Can our Pacific neighbours help meet our defence force manpower shortage?

I warned him of some of the hazards of political life, but I did not discourage him at all. He won his seat and became Opposition Leader in the new Parliament. By 1988 he had teamed up with Pangu's Rabbie Namaliu and rolled the Wingti Government. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Public Service Minister.

As he was about to embark on an impressive agenda of long needed public sector reform he was cut down by the Ombudsman Commission over alleged leadership code breaches.

In a country desperately short of high-quality ministers his career was effectively over. Sadly!

His son Siali had followed him into the army and he was trained at the Duntroon Military College. Ted invited to be his guest at his graduation. It was a memorable occasion, and what stood out was the regard in which he was especially stood out was the high regard in which Siali was held. He eventually returned to the PNGDF and early this year he was appointed and the PNG military attaché at the High Commission in Canberra.

I digress. But the point I want to make is that an innovative recruitment campaign in the region would help fill the manpower gap in the ADF.

Some of the recruits might be given fixed term visas other might be offered visas that would include the possibility of gaining Australian citizenship.

What this proposal would do is build goodwill between Australians and our Pacific neighbourhood.

That would be a most welcome addition to the task of restoring goodwill in our region. That goodwill cannot be achieved by generous assistance alone.

The argument will be advanced that we are denuding the manpower capacity of our neighbourhood. The flaw in that argument is that certainly in the case of PNG a number of good, disciplined force members, officers and other ranks have left the service out of a sense of frustration.

But recruitment does not have to have defence force training as a condition.

Each year a significant number of students graduate from universities and TAFE colleges. For the majority, the prospect of securing employment is just about zero.

Any recruitment would have to take into account family links with Australia and similar links that would make recruits suited to integrate into a very different lifestyle.