forget the old Civilian in a war zone argument that was raised years ago...
Always was a nefarious argument. Nothing precludes the controllers involved from being employed as Defence Civilians, therefore, no legal impediment. Throughout military history, civilians have been employed in specialist positions and deployed to combat areas whilst performing their duties as civilian specialists. This is nothing new to Armed Conflict.
However, I would find some comfort if the selection of such individuals were made by the ADF and not by Airservices Australia, having seen some disturbing breaches of security on VHF frequencies by civilian controllers with somewhat arrogant and gleefull disregard for the consequences to Defence personnel. The same controllers who treat their own colleagues with previous Defence employment somewhat differently to those without a history of employment in the ADF.
An e-mail to an Airservices Line Manager, written in appropriate business language with a short explanation of OPSEC and a very polite request was met with the response... "we don't have to comply with OPSEC".