Australia's addiction to alliance war

Australia has an addiction to going to war with its US alliance partner, ‘our great and powerful friend’, whatever the strategic and human consequences. Australia’s armed forces have been at war in operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria—and now unannounced at sea in the Yemeni civil war—almost continually since November 2001, resulting in forty-three dead and several hundred seriously wounded. Many Australian service men and women have returned to combat zones repeatedly. The Afghanistan war has cost Australia more than $10 billion in direct costs, and a great deal more indirectly. The experience of continuous high-tempo combat operations has strained both the personnel and the organisation of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Moreover, constant operations side by side with the US military have changed the culture of the ADF, including developing a tolerance of deeply confronting operational practices. This continuous engagement in the front line of major wars led by the United States has underpinned a shift in the role of the ADF from a largely self-reliant force centred on the defence of Australia to a niche role as an auxiliary force in US global operations. And at home, in this age of undeclared wars, there is now great concern from former prime ministers and defence chiefs about the manner in which Australian governments send troops to war without any serious consideration by parliament. Australia has become addicted to alliance war without serious national-interest assessments of strategic benefits and costs.&nbsp