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Recent Media
Programs and Interviews
The ADA is often asked for informed commentary on current
defence and wider national security issues.
This page provides links to
transcripts, audio archives or podcasts from recent discussion programs
and on-line opinion fora featuring more detailed instances of ADA input. Detail on podcasting
software can be found at:
http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html
Some commentary from the major daily current affairs
programs is also included below, even if relatively brief, where the
importance of the subject warrants
it.
Transcripts or podcasts from radio or television news programs are not
featured because they are rarely available and, due
to the format involved, ADA
commentary is usually much less detailed and often subject to significant truncation,
selective or out-of-context quotation, or other heavy editing anyway.
If you wish to enquire about matters raised in these programs, or provide feedback to the ADA on
its commentary, you can
do so on our enquiries or feedback pages
respectively.
10 November 2011, ABC
720 (Perth), Afternoons with Gillian
O'Shaughnessy
Is it riskier to bring the troops home from
Afghanistan?
A detailed 20-minute discussion
with ADA executive director, Neil James, ― including
responses to talkback callers ― concerning
Australian participation in the war in Afghanistan
(and the difficulties of public debating war in a
democracy when few Australians are actually involved
and few bother to
understand the situation properly before forming
opinions).
09 July 2011, ABC1,
The Big Idea on TV
The death of Osama bin
Laden: Murder or Justice?
Broadcast of a
discussion at Manning Clark House in Canberra on 02
June 2011 between ADA executive director, Neil
James, and the Imam of a Canberra mosque, Adam Konda,
concerning the legitimacy of the killing of Osama
bin Laden by US military force.
14 June 2011, 2UE,
Interview with David Oldfield
Allegations of workplace
bullying in the ADF during the 1980s and 1990s
ADA comment on the
previous night's 4-Corners program about allegations
of past workplace bullying in the defence force.
07 June 2011, ABC
News-24, Afternoon Live
Casualties in the
Afghanistan War
ADA comment about
continuing problems with public debate on the war in
Afghanistan following the death in action of Sapper
Rowan Robinson
24 May 2011, 6PR,
Howard Sattler Program
http://www.6pr.com.au/blogs/6pr-perth-blog/24th-digger-killed-in-afghanistan/20110524-1f25j.html
Interview on the death
in action of Sergeant Brett Wood
ADA comment on the death
of Sergeant Wood, progress in the Afghanistan War
and the problem of growing community disengagement
with our defence force
25 April 2011, ABC TV,
Q&A
Anzac Day Special
Panel discussion on
various issues to do with Australia and its defence
force, especially the employment of female
personnel.
The ADA's comprehensive
6800-word discussion paper on the issue of employing
even more female personnel in combat can be found
here.
18 April 2011, ABC TV,
News Breakfast
Defence Association
savages media over sex reports
The executive director
of the Australia Defence Association is interviewed
about allegations of abuse in the defence force (11
minutes)
11 April 2011, ABC Radio
National, Australia Talks
Military Culture
ADA participation in a panel discussion
about the recent incident at the Australian Defence Force Academy
where a female was filmed without her consent during
consensual sex and the images relayed to six other
cadets
08 April 2011, 4BC
(Brisbane), Morning discussion program with Greg
Carey
Sexual
misconduct at the Australian Defence Force Academy
ADA comment on a female
cadet at the Australian Defence Force Academy being filmed without her consent
during consensual sex with another first-year cadet
09 March 2011, Sky News,
Richo
The Afghanistan Debate
ADA participation in a
panel debate on Australian participation in the war in
Afghanistan.
(38 minutes)
16 November 2010, ABC
Radio National, AM
Australian soldiers
caught drug taking in Afghanistan
ADA comment on three
soldiers being caught using anabolic steroids in
Afghanistan
07 November 2010,
Channel 7, Sunday Night
Gender reassignment
surgery for ADF personnel
ADA comment on media and
public controversy concerning an ADF officer
undergoing gender reassignment treatment
13 October 2010, ABC
Radio National, PM
Problems with uninformed
media and public discussion of the legal processes
involved with the charging of three comandos over a
battlefield accident in Afghanistan
ADA Comment concerning
the dangers of party-political comment, and
uninformed discussions on the Web and talkback
radio, concerning the legal processes involved with
the laying of charges against three commandos over a
battlefield accident in Afghanistan in February
2009. The fair trial these soldiers deserve and need
should not be prejudiced by the silly discussions
being undertaken, especially on talkback radio.
30 September 2010, 612
ABC Brisbane, Breakfast Show
Maiden speech by the
new member for the federal seat of Ryan
ADA comment on how few
members of parliament now have military experience.
Some comment on the charges that three soldiers are
facing resulting from the February 2009 battlefield
accident in Afghanistan.
