EDITORIAL: Soaring number of top brass a blow to ADF morale

Those who don the uniform of our defence forces have a proud history. They have performed with professionalism, skill and bravery for as long as this nation has put personnel in the field of battle.

The community has a deep respect and great fondness for these men and women, which is displayed whenever the opportunity arises — and particularly on Anzac Day.

The Australian character is such that we are most fond of the average Diggers. Those who do the hard yards, the tough and dangerous jobs.

And yet for too long something has been broken in our defence forces amid a desperate struggle to attract and retain new recruits, plummeting morale and deep dissatisfaction with the military’s honours and awards system.

Last year a Senate inquiry was told by veterans and advocates that the “broken two-tier” medals system had allowed senior officers with no battlefield experience to be awarded prestigious honours “by their mates” and to “pad out their resume”.

Frontline soldiers, however, were either not acknowledged or forced through arduous processes to be legitimately recognised for their service.

Others lashed former Australian Defence Force chief Angus Campbell over his decision to strip the Meritorious Unit Citation from up to 3000 Afghanistan veterans over alleged war crimes.

While that decision was ultimately overturned by the previous government, it left the defence community seething. Veterans were also outraged that Gen. Campbell was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross despite never being “in action” in Afghanistan.

Those feelings of injustice will not be helped by the revelation that the number of senior officers in the ADF is continuing to soar. New figures obtained by The Nightly reveal there have been almost 30 additional positions created at the highest levels of the ADF since 2023.

Answers provided to Federal Parliament by Defence confirm that “at 1 December 2025, there were 248 full-time Star Rank officers including Star Rank officers transitioning from service at the completion of their full-time career.”

Star-ranked officers are those at the Commodore, Brigadier or Air Commodore level and higher in the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal Australian Air Force respectively.

For every senior ADF officer now in command, there is just 247 other lower ranked officers or regular uniformed personnel serving below them in a full-time military position.

By comparison in 2023 in the United States there were 863 star-ranked officers, a ratio of one senior officer for every 1526 personnel. In the United Kingdom it was one star-ranked officer for every 1252 other enlisted members.

It is no wonder former defence department official Michael Shoebridge told The Nightly the ADF was “chronically top heavy”, which was highly demoralising for the lower ranks given “no responsibility or autonomy”.

There is much to do to restore the balance essential to the morale, spirit and effectiveness of the ADF.

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by Editor-in-Chief Christopher Dore.