11 July 2019
CA joined other Department of Defence senior leaders in addressing the Defence Cooperation Scholarship Program and engaged with some of the Indo-Pacific’s brightest postgraduate students who are studying in Australia.
The address from CA was on “The Australian Army”.
Given the audience is less familiar with Australia and our Defence Force, CA described the structure of the Army in broad terms before focussing on the Army’s thinking for the future and work with others in the region.
CA explained the Army’s intellectual efforts in the past year, developing the Futures Statement Accelerated Warfare and the central idea to respond to this challenge, described in the Commander’s Statement Army in Motion. CA emphasised that teams were the core of Army’s capability and capacity. CA further elaborated on the Army’s cultural optimisation program, Good Soldiering, which is embedding behaviours that promote effective teams.
CA described Australia’s Army as being a Credible Combat Force, a People Force, and a Partnered Force. These attributes describe the Army and all of its teams. These attributes endure while the particular structure and capabilities of the teams changes as needed to solve problems. This is the philosophy of an Army in Motion. In particular, CA emphasised the importance of partnerships, highlighting that the Army does not operate alone. The Army contributes capable teams to the Joint Force, and works closely with Navy and Air Force partners to achieve missions. Just as important are the Army’s partnerships with our friends and allies in the region.
CA spoke about the shared challenge posed by a changing geo-political landscape, rapid technological advances and new domains such as space and cyber. CA highlighted that these challenges can only be addressed together, and that Australia’s Army values and seeks to grow its longstanding partnerships across the region.
CA followed his address with a Question and Answer session. The Scholarship Program participants asked a number of insightful and thought provoking questions on the challenges of preparing for Accelerated Warfare, how Army is preparing people and leaderships roles that require an understanding of warfare in all domains, and the value of Army to Army partnerships in the region.