Defence and Security
-
The smart money is that in defending Australia we will be on our own. Part 3
The government’s recent Defence Strategic Update suggests Australia faces the greatest threat to our independence since 1942. In this final article of three, I consider the need for a Review, both to design a new Australian military strategy and analyse the essential elements of the new force structure that this will require. Continue reading »
-
A first-use US nuclear posture would be dangerous for the world and for Australia.
First use confronts Australia and the region with a real possibility of utter catastrophe, and ambiguity is almost as bad. We must base our policies on the truism that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. Continue reading »
-
Sharp-edged but sophisticated diplomacy needs to underpin our defence strategy Part 1
The government’s recent Defence Strategic Update suggests Australia faces the greatest threat to our independence since 1942. This demands a sophisticated diplomatic strategy, the development of a sound military strategy to deter an attack by a great power and careful analysis of how to design the right force structure to deliver it. This first article Continue reading »
-
A special investigation: Naval, builder of Australian submarines, at centre of numerous global corruption scandals
The arms company at the centre of a deadly criminal saga and numerous global corruption scandals, Naval Group, was selected by the Australian government to build our new fleet of submarines – a deal heralded as ‘one of the world’s most lucrative defence contracts‘. How did this happen? Continue reading »
-
Australian submarines operating in the South China Sea is a very provocative and very bad idea.
In responding to my post (19 October) about the Morrison government’s plan to spend at least $90 billion on large submarines, Jon Stanford’s post (21 October ) argues that we should do what the Commander of the US Submarine Force wants with our submarines. Continue reading »
-
China is not the urgent threat; climate change is
Spending priorities by the federal government are increasingly questionable, if not indefensible; they raise fundamental questions about the competence and intelligence of our policymaking elites. Continue reading »
-
What should Australian submarines do? – Response to Brian Toohey
Brian Toohey’s challenging post (19 October) concerns what we want our submarines to do. In light of the recent Defence Strategic Update, the ADF needs to build a force capable of deterring an attack by a major power. Continue reading »
-
In for a penny, in for a pound: $90 billion for an obsolete submarine fleet
So much for Australian sovereignty. We are locked out of repairing key US components of our subs’ computer systems, and the Coalition has committed our submarine fleet to the extraordinarily dangerous role of helping the US conduct surveillance in the South China Sea. Continue reading »
-
Bowling Tips from John Howard
Former Prime Minister John Howard loved cricket as much as he loved war-making. Problem was he was terrible at the former and successful at the latter. Continue reading »
-
LobbyLand ‘Culture of cosiness’: colossal conflicts of interest in Defence spending blitz
In Part 1 of her three-part investigation, Michelle Fahy investigates the corporate influence on government policy and how weapons makers cultivate relationships with politicians and top officials in the public service. Continue reading »
-
Army and Defence PR – an ungrateful mess
Australian Army PR was once a successful system which benefitted the troops, media and the community. Now it has been subsumed into a bureaucratic corporate brand management system closely controlled by Ministers and their staff. Continue reading »
-
Media failure again on alleged chemical weapons attacks in Syria
Two new reports from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons challenge claims that chemical weapons were used in two alleged attacks in Syria. Continue reading »
-
Julia Gillard and those Military Funerals
While sitting in on 24 soldier funerals did Gillard ask herself the same question, in substance, “is it worth it?”. No doubt each time she would have given herself the same answer “yes”. Continue reading »
-
Foreign Minister’s Tokyo claims Australia’s contribution to disinformation?
Australia’s Foreign Minister has announced she will travel to Tokyo to meet with other members of the Quad (the US, Japan and India) to jointly counter disinformation campaigns by authoritarian states and to ensure supplies of minerals and technology. Does this mean it is only authoritarian states that are not allowed to engage in disinformation? Continue reading »
-
Australia and VC Awards
Among the many memorial plaques in the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral is a small plaque and bust honouring Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC (9 November 1884 – 4 August 1917). Continue reading »
-
Soon we must admit defeat in Afghanistan, and war crimes
I doubt we can fashion much of a narrative of which Australians could be proud when we consider what will be happening soon with Afghanistan. What will probably be good for Afghanistan — a measure of peace — will be a result of our defeat, not our participation. Continue reading »
-
Military and Economic Deals aren’t ‘peace arrangements’ just because Trump says so (Canberra Times Sep 19, 2020)
‘Peace’ is not in the air, (Carlill, Canberra Times, 16/9). The deal done between Israel, Bahrain and the UAE, boastfully brokered by President Trump, has little to do with ‘peace’, but much with military hardware and hoped for economic gain. Continue reading »
-
A Tale of Two Prosthetic Legs: Panel Beating History at the Australian War Memorial
Visitors to the Afghanistan: The Australian Story exhibition are offered a theme park experience. Symbols, slogans, and sensations. Hop on an emotional rollercoaster and spin round corners to vicariously witness an ambush. Continue reading »
-
Is Hong Kong a repeat of the CIA-sponsored Iranian coup?
The unmistakable parallels between Hong Kong SAR 2019 protests and the CIA sponsored 1953 Iranian Coup d’état is yet another ‘(c)overt’ U.S. government interference to influence and disrupt other states that challenge American hegemony. Continue reading »
-
Sipping champagne with the arms dealers
The Australian War Memorial is mutating from the keeper of the flame to the hider of the shame. Continue reading »
-
Intelligence is the servant of policy, not its substitute
Jack Waterford has provided a scathing assessment of the role of the intelligence and security agencies in Australia’s current contretemps with China. How should we evaluate the suggestion that the conduct of our international relations is driven more by intelligence than it is by policy? Continue reading »
-
ASIO is a Mickey Mouse outfit compromising 50 years of diplomacy with China
When head of the Australian Signals Directorate, Mike Burgess was the main adviser recommending against Huawei being allowed into the 5G network. There is no doubt about his intelligence background, or his technical talents. He has, however, yet to demonstrate in public that he has that first quality of the counter-intelligence officer and adviser — Continue reading »
-
The National Insecurity State
When the ‘war on terror’ was only seven years old, an Australian former Ambassador to Beijing pointed to its risks and costs for Australia. Garry Woodard warned that rather than protecting ‘national security’, such an open-ended war could widen our obligations to the US and narrow our options in dealing with China. Continue reading »
-
Problems with new F-35 fighter planes shouldn’t fly under the radar (Canberra Times Sep 1, 2020)
Defence gives an average price of less than $126 million for Australia’s 72 F-35s when fully delivered. But the Australian Strategy Policy Institute estimates the sustainment costs to be triple those of the F-18 fighters it replaces. Continue reading »
-
The myth and the veterans’ problems that will not die
There are almost too many myths about Australia’s Vietnam War involvement to keep track. But one of them – that all National Service conscripts had the option of volunteering or not when about to be posted to Vietnam – is possibly the most persistent. Continue reading »
-
Spies are often the ‘second eleven’
When the full history of Australia’s slide into McCarthyite hysteria over China is written there should be special mention of the role of our spy organizations – ASIO and ASIS in particular. As someone who has worked over the years in three of the main spy-ridden hot-spots – USSR, China