Secrets make us paranoid. We should do away with secrets and spies and become a truly open society.

We have become so obsessed with the so-called China threat that our fears are now totally irrational. The decision by the USA to shoot down a Chinese balloon might have had a strange logic to it, but the call by the Opposition in Canberra to remove Chinese built cameras from around the Australian War Memorial is bizarre.

The over arching doctrine of strategic thinking in our times reached its absurd pinnacle in Mutually Assured Destruction. In this debilitated way of thinking, the leaders of Russia and America had doomsday buttons at their fingertips. Should the other side resort to use of nuclear weapons, there was a certainty that civilisation would be destroyed. The doctrine led to an arms race at the nuclear level but also in more conventional weapons - a wasteful competition which impoverished not only the superpowers but led to poverty, health crises, militarisation and civil wars across the globe.

The official wisdom in our more enlightened times is that MAD was absurd and that it no longer applies. Frequently however defence and foreign policy experts use language very similar to that created for MAD. In particular, the idea remains that peace is best maintained by ensuring that aggression will be deterred if only we are strong enough and of course that potential aggressors know we are strong.

The same contradictions remain about this diluted version of MAD. The very notion of spying shows that we do not really believe that it is important that potential aggressors know how strong we are. We are paranoid about Chinese balloons and cameras in spite of this MAD doctrine. If we really believed the deterrence doctrine, we would show potential aggressors our shiniest new military toys, not hide them from view.

Certainly, the Chinese should be more careful about their use of balloons. Where states want to exclude foreign planes, rockets and ships from their territories however, they should resort to international remedies and not take unilateral action to destroy any invaders of their air space.

What on earth does the Opposition think takes place in the Australian War Memorial? Unless Dutton and company know something hidden from the rest of Australia, what sensitive defence secrets are held in a museum that focuses on the past? There are elements of the AWMs administration which are lamentable. The failure to adequately address the frontier wars is one. Another is the drift towards interactive exhibits that make innocuous games of learning about death and destruction. Most alarming of all is the dominance of funding and decision making by arms manufacturers. All of this however, is on the public record, as it should be.

Secrets and censorship are paternalistic devices commonly practised by those in authority who imagine themselves the fount of all wisdom. While secrets and censorship might be pragmatic in some circumstances, they are incompatible with the needs of an open society and a democratic political system. They are employed quite deliberately by leaders whose preferences are towards dictatorship to control the curiosity and the legitimate right to know of the people.

Consider for a moment the savings which could be made by abolishing secret police. Our paranoia might abate to the extent that we would question the need for expensive armaments and for the stationing of foreign garrisons on Australian soil. We could even remove the US spy bases which provide no benefit to us at all. We might even be able to rebuild a working relationship with China and re-emerge as an honest broker in the Pacific, where we must lately have assumed an untrustworthy role as deputy of the USA. Our foreign policy, now dictated by containment of China might even focus on Australian interests internationally.

We have too readily accepted threats to civil society such as surveillance through spy cameras, telephone lines for anonymous dobbing and the need for espionage. These developments have not made us more secure. Perhaps it was never intended that they should do so. Abandon the secrets and re-employ those who maintain them. Democracy will be the only beneficiary.