The Whitlam government discontinued peacetime national service in 1972. National Service (for males only) was unpopular, particularly during and after the Vietnam War, when support for NS fell below 50%. Most support came from people who, because of age or sex, would never be ‘called up’ themselves. Some of the latter have been talking about this controversial subject again.

It is highly unlikely that it would be popular unless there was a direct threat to Australia, when we would all be involved, one way or another.

Possibly, the main thing against conscription is forcing anyone (except for the standing, professional military) to risk their lives for people who don't respect the Australian flag, don't respect Australia Day, and generally badmouth Australia at every opportunity they get.

The second reason for no conscription is that successive governments have run our defences down so low that it would be hardly worth the effort to try to defend ourselves from an enemy like Communist China.

Australian governments are all piss and wind, gabbling about pie in the sky measures like AUKAS somewhere in the future. We are totally dependent on America, which has also managed without conscription since 1973.

And, as with the modern equivalent of the naval press gang, which was a method of ‘recruitment’ until the early 19th. Century, the victims would be those at the lower end of society; for instance, those who can't afford to rent, let alone buy, a home. And they are constantly told how bad Australia is.

An IPA poll revealed that only 32% of 18-24 year olds would fight; 40% would leave Australia; 28% were unsure.

40% would leave Australia;
ttbn,
Good luck to them finding a country to offer them the security they still enjoy here for a measly twelve month of showing their appreciation for this Nation & what it provides them with.

"We are totally dependent on America, which has also managed without conscription since 1973."

America's more likely to get us into wars, than successfully defend us in the event of one.

If China wants to invade us, they'll vastly outnumber Australian and US troops, will America commit its sons to die for Australia in a conventional war?
They are not prepared to for Ukraine, but that situation would result in Russia V's USA WWIII

Also take into account that if Australia is at war with China, the US will be too and they will be defending themselves.

Let's say you're banking on the threat of nuclear weapons.
If China were to invade us, would the US use nuclear weapons on China?
- No. Because doing so would mean the US has to decide which US cities it will sacrifice to do so, when China responds in kind and the US can't defend against it, resulting in both sides annihilating each other, so that isn't going to happen.

The US is a toothless tiger, they're not the military power they were 20 years ago. Even now Ukraine has more men under arms than the US active military, and Russia has killed over half a million of them.

War has changed and the US has already been left behind.
They don't have hypersonic weapons or dedicated drone warfare in their military yet.
You can bet Russia, China and Iran are all sharing their drone warfare knowledge with each other, which they're also actively perfecting on the battlefield.
Russia and China have hypersonic weapons, and the Wests missile defense is substandard compared to Russia, who has a number of weapons systems the US doesn't even have.

Finally the woke and the elite have together destroyed almost everything 'Australian' anyway, I'll fight to defend the Australian people if necessary, but only from our shores, (I'm not invading anyone) but I won't fight for our government, who haven't been doing a good job defending Australian interests, they care more about immigrants and gay/trans people, so let the immigrants and gay/trans people save them.

Furthermore, the US can't fill it's recruitment quotas without conscription either, they're already short.

The reason for this: Biden and Lloyd Austin's efforts to push wokeness and critical race theory into the military, it has completely stuffed it, as well as maybe a little less enthusiasm for Americas wars by Americans themselves.

Finally the price of US weapons is so high that any kind of a war that lasts more than a month would be too damn expensive, and send us broke anyway.

We won't win, the only thing we'll get is dead Aussies, bombed out cities, and a national debt that would take half a century to repay, if we even have a country left at the end of it.

Best option: Lets not get into a bloody war in the first place.

Take a look at Ukraine and Europe.
The Ukrainians are going to hate the US for what it has done to them, - getting then to tear up peace negotiations that continued the war, only to see them lose a million men and lose the war anyway including the further loss of territory, and so will the rest of Europe.
Europeans will say "The US impoverished us and tried to drag us into a war with Russia".

If it comes to a war then it really doesn't matter if we have conscription or not & defending this Nation with people whose mentality waits for others to step in is a lost cause anyway.
However, a twelve months National Service asap would provide the young generations of Australians with the mentality that is required to keep this nation going rather than just letting it go to the dogs. The way things are now, more deserving societies will gladly take what is now taken for granted by so many here !

We do not need National service to equip soldiers today. We need National Service to deal with States of emergency at home, instead of Volunteer brigades, or a well as volunteers. Young both male and female between the age of 18 and 20 to give two years of disciplined service to this country.