Consultations on what the community thinks of the Defence force and where it should go in the future are underway.

The first public meeting was held in Adelaide on July 18.

Defence also wants input into the review and is extolling members to take part.

The Defence Minister, Mr John Moore announced the scheme, Defence Review 2000 - Community Consultation Team - Public Consultation Program.

The team is led by Mr Andrew Peacock.

Public meetings will be held around the country until late August.

All capital cities as well as many regional centres will be visited.

Most meetings will occur in the afternoon or evening, allowing more people to attend than would be possible during normal working hours.

Details of the dates and venues for the meetings will be advertised in local newspapers.

"The Community Consultation Team (DCT) is looking forward to hearing the public's views on Defence issues," Mr Moore said.

"The team aims to foster community-wide discussion and to feed those views back to the Government as part of the development of the Defence Policy Statement, or White Paper, planned for release later this year.

"This level of public consultation on Defence and security issues is unprecedented and initial response shows very strong support for, and interest in, the process.

"Based on the community's reaction so far we are expecting a big turnout at the meetings in most centres.

Copies of the Public Discussion Paper, Defence Review 2000-Our Future Defence Force, are available from the Internet at whitepaper.defence.gov.au or they can be requested by e-mail from whitepaper@cbr.defence.gov.au or by phoning free call 1800 444 034.

Those people not able to attend a meeting can still have their say by e-mailing their comments to whitepaper@cbr.defence.gov.au or mailing them to Defence Review 2000,
R-1-5-A137, Russell Offices, Canberra, 2600.

Meanwhile Defence wants its members to be part of the decision making process and has developed a program of internal consultation to parallel the public meetings.

The internal consultation program is taking place in two stages firstly with service chiefs and program heads briefing and facilitating discussions with their respective programs and services from which they will each provide a report on the issues raised.

This first stage will be followed by visits to a range of Defence establishments around the country by the DCT co-chaired by Professor Paul Dibb and AVM Brendon O'Loghlin (Rtd).

These discussions will encourage further discussion on these key issues. The DCT will provide an independent report to the Minister.

The public discussion paper canvasses the choices the Government needs to make about future defence priorities involving questions like, what do we want our armed forces to be able to do?, where do we want our forces to be able to operate?, what is the best way to
structure the Defence Force? and what is the best way to spend the defence budget?

Defence members are encouraged to make their views known on the raised issues by writing to the DCT, using the feedback facility on the Defence Intranet site or by going to a DCT meeting.

Submissions will be received until August 31 and can be lodged with your service chief or group manager, the DCT when it visits your location, or sent directly to the DCT, c/o Defence Review 2000 Secretariat.