27 August 2010, ABC
Radio National, AM
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2010/s2994930.htm
Australian soldiers may
be charged over Afghanistan raid
ADA comment on the legal
and operational background to possible charges (see
also
Afghanistan:
Possible Charges)
22 June 2010, 4BC,
Michael Smith program
The price of war
ADA comment on
Australia's strategic and moral dilemmas with
prosecuting the war in Afghanistan
27 October 2009, ABC
finally admits significant errors in 7.30 Report story broadcast
on 09 September 2009
The ADA's
detailed complaint to the ABC (on 10 September 2009)
concerning the numerous factual and conceptual
errors in this program can be read
here.
Subsequently, but not
until some seven weeks later (and with the apology since
taken down), the Corrections and
Clarifications page of the ABC website at
http://abc.net.au/news/corrections/
originally admitted:
"Female diggers
7.30 Report
On September 9, in
a background story about women in the Australian
Defence Force, the ABC reported three inaccuracies:
The story contained a
comparison between women serving in other foreign
defence forces and reported “But in Australia women
have been kept away on the basis they're not strong
enough to cope” is inaccurate. The ABC acknowledges
that female diggers do serve in combat zones.
The ABC inaccurately
reported that “Women already make up about 13 per
cent of the permanent Defence Force ranks, but those
7000 soldiers, sailors and air crew are limited to
support roles”. The ABC understands that women in
the ADF are not limited to support roles and do
serve in direct and indirect combat functions in
combat units.
The ABC sought comment
from Neil James of the Australia Defence
Association, however, due to time restrictions and
editing processes, Mr James’ comments regarding the
possible capture of female diggers on the
battlefield were misrepresented.
The ABC apologises for
the lapse in standards."
The more detailed email
response sent to the ADA by the ABC on 28 October
2009 reads:
"Thank you for your
email regarding The 7.30 Report story
Aussie Combat Women. In keeping with the
Corporation’s complaint handling procedures, it has
been referred to me for investigation and response.
The ABC acknowledges
your concern with certain aspects of the report.
First, the ABC agrees that the reporter’s comparison
between female diggers and women serving in a range
of other foreign defence forces, with the statement
“But in Australia women have been kept away on
the basis they're not strong enough to cope” is
inaccurate. The ABC acknowledges that female
diggers do serve in combat zones.
Second, the ABC
acknowledges that the reporter’s statement that
“Women already make up about 13 per cent of the
permanent Defence Force ranks, but those 7000
soldiers, sailors and air crew are limited to
support roles” is inaccurate. The ABC
understands that women in the ADF are not limited to
support roles and do serve in direct and indirect
combat functions in combat units.
Third, the ABC
acknowledges your concern with the editing of your
comments in the report’s conclusion and agrees that
your point regarding the capture of female diggers
on the battlefield was misrepresented. I am advised
by ABC News management that this occurred during
tight deadline editing that required the story to be
cut down to fit its allotted running time. The ABC
regrets that this resulted in your comments being
broadcast out of context and sincerely apologises
for its lapse of editorial standards.
http://abc.net.au/corp/pubs/edpols.htm
You can be assured that
your concerns have been brought to the attention of
the producer of the program and ABC News
management. These breaches of the Corporation’s
Editorial Policies have been discussed with the
reporter and producer and will be reported to the
ABC Board.
It is of course not
possible, within the time constraints of such a
brief report, to include all of the issues raised in
your interview and correspondence. The 7.30
Report endeavoured to encapsulate the major
points on the matter through the presentation of a
range of principal relevant perspectives. For
example, on your point regarding the link between
operational capability and employment policy, the
Defence Personnel Minister, Greg Combet, made these
points in the report: “This is about assessing at
the end of the day, anyone's physical capability to
fulfil a particular role within the ADF” and
“It's extremely important that we send a signal to
women that their role is valued within the
Australian Defence Force and their opportunity to
participate in occupations is considered on
appropriate grounds.”
The program would have
preferred to include the perspective of a female
digger in the report and spent several hours of its
limited production time attempting to locate serving
and retired female personnel to interview, through
contact with the ADF and the Department of Defence.
I am advised by ABC News management that repeated
requests were made with the ADF media unit for
comment throughout the day, but no response was
received.
I am advised by ABC news
management that the program intends to broadcast an
on-air correction tomorrow tonight, time permitting,
or as soon as reasonably possible. The online
transcript of the report has been amended, with an
editor’s note explaining the errors. Those errors
have also been posted on the ABC News corrections
page.
http://abc.net.au/news/corrections/
Thank you for allowing
the ABC the opportunity to respond to your concerns.
