Shown to be out of touch as Prime Minister, Tony Abbott is proving to be just as out of touch today with his call for mandatory conscription for school leavers. Not since the days of the Vietnam War when young Australians were used as American cannon fodder in an unjust war has Australia embraced compulsory militarism for its young people, then it was young males, now Abbott wants girls included as well. Abbott tells us that such places as Cambodia have forced militarism, well so does Uzbekistan and Algeria. Is Abbott suggesting Australia should join that band of elite peace loving nations. I suggest Australian would much rather embrace constipation than conscription these days. Peter Dutton should immediately dissociate himself from this clap trap being peddled by a former Liberal Party PM.

If he means National Service conscription rather than purely military conscription then the sooner the better.
I'd feel safer with common sense being restored than rainbow Wokeness perpetuated !
We need mentally strong people to restore what the rainbow clique have ruined !
Those conscripted would have the choice of any training they're suitable for or capable of and, if they so desire could progress to the Armed Forces full time. It may come as a real surprise to the Woke that the Armed Forces are not all frontline soldiers, there are technicians & many varied service personnel, all in with the chance of finding suitable & rewarding careers.
A national Service scheme is a stepping stone to mature life not as the opponents of discipline & decency portray it-as cannon fodder. Soldiers become cannon fodder because of Woke career Military officers & not defence professionals !
National Service must be introduced because the dumbing-down & training to become a burden has to stop asap !
The Woke have had their run, now let them experience the effects of their mentality for a change !

Not necessarily military service..

"Under Mr Abbott’s scheme, this service can be in the form of “putting on the uniform” or completing a broad scope of volunteer work. He suggested working in a remote Indigenous community, a nursing home or deploying in the Australian Peace Corps as options for those not interested in military service."

As usual Paul hears what he wants to hear rather than hearing the truth.

BTW, I'd be a little reticent about sending 18yr old girls out to work in "remote Indigenous community" given the epic amount of misogyny they'd be exposed to. </smile>

Get it right. Military service OR civilian service.

Something has to be done to get today's feckless youth into gear. Blubbering about natural events such as climate change and whether or not they are boys or girls, or something in between.

In fact, the entire civilian population needs to be taught the real facts of life in view of the distinct possibility that Australia could be at war any time in the next decade.

Warwick Stacey, not a politician or ex-politician has an even better idea: 5,000 unemployed people at a time doing training in the North and living in tented accommodation for a lot less than paying them the dole. Don't want to do that? OK, but no dole. No civil alternative.

In August of this year, there were 487,700 people on the dole. That is a bloody disgrace, particularly as our idiot government wants to bring 235,000 immigrants here over the next year.

While all of the almost half million on the dole would not be employable or of much use at all, most of them could be licked into shape to serve their country and do a lot for themselves along the way.

Dear Paul,

I'll have to do a bit more research on what Mr Abbott is
suggesting. I suggested some time ago regarding
the dire situation of homelessness amongst the young in our
country - for the government to set up programs and give
youngsters a purpose by working in our rural areas, aged care,
and wherever workers were needed. Employment and being needed
would increase their self-esteem and give them a purpose in
life - they would also acquire new sets of skills.

When I was a child and Roosevelt was president the US had the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The work that was done in the US National Park System still provides conservation and recreation for today’s US. For the homeless and people without direction a similar program might be good for Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps

“The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal that supplied manual labor jobs related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural lands owned by federal, state, and local governments. The CCC was designed to supply jobs for young men and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States.

The largest enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Through the course of its nine years in operation, three million young men took part in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a wage of $30 (equivalent to $1000 in 2021) per month ($25 of which had to be sent home to their families).

The American public made the CCC the most popular of all the New Deal programs. Sources written at the time claimed an individual's enrollment in the CCC led to improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The CCC also led to a greater public awareness and appreciation of the outdoors and the nation's natural resources, and the continued need for a carefully planned, comprehensive national program for the protection and development of natural resources.

The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans. Approximately 15,000 Native Americans took part in the program, helping them weather the Great Depression.

By 1942, with World War II raging and the draft in effect, the need for work relief declined, and Congress voted to close the program.