia's criteria for recruiting New Zealanders, including a ban on those who had served in a foreign army in the last two years, meant the two armies would not compete for personnel.
“Australia is New Zealand's only ally and we continue to have a very close relationship,” Collins said in an email to The Associated Press in response to the new recruiting rules.
Australia has established a partnership with the United States and Britain that promises to create an Australian fleet of submarines powered by American nuclear technology.
China has protested the so-called AUKUS partnership and Australian plans to acquire the vessels.
Tensions between the two militaries in waters where China has contested territorial claims have been rising in recent months.
Marles said he had raised a recent standoff between the two militaries in a weekend meeting with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun.
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Australia has accused a Chinese fighter jet of endangering an Australian navy helicopter flying over the Yellow Sea by dropping flares in its path.
China accuses Australian aircrew of spying on nearby Chinese navy training exercise.
“It was a good meeting. It lasted longer than expected. It was very frank,” Marles said of her meeting with Dong on the sidelines of the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore.
The incident over the Yellow Sea followed another in international waters off Japan in November, in which Australia accused the crew of a Chinese destroyer of injuring an Australian diver with their sonar equipment. China denies hurting anyone.
“We know how to relate to each other on a safe and professional basis,” Marles said. “It's not enough that it happens only on the vast majority of occasions. It has to happen on all occasions.”
