Is Brendan Nelson “the subject of serious seduction” in his new job at Defence? Geoffrey Barker thinks not.

The Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee devoted much of its examination during the budget estimates hearings in May 2004 to the matter of the duties of Australian personnel in Iraq particularly with regard to the treatment of Iraqi detainees. Since then, the matter of the treatment of Iraqi prisoners has not been...

The Australian Army is in the process of acquiring a new main battle tank (MBT). This acquisition is contrary to the policy announced in the 2000 defence white paper when the government said it had 'decided against the development of heavy armoured forces suitable for contributions to coalition forces in high intensity conflicts'.

Australia was the first country to recognise the right to conscientious objection to military service in legislation as part of the Defence Act 1903. Recognition has developed from objections based on religious belief to more secular philosophical and ethical convictions and has developed in Australia to include, for conscripts, selective conscientious objection to particular conflicts.

This Research Note uses data from the 2001 Census to rank each electoral division on the number of persons employed in defence.