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Who are we?
The Australia Defence Association (ADA) has long been Australia’s only
truly
independent, non-partisan, community-based, public-interest watchdog and ‘think-tank’ on defence and wider national
security issues.
Our public-interest oversight primarily focuses
on the Australian Defence Force
(ADF), the Department of Defence and Australia's six intelligence and
security agencies.
Commonly asked questions about the ADA are
answered in detail on our Frequently Asked Questions
page.
What do we do?
We seek to represent the long-term public interest in helping ensure Australia
is adequately defended.
What do we believe?
National defence is a universal civic responsibility of all Australians not
just, for example, current or former members of our defence force. At the
very least we all need to think about it seriously.
As a community-based, non-partisan, national public-interest guardian
organisation with a long-term and independent perspective, we
therefore seek the development and
implementation of national security structures, processes and policies
encompassing:
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an accountable, integrated
and flexible structure for making defence and wider national security decisions over the
long term;
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a practical and
effective balance between potentially competing needs for civil
liberties and community security;
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intellectually and
professionally robust means of
continually assessing Australia’s external strategic and domestic security
situations;
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the
sustained allocation of adequate national resources to all our defence and
wider national security
needs according
to such means (rather than tailoring supposed "assessments" to the funding
levels, bureaucratic fashions and partisan policies thought to be acceptable politically);
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integrated and
deterrent defence and national security strategies based on the protection
and support of
our enduring national interests;
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the development and
maintenance of an adequate defence force capable of executing the defence
aspects of such a national strategy; and
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the development and
maintenance of manufacturing and service industries capable of sustaining
defence force capability development and operations.
What do we
do to make it happen?
On a national basis we
undertake independent research, public education programs and public-interest advocacy:
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Comment on current or recent issues may
best be found on
our
Letters-to-the-Editor,
Opinion Articles,
Media Commentary or
Formal Comment,
pages.
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Further commentary
(and background information) can be found through our
Issues Index, or in our
quarterly national journal, Defender,
and our email
bulletin, Defence Brief.
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We
contribute informed commentary to public, academic and professional debates on a wide range of
defence and wider national security issues and encourage our members to do so as individual
citizens.
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Over the last three decades we have often been invited to make submissions
to parliamentary and official inquiries, especially those conducted by
all-party parliamentary oversight bodies such as the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
(JSCFADT)
and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS).
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Print, radio and
television media regularly consult with us when seeking research guidance,
long-term context, background detail or informed comment on strategic policy, defence, intelligence, domestic security,
international affairs and related
issues.
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We maintain liaison and informal co-operation
on international security and related matters with counterpart national public-interest guardian organisations, research institutes and scholars in 12 allied and
friendly countries across the Pacific basin.
Who are our members and supporters?
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ADA Membership
is open to all Australians
concerned about Australia's external defence, our internal security as a
national community and the
importance of
informed and effective public debate on defence and wider national security issues generally
(including a logical and practical balance between potentially
competing needs for community security and civil liberties).
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Our members include Australians from all
walks of life who have an intellectual and practical interest in
ensuring Australia is adequately defended and internally secure.
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We are a broadly community-based association
not an ex-Service organisation or a defence force representative body.
Being truly community-based, fewer than 25 per cent of
our members have ever served in our defence force, a police force or with
one of our intelligence and security agencies (although many have).
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More detail on these matters can be found on our
Frequently Asked Questions
page.
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