Former ADF head issues warning over US alliance

A former chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), retired Admiral Chris Barrie, has delivered a grim prediction on the state of Australia's defence alliance with the United States.

He says in future, the majority of an untrusting Australian community will end up resenting the alliance.

Giving the keynote speech at a Pacific Maritime Conference in Sydney, the retired admiral's scathing assessment of the ANZUS security pact included a prediction that in the next 50 years it would deliver very little of substance.

"It's interesting when you wander around the Australian community today and ask that question," he said.

"I know that things are going to change, I know that politics in the United States invariably swings from one side to the other but I think ordinary Australians are making some serious questions about these things."

He says that in 50 years time Australia will have become an insignificant country in the Asia-Pacific region.

Admiral Barrie also called for a return of conscription or national service as the only way to solve the ADF's recruitment problems.

He retired as the head of the ADF in 2002.

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