Defence
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It is a matter of national concern when senior ADF officers prefer to talk about climate change rather than military art, and define strategy in the language of corporate governance rather than that of Clausewitz. Moreover, when Special Forces soldiers can be accused of war crimes—but no senior officers are held accountable—something is wrong in the professional culture of the ADFMarch 19, 2024
25 mins
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Storms, treacherous currents, shallow waters and other factors mean there are only four months of the year in which China could mount an invasion. And there is a further complication. One to two million troops would be needed to subdue and occupy the island but, according to Chinese sources, they will not be battle-ready for at least five yearsFebruary 13, 2024
31 mins
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Consider but one example of our ongoing and worsening defence mess: what few missiles we have will bizarrely be based in Adelaide, where their range would not extend beyond Australian soil. This makes the decision to buy a state-of-the art air management battle system pointless without any equipment to manage. Has no one taken note of Ukraine, where smart missiles and drones are revealing the future of wars and how they are fought?December 20, 2023
12 mins
The latest
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If the facts are indeed as found by Justice Besanko, then the only conclusion is that Ben Roberts-Smith is a murderer. It is demeaning and patronizing to those of us who have served in combat for civilians, however well-intentioned, to suggest that we can be held to a lower standard of conduct, simply because the pressure of war caused us to abandon, however briefly, our humanity and our trainingJune 7, 2023
8 mins
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The partnership seeks to deepen diplomatic, security, and defence cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region by promoting deeper information- and technology-sharing as well as a deeper integration of security and defence-related science. For that shared vision to be realised much work is neededNovember 24, 2022
6 mins
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Hugh White's Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with America is a genuinely memorable achievement, for few authors ever manage to get so much wrong in so relatively few words. As a blueprint for relations with Beijing and the US, its diagnosis is misguided and prognosis laughableNovember 21, 2022
16 mins
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True, the compulsion of any citizen into forced national service is a grave matter for a free nation to countenance. What Abbott has recognised, however, is the evident gravity of our national predicament. Amid China's aggression and doubts about US military strength and policy, there are three paramount reasons why his suggestion needs to be taken seriouslyNovember 11, 2022
6 mins
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Thirteen defence ministers have come and gone since 2001, a ceaseless churn that has seen incumbents obliged to co-ordinate rather than control. With three distinct and horizontally divided components -- the political class, civilian bureaucracy and the profession of arms -- the result has been a collective failure to coordinate aims and policiesOctober 28, 2022
37 mins
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'Putin is not Hitler, Ukraine is not Czechoslovakia, and these are not the 1930s, but there are plenty of disturbing parallels, including a new 'axis' of great powers ready to disturb the peace to get what they want. The Russian dictator and Xi Jinping, issued a declaration on “International Relations Entering a New Era”. We know the type of new era they have in mind'April 3, 2022
13 mins
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Australia’s decision to partner with the US and UK in […]November 29, 2021
5 mins
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Victor Gao, of Beijing’s Centre for China and Globalisation, has warned the AUKUS partnership makes Australia 'a target for possible nuclear attacks'. If we do join the team, it should be with eyes open to the real risks in not following New Zealand's lead and kowtowing low and longNovember 11, 2021
19 mins
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Scott Morrison departed today for the Washington, where he will thrash out the details of Australia's deal to take the RAN into the nuclear age. It is a laudable move but one that won't see the first submarine arrive for a decade. The PM can remedy that by offering to buy or lease the older but still potent Los Angeles class boats the US Navy is in the process of retiringSeptember 20, 2021
6 mins
