Casey Council in Melbourne is pushing for the federal government to introduce mandatory military service for 18-year-olds.
The councillors voted in favour of conscription with the view of youngsters serving in the armed forces for two years.
Casey Councillor Rex Flannery said not only would the move give young people direction, it would also “strengthen the nation’s defences against terrorism”.
“With all the stabbings and one punch attacks it is more dangerous walking the streets of Melbourne at night than being in Afghanistan,” Cr Flannery told the Herald Sun.
“We need to do something to fix the problems we have.”
As the Herald Sun notes, this is the same council that voted to build a $50,000 nativity scene as “a blow against terrorists in an ongoing culture war”.
All seven councillors in the chamber passed Councillor Flannery’s motion to lobby the federal government to make every 18-year-old serve two years in the army.
Flannery said he had a relative who “dodged bullets in Vietnam” but was stabbed stepping off a Melbourne tram after telling a youngster to stop swearing.
“I believe our children are being lost in the system, I believe our children need direction, they need a place of belonging … people stay at home and play PlayStation and … national service would be an opening for young people,” he said.
“It is … safer to be in the army and to go to Afghanistan than to walk the streets in our city these days with the stabbings and the one-punch attacks.”
