Great. We can get all the conscripts to lie on their backs put their arms and legs in the air and scream at the top of their lungs "I AM A DEAD COCKROACH". These and other assorted humiliations await the unwary conscript. Better still we can introduce them to a culture of homophobia, mysogeny, alcoholism and aggression; and an unquestioning obedience to authority.
This is a great way to build up the moral fortitude of our young people.

While we're at it let's organise a depression. that way the young people will have the two things that will get them back on the straight and narrow: war and economic deprivation.

Sorry- but being sent overseas into foreign conflicts is precisely the reason we should NOT conscript people.
In fact, there's a good chance that our constant involvement in such conflicts is the reason why fewer people would ever want to join our armed forces.

If the public had a say in which conflicts our armed forced participated in, THEN you'd have a HUGE amount of people joining the army knowing that they are, in fact, in place to defend the nation- THEN a draft might be at least tolerable (eg Switzerland- with the highest ratio of militarily-trained citizens in the world).

But having a history of crooked politicians joining other wars to score diplomatic points with trading partners is NOT a reassuring concept.

Conscription should never, EVER be implemented in Australia- it should be the right of everyone not to be drafted into such conditions- and there is nothing more precarious for willing soldiers to endure are treacherous comrades who would bail at the drop of a hat because they were merely forced to participate.

There are plenty of ways within the education system to accomplish the same aims the advocates of conscription are after. Send kids on adventure/environment/work camps for a year or two of their schooling. Allow them to see the world, experience new and exciting things and get it out of their system. It would also keep them off the streets. It may also make them more mature and less likely to run amok after a few drinks. Leave the military discipline,violence and guns out of it and maybe we could help our young people transition to adulthood a bit smoother than we do today.

Australia should never have been involved in Afghanistan, or Iraq for that matter. The problem wasn't with Afghanistan, it was in the hills of Pakistan that the terrorists were held out. To deal with this issue on the terms of what the governments played up as terrorism & deplete the right's of it's own population for the sake of it's religious campaign, only to pander to Karsi's corrupt government. To face facts, if a country was to commit acts of war against another, it wouldn't go & help that country search out the rebels it considers to be accountable, it would bomb that country into the ground & make the suffering short & sweet. That's why it is called war & Lee Rhianon needs to get a realistic life.