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Stephens, David: Malcolm Turnbull’s post-Anzac pitch to the Australian Defence Force

Stephens, David

Malcolm Turnbull’s post-Anzac pitch to the Australian Defence Force‘, Pearls and Irritations, 2 March 2016

Looks at a recent speech from the prime minister and a later doorstop (just prior to the release of the Defence White Paper) where he said he admires the way the Australian Defence Force is ‘showing the kind of agility and innovation that the most successful companies in the private sector do as well’.

‘So innovation and agility is not just for start-ups and science graduates’, the article comments, ‘but for men and women in uniform as well’. The prime minister’s remarks included only a ritual nod to Anzac values. His emphasis on the technological aspects of modern military service has something in common with the theme taken up by his son-in-law, James Brown, in Anzac’s Long Shadow – Brown is sceptical of the larrikin Anzac image – and with a speech by former Chief of the Defence Force, General David Hurley. Brown also quotes military psychologist, Damien Hadfield, who refers to ‘the Anzac spirit monkey’ as a plague on modern service men and women and the progenitor among civilians of misleading images of military service.

Pearls and Irritations is John Menadue’s blog. John Menadue is one of Honest History’s distinguished supporters.