Not many public leaders pepper their speeches with highbrow literary quotes, but General David Morrison has a different take on some things, writes Michael Brissenden.

Chief of Army David Morrison says he's confident the Australian Army is in good shape as it prepares to transition from the battlefields of the Middle East to the different challenges it will face in the future.

In a speech to the Lowy Institute in Sydney this week, Lieutenant General Morrison stressed the Army's commitment to developing an amphibious capability as it engages in the biggest rethink of the Army's mission statement since the end of the Vietnam war in the 1970s.

But as well as the changes to force structure, General Morrison has warned that unless the Army continues to address the demographic and cultural shifts in Australia it risks becoming an "occupational ghetto".

There are not too many leaders in Australian public life who regularly pepper their speeches with highbrow literary quotes and the theories of some of the world's greatest thinkers, but General Morrison is an exception.

As the Lowy Institute's James Brown noted after the speech, this is man who has the "courage to engage in the battle for ideas".

Not content with the usual nod to Clausewitz, General Morrison often branches out with with less predictable references. In one recent speech, the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard got a mention along with the British commentator Colin Gray and the American writer Max Boot.

One of his favourites is the great sea power theorist of the late 19th century, Alfred Thayer Mahan, and his assertion that the oceans of the world constitute ubiquitous highways. For an army man, General Morrison spends a lot of time thinking about the sea and the national investment required by an island nation like Australia to guarantee security and stability.

Perhaps not surprising then, he pinpoints the development of an amphibious capability as one of the priorities as the Army transitions from the wars in the Middle East.

"The Army's commitment to developing an amphibious capability is par to our force; general plans, part of the developments are taking pace in this great national institution," he said.

General Morrison is obviously well read and like most military leaders he has had to think hard about the nature of violence and war.

The digital age is a challenging time but even though Clausewitz wouldn't recognise the modern battlefield, General Morrison argues the nature of war itself hasn't changed. It is still a violent duel over policy objectives, but technology, he says, has democratised violence.

"If a boy from a village in Helmand province can trigger a device that will destroy your heavily protected modern armoured vehicle you are unlikely to find it useful to ask whether he is a state or non-state actor, or, whether he thinks he is in a war or in an insurgency."

But after more than a decade engaged in the Middle East, Australia's defence force focus is shifting from the dusty villages of Afghanistan and returning to our own region.

Predicting the military operations of the future is an impossible task but it's pretty clear climate change, peacekeeping and humanitarian and disaster relief work will be among the primary areas of engagement.

None of that would be much of a surprise to a man who has spent a life in the Army. But as he prepares to wind up his commission as Army Chief, he says the biggest surprise of his time was the cultural challenges.

He concedes that his term will probably be remembered for a three-and-a-half minute video directed at defence members who demeaned and degraded women. The video went viral and made him an unlikely feminist hero.

"Without doubt, issues pertaining to culture, especially the expansion of opportunities for women to serve alongside men in all appointments without harassment, have dominated public perception of the Army in the last three years," he said.

General Morrison says his motives in leading the way in cultural change were not purely altruistic, but he warns that "unless the Army and the ADF in its entirety stays abreast of the seismic shifts in Australia's demography and ensuing changes in the composition and age of our labour pool, we risk becoming an occupational ghetto, a smokestack industry that has failed to adapt to change in society norms."

"I don't want anyone to misunderstand me, delivering a force that can fight is what I'm about but making it a better organisation in terms of the way we respect each other, our Army, our defence force, and our country, that's the best thing I've ever done."

General Morrison finishes his term as Chief of Army in July.

Michael Brissenden is the ABC's Defence Correspondent based in Canberra. View his full profile here.