True cost of citizenship

Every citizen has a role to play in uncertain times, writes

“EVERY citizen a soldier and every soldier a citizen.” This was 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s adage that inspired the French Revolutionary Wars. Why is this axiom so relevant now?

The recent severe weather events, not least the floods in northern NSW, showed just how dependent we have become on the Australian Defence Force to provide disaster recovery support. “Where’s the army?” was a catch cry from some quarters.

It seems that the restructure of the Australian Army and the dependence on the individual and subunit reinforcement capability of the Army Reserve has been lost on government.

The requirement for the Reserves to be able to directly support the regular army has placed more responsibility on the Reserves to gain and maintain military trade skill competencies. For this reason, the employment of ADF full-time or part-time military personnel on nonmilitary tasks has a financial and strategic cost.

The events in Ukraine have been a wake-up call. Not only must we allow our military to focus on its primary task, but we must empower citizens and the communities they live in to become more independent.

In Australia, we are enjoying unprecedented wealth and security compared with the rest of the world. Until the shock of Russia’s violent aggression in Ukraine, Europe, too, was bathing in the wonders of capitalism almost ignorant of the underlying hatred that the Russian leadership harboured against the West.

All of a sudden there was a realisation that when you trade with an autocratic state you not only empower it, but you weaken your own position through the dependence on that trade.

So, while it conjoins with other Western nations to sanction Russia to cause it economic harm in retaliation for its collateral damage in Ukraine, it is also paying Russia in the currency of its choosing for the supply of its gas imports.

What can we in Australia learn from Russia’s behaviour in Ukraine?

Capitalism is at the core of our democratic system but there must be some federal oversight on ensuring that we start to reduce our imports and exports to nations that do not subscribe to democratic processes.

This action will reduce the risk of placing our economic future in the hands of a potential belligerent trading partner. At the same time, Australian citizens must start to think more about their neighbours and the local community in which they live. Specifically, how can each household help other households in time of disaster or impending danger?

Admittedly, the threats to Australia in the short-term are more likely to be environmental rather than military, but the need for communities to be selfhelpers has never been more evident. We should be asking what skills and resources can we employ at the local level rather than waiting for a state or federal agency to arrive to take charge of disaster recovery. This “contract” between government and the citizen also means that we need to start thinking like Rousseau – every citizen a civil defender, every civil defender a citizen.