Australia’s national security community must do more to advance the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) make-up of its workforce, because increasing the diversity of perspectives in thinking would improve Australia’s strategic acumen.

As a nation, Australia is considered by many to be a multicultural success story, with more than 250 ancestries represented and 350 languages spoken in Australian homes, according to the last census. Our cultural diversity has enriched the political, social and economic landscape of Australia and its interactions with the rest of the world.

The national security community has benefited from the intercultural and multilingual skills possessed by many CALD Australians by allowing them to help Australia navigate an increasingly complex international environment. This is why Foreign Minister Penny Wong in a recent address at the Australian National University (ANU) called our diversity a ‘national asset’.

In order to better capture this capability, the Australian Public Service (APS) Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Strategy ^[1] announced in April provides a pathway for ensuring that government, including national security-related agencies, can better integrate the perspectives, knowledge and skills of CALD Australians to achieve better outcomes.

Despite these advantages, the available employment data suggests that CALD Australians are underrepresented in the national security community.

The strategy highlights that no APS agency has CALD representation at the senior executive level proportional to its cultural diversity at lower levels. The primary stated reasons were discrimination, unconscious bias and racism. Similarly, a 2019 survey of members of the International Studies Association showed ^[2] that scholars of colour reported greater rates of feeling unwelcome and experiencing harassment. One scholar of colour felt that the situation was so dire because ‘there’s no way for women, scholars of colour and other underrepresented minorities to have a chance at leadership.’

Greater representation across the APS matters, not only because it allows the federal government to be better reflected by its own population but because it is a key tool in formulating more effective government strategy. Diverse high-performing teams tend ^[3] to be stronger, create better policies, discover critical research conclusions, show better critical thinking skills and make better decisions. In doing so, they create positive iterative cycles with others, enabling them to make better decisions themselves.

Doing the opposite, however, worsens blind spots when responding to current and emerging security threats in Australia and the Indo-Pacific. What is rational to us might be completely irrational to another, and vice versa.

Before the APS CALD strategy, this effort was executed in a varied and uneven manner, often subject to change. As outlined, many organisations undertook their own actions, but more needs to be done to increase public accountability and their overall effectiveness. As a means to increase the awareness, importance and value of this view, the wider national security community should use the APS CALD strategy as a model to increase the transparency of their own cultural diversity initiatives.

There are several ways in which the broader national security community can build on existing programs aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by many CALD Australians.

The first is through data collection. Data is needed to comprehensively understand the issues around CALD underrepresentation in the national security community. Current proxies, such as country of birth and first language spoken, alone are inadequate in fully understanding the cultural and linguistic diversity of Australian workplaces.

Tailored programs are needed next. CALD-related initiatives created in response to the findings of data analysis need to be introduced. This includes sponsorship, mentoring and leadership programs that are specifically focused on addressing the barriers faced by CALD individuals in national security. One promising initiative is the National Security College and ASPI’s joint WiNspire mentoring program, which has paired ANU students from CALD backgrounds with emerging or established female leaders in the national security community.

Finally, the integration of an intersectional lens. All national security programs aimed at increasing CALD inclusion need to adopt an intersectional approach. Intersectionality refers to the different aspects of a person’s identity that may expose him or her to overlapping forms of discrimination. For example, the discussions at the regularly held Women of Colour Public Sector Leadership and Allyship Summit offer a space to hear the challenges faced by CALD women in Australian public sector workplaces.

To be an effective security actor in the region in the future, Australia must increase the diverse perspectives in its strategic thinking. Poor representation in the national security community, including of CALD Australians, not only harms national security performance; it can also send the wrong message to our international security partners and be perceived as hypocritical to the values of equality and fairness that we proudly advocate.

Australia’s history and culture is diverse, and it stands to gain significantly from greater CALD representation and inclusion. In doing so, it can only improve the outcomes we want from our national security and intelligence agencies.