Ibid - Australian Army

Land Warfare Studies Centre 10
Canberra’ embraced terrorism, raids, limited war and invasion. 31
He thought that the range of capabilities required for such
operations were so diverse that ‘the exact requirement of
Continental Defence can not be determined [by the Army]’. 32 To
overcome its lack of guidance, Major General Hughes felt the Army
had to train for operations on Australian soil using the principles of
war as a method of preparation. 33
Apart from a lack of detailed strategic guidance, the environment
for Army doctrinal revision was further complicated by the pace of
organisational change in the first half of the 1970s. Organisational
reform included the 1970–71 Farrands–Hassett Review of the
Army’s structure, the 1974 Millar Report on the Citizen Military
Forces (CMF) and the 1973 Tange defence reorganisation.
The Farrands–Hassett Review recommended that Army functional
commands replace the system of geographical commands that could
be traced back to Federation. The Millar Report recommended the
reorganisation of the CMF and its redesignation as the Army
Reserve. The Tange reforms abolished the single-service boards
and inaugurated a new centralised defence organisation. However,
the new Chief of Defence Force Staff initially had insufficient staff
to develop joint doctrine in a concerted way. 34
31
32
33
34
Australian Army, 1 Division Commander’s Training Letter No. 04/74,
‘Continental Defence’, 17 April 1974, p. 1, para. 1; pp. 2–4,
paras 5–12.
Ibid., p. 4, para. 15.
1 Division Commander’s Training Letter No. 01/74, 25 March 1974,
p. 2, paras 5–8.
Australian Army, Report of the Australian Army Organisation and
Manpower Committee, Part 1, 30 March 1973, CP-53386
(the Farrands–Hassett Review); Commonwealth of Australia. Report of
the Committee into the Citizen Military Force, Australian Government
Publishing Service, Canberra, 1974 (The Millar Report). For a useful
summary, see Australian Army, ‘Army Reorganisation’, Army Journal,
March 1972, No. 274, pp. 3–33. For the Tange reforms, see Robert
O’Neill, ‘Defence Policy’ and F. A. Mediansky, ‘Defence
Reorganisation 1957–75’ in Australia in World Affairs, 1971–75, ed.