Our Military Are Our Mates!

Australia is a nation in which the interrelationship between the people and our Naval forces has come to play a pivotal role in shaping national identity. Australians hold an inexplicable appreciation for our island continent's safety and good fortune, guarded by the devoted efforts of our naval and maritime powers, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). On the surface level, the RAN is known by Australians for its defense of civil liberties and national sovereignty against external threats. In another vein however, a more fundamental yet subtle duty of the Navy that often lies unspoken, pertains to its role in fostering a strong sense of harmony, trust, and connectivity within the social fabric of all residents who call Australian soil home. It is this latter principle which the essence of this article will focus on, in order to demonstrate precisely why Australians call the military our mates.

The nature of Australia’s coastal geography positions the naval and maritime at the nexus of the country’s defense strategy. While Australia has come to be founded in the archetype of the ‘Lucky Country’ and ‘Land of the Fair-Go,’ through an examination of the military forces’ relationship with the Australian community, the answers as to why Australia has come to be characterized by these legends and how our naval powers have perpetually assured the prosperity and support of Australian people, are revealed. Australia’s reputation as a land of safety and abundance is by no means the product of a draw of luck, rather, these norms have been sowed into the attitudes of trust and reciprocity between Australian society and the Navy as a respected institution.

This deeply rooted trust has perpetuated since the Royal Australian Navy was first titled in 1911, and today has proven difficult to invalidate through experience. As a liberal-democratic island situated in a region of growing momentum for military attention, the capacity of the country’s Naval powers to protect its people is a question occupying political agendas. Australians today are vesting their trust in the country’s naval and maritime powers as a politically neutral institution they believe will continue to safeguard the security of the land we seek to reconcile and the prosperity of living standards we relish in.

Trust is an essential component of any sustainable relationship between a nation’s military power and the society at large. Arguably, much of the conflict in the world today can be explained by the lack of mutual confidence between the society and its governing authority, with the military serving as the third-party mechanism for social control bridging between. Thomas Hobbes sheds light on this arrangement in his solution to the dilemmas of collective action in saying “If both parties concede to the Leviathan, their reward is the mutual confidence necessary to life.” That is to say that the naval forces of Australia acting as the third-party enforcement allows the state and its citizens to trust one another. In the absence of trust, there can be no guarantee over a population’s security, nor hope for prosperity of the nation; thus, the society would effectively be reduced to a state of lawlessness and self-interest, opening the gates for tensions to boil and even a breakout of a civil war.

There is a psychological component to the legitimacy of trust in a nation’s defense powers. For Australia as a seaborne nation, trust towards our sea powers have a greater grip in the minds of Australians than other military branches, as we depend on the good order at sea to secure trade and maritime resources as well as uphold the territorial integrity of our state and homes. Unlike most global powers across the world, Australian society is fortunate to have fostered a relationship of reciprocal trust towards the heroism of our naval servicemen. It is not often Australians look towards our maritime powers in fear, but instead view the body as a kind of moral sage, a guardian for the protection and wellbeing of our community, one that allows Australians to thrive in a state of amity and non-violence. 

There are several reasons for this, including the important pillar of neutrality of the RAN. The Royal Australian Navy operates substantially removed from the whimsical affairs of day-to-day politics, acting as a somewhat invisible power in the minds of many Australians who often aren’t reminded of the gravity of its value in underpinning the harmonious culture of our daily lives. The invisibility of the RAN in this sense is productive, as the actions of a state’s military service should not occupy space in the minds of civilians, but instead operate in the background of the state. Many Australians appear unaware of the extent to which the service of our naval powers reinforce the prosperity of our day to day lives because Australians have largely flourished in an environment of peace and liberty since the inception of the RAN. This is not to say the country is without inequality or flaw, rather to highlight that our land has not been threatened by foreign powers for as long as our national naval and maritime services have operated.

In recent years, the Royal Australian Navy has stepped into the vision of the Australian public during times of national emergency. A particular example to illustrate is the evacuation of Mallacoota in Operation Bushfire Assist 2019-2020 whereby the Navy conducted itself with sincere compassion and open communication with evacuees. This demeanor ensured that people felt accommodated and safe onboard, no doubt reinforcing internalized norms of trust towards RAN as an institution among the Australian public. This example proves the RAN is more than a purely militant institution; it is a public good serving to cultivate a communal culture of trust and mateship to be shared evenly by Australian people. The security and prosperity enjoyed by all Australians as a courtesy of our naval efforts are not the private property of any person, but the communal gift to the entire nation.

While the actions of the RAN may not be expressly seen by Australians in their daily lives, the equal opportunity to join the Navy is accessible to all citizens. Australia employs a policy of optional military service as opposed to one of national service, testament to the working environment of the Navy as an attractive institution of community and trust whereby Australians elect to enter on their own accord as opposed to serving by compulsion. It is the nature of voluntary subscription to the Navy that enhances its capacity to better guarantee the security and prosperity of Australian people because the risk of betrayal or defection is lessened. The achievement of Operation Tonga Assist 2022 illustrates how Australia’s policy of voluntary inscription promotes efficiency in the work ethic of naval personnel, allowing the RAN to respond to crises with seamless coordination. The navy was able to deliver 417 tons of equipment and relief supplies, conduct reconnaissance operations and assist with damage assessment following the undersea volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami. This operation serves to prove that a fleet in which sailors consciously choose to serve in, is able to accomplish more than a comparable group lacking trustworthiness between members thereby enhancing the success of the fleet in guaranteeing the island’s security.

 The relationship of reciprocal trust between the people of Australia and the RAN is a matter of attitudes, behaviors, and feelings. An inextricably difficult phenomenon for countries abroad to engrain between their citizens and military institutions because it cannot simply be uplifted and transplanted into another context. Rather, it must be bred overtime. Building reciprocal trust is not easy, and this trust is so finely thread within behaviors, attitudes and national institutions that it can be difficult to identify and eulogize as a nation. Recognizing it, however, allows us to see ordinary Australia in intimate detail, drawing on a seemingly limitless depth of commitment towards each other which binds our sense of safety and mateship for eternity. The Royal Australian Navy champions representations of Australian national identity by upholding the country’s security and prosperity which is presented as attainable for everyday Australians.