Yours sincerely
Kieran Doyle
Investigation Officer
Audience and Consumer
Affairs "
24 October 2009, ABC Radio National, AM
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2009/s2723069.htm
NATO Meeting Raises Questions for Australian
Troop Numbers
ADA comment on the possible reinforcement of our
contingent in Afghanistan.
14 September 2009, ABC Radio National,
Counterpoint
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/stories/2009/2684888.htm
The Myth of the Digger
ADA comment on the myth that Australians are
such natural soldiers that we can permanently under-fund our national
defence and avoid prudent planning for future strategic challenges.
Transcript
09 September 2009, ABC Television, 7:30
Report
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2681426.htm
Aussie Combat Women
The 7:30 Report attempted to discuss the
issue of the defence force's employment of female personnel in combat
positions. The program included numerous factual errors, was based on
several fallacious assumptions (such as no women undertaking combat tasks)
and did not address the key issues in a balanced manner and in some cases at
all. On the following day the ADA raised these errors with the ABC and also
pointed out that the editing of ADA comment had been done so badly it had
seriously misrepresented the Association's position. On 27 October 2009 (six
and a half weeks later) the ABC admitted fault (see above) to some extent
and notated the transcript of the program on the ABC website accordingly.
Corrected
Transcript
12 May 2009, ABC Radio National, AM
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2567621.htm
Date set for Australian troop withdrawal from
Iraq
ADA comment on the announced withdrawal of the
last ADF elements from the international force in Iraq by 31 July 2009.
01 April 2009, ABC Radio National, AM
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2008/s2531650.htm
Audit report says Minister ignored
ADA comment on the KPMG report on the Special
Forces pay bungle.
06 January 2009, ABC TV, The 7.30 Report
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2008/s2460302.htm
Defence Force lures recruits in tough times
There are early signs the financial crisis is
encouraging many to seek job security by joining the Australian Defence
Force. Applications to join the defence force were up by 20 per cent in the
three months to the end of November, compared to the same time the previous
year.
18 November 2008, ABC Radio National, PM
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2423249.htm
Navy closes for Christmas
ADA comment on the Navy plan for an extended
stand-down period over the Christmas-New Year period.
15 September 2008, ABC Radio National,
Australia Talks
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/australiatalks/stories/2008/2362183.htm
Australia's Future Defence
While the defence force is currently busy with several
operational deployments overseas and suffers serious skill shortages, the
government has just announced plans to expand the ADF. The
intention is to strategically position for current and future military
build-ups in our region over the next 30 or so years. Kevin Rudd
particularly highlighted the role of the navy but also noted the the need
for a balanced defence force. The announcement is anticipating a detailed
Defence white paper to be released early next year which is expected to
recommend an increase in defence spending levels to cancel out comparative
neglect over the last 30 years and to face the future with some confidence.
Is the expansion of our defence force the right step or does it increase the
risks of a regional "arms race"? What is the best mix of diplomatic,
military and development measures to help achieve current and future
stability in the Asia-Pacific region?
25 June 2008
ADA comment criticising thoughtless media
speculation about the circumstances involved with the combat death in
Afghanistan of Signaller Sean McCarthy can be found on our
Recent Commentary page.
17 June 2008, ABC On-line, Unleashed
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2275952.htm
ADA comment on the NATO-led counter-insurgency
campaign in Afghanistan
28 February 2008, ABC Radio National, The
World Today
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2175091.htm
ADA comment on the Australian civil compensation claim by an
Iraqi family wounded by the ADF during wartime operations in Baghdad
27 February 2008, ABC Radio National, The
World Today
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2174031.htm
ADA condemnation of the party-political blame
game concerning defence equipment procurement in recent years
28 October 2007, ABC Radio National, The
National Interest
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/nationalinterest/stories/2007/2071793.htm
Defence policy in the 2007 federal election
Podcast
or
Transcript
A
25-minute discussion of the defence policies of the Coalition and Labor parties, their
views on our commitments to Iraq and Afghanistan, why we need to re-invest
in our defence at current levels of expenditure, and are we developing the right
balance of defence
capabilities for the future? The panel includes ADA Executive Director, Neil
James, Professor Hugh White from the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at
ANU, and Dr Richard Tanter from the Nautilus Institute for Security and
Sustainability at RMIT University in Melbourne.
18 October 2007, ABC Radio National, Australia
Talks
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/australiatalks/stories/2007/2063902.htm
The Fate of Afghanistan
Podcast
As Australia mourns Trooper David Pearce who
died in a roadside bombing in Afghanistan, we look at a dangerous war, and
an Australian military contribution, that is supported by all Australia's
major political parties. What effect is the continued military presence in
Afghanistan having on al-Qaeda and the resurgent Taliban? Can the
UN-endorsed international coalition win the war in Afghanistan? Can the
democratically elected, but struggling, government led by Hamid Karzai survive? Can the
international community afford to lose this war? All wars are contests of
will - is our will faltering, and if so, is it faltering for the wrong
reasons?
02 October 2007, ABC News Online, Opinion
Forum
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/02/2048395.htm
Keeping it civil in cases of controversy
Governments of all political
persuasions need to take great care not to risk the acknowledged and
respected apolitical status of our defence force in Australian society. This
underlies the historic reluctance to use the ADF in controversial activities
such as domestic law enforcement and strikebreaking. The federal
government’s extraordinary intervention in several Northern Territory
Aboriginal communities has bipartisan support among the mainstream political
parties but has attracted wider political and social controversy. The use of
defence force elements in the intervention has involved the ADF in this
disputation. Because of the attendant and potential controversy about the
federal intervention, and because it encompasses law enforcement functions
by civil police,
it would be better if this long-term operation – emergency or not – was now
headed by a civilian official rather than a
serving military officer. This government has often relied on the professional ‘can
do’ approach of the ADF to overcome bureaucratic and other obstacles, but
leaving Major General Chalmers in the position much longer is inappropriate
on a range of constitutional, professional and national-unity grounds.
25 September 2007, SBS Television, Insight
http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/archive.php?archive=1&artmon=9&arty=2007#
Strictly Confidential
In Australia it is often claimed that it is
harder to get information from government departments than in most other
western countries- whether personal records or documents of public interest.
News Ltd Chairman, John Hartigan, is leading the charge and demanding
reforms to FOI and whistleblower laws as well as laws to protect journalist
sources. Hartigan tells Insight that recent criminal convictions of
journalists and whistleblowers are proof that the pendulum has swung too
far. Insight also examines the cases of a number of citizens whose
efforts to obtain documents and personal records have been thwarted by state
and federal governments. Insight looks at the other side of the coin
as well, when the media invades privacy and potentially destroys lives. Does
the media deserve more freedoms? Can they be trusted with even more power?
The ADA believes that releases of information need to be considered on a
case-by-case basis but that journalists are not equipped to make decisions
on what should be published or not when national security matters are
involved. This is because they have a conflict of interest with their
commercial desires for sales, circulation and ratings, and with their
individual desires for publicity and promotion.
19 September 2007, ABC Radio National,
Late Night Live
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2007/2037294.htm
The Civil-Military Divide
As a result of the drop in American public
support for the war in Iraq, members of the military and their families are
feeling increasingly isolated and misunderstood as they bear the brunt for
simply carrying out orders. However, this also highlights a divide which has
existed between members of America's civil and military establishments since
Vietnam. In fact surveys in the USA reveal that elite members of civil and military
institutions remain suspicious of one another, and continue to harbour
strong negative stereotypes about the other. It turns out this has
wide-reaching implications for US government policy, particularly on the way
wars are waged. Late Night Live tries to explore the history of this divide and
look at how a more co-ordinated approach to Iraq - one which included greater
civilian and even humanitarian input - might have turned out.
10 August 2007, ABC News Online, Opinion
Forum
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/10/2001350.htm
Gap-year program aimed at the future
The ADF gap-year program launched on Thursday 09
August 2007 is
an imaginative step to help solve defence force recruiting shortfalls. But
just as importantly the program also has important implications for the
integrated relationship between the defence force's full-time and reservist
components, and for the future relationship between the ADF and Australian
society generally.
16 July 2007, ABC Radio National,
Counterpoint
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/stories/2007/1979690.htm
Privatising defence
Some estimates place the number of private
contractors in Iraq at around one hundred thousand. What do they do? and
what is their legal status? Neil James from the Australia Defence
Association has recently returned from Afghanistan and the Middle East and
gives his thoughts on contractors as well as an evaluation of the morale of
Australian troops
15 July 2007, ABC Radio National,
Australia Talks
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/australiatalks/stories/2007/1977684.htm
Cluster Munitions
Should cluster munitions be banned or would an
indiscriminate ban actually be counter-productive because it would simply
reward those who violate international humanitarian law (IHL) in their
misuse of such weapons but punish those who comply with IHL when using them?
26 March 2007, ABC Radio National,
Counterpoint
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/counterpoint/stories/2007/1881639.htm
Torture
Transcript
Torture is condemned by just about everyone, yet
it's frequently portrayed as a tactic of last resort on popular TV shows as
a way to get vital information. But according to Neil James, executive
director of the Australia Defence Association, torture doesn't work. Apart
from it being an unreliable source of information, it's unnecessary because
a skilled interrogator can almost invariably elicit the information needed through
questioning based solely on psychological techniques.
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