Major General Greg Melick AO RFD ED, now retired, is a great Australian who has served this country for more than 50 years.

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From 1966 until 2018, Major General Melick served in full-time and part-time capacities in the Australian Defence Force Reserves. He rose through the ranks to Major General and became Australia's most senior Reserve officer in 2007.

He was later appointed to the Australian War Memorial Council in 2015 and recently finished his tenure as President of the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) after six and a half years.

Despite this long and proud history of serving Australia, former Prime Minister Paul Keating decided it was right to make a rare public interjection to insult the retired Major General, calling him 'a dope'.

He did so because Major General Melick used his Remembrance Day address to call for more defence spending, in order to deter conflict and to protect more Australians from being added to the Roll of Honour.

While Mr Keating's name-calling is disgusting enough, I most take umbrage with the former PM laying the worst possible intentions on Major General Melick stating he 'wants to drag us into a military exchange with the Chinese'.

As a proud member of the Liberal Party and someone who has also called for defence spending to rise to at least 3 per cent of GDP, let me be clear this isn't about getting us into a war, it's about preventing it.

Enhancing our military capability through AUKUS and sovereign mass production of missiles, drones, cyber, undersea systems and real sustainment of existing kit is first and foremost designed to deter aggression.

This isn't a new idea.

The concept 'if you want peace, prepare for war' goes all the way back to........

© Canberra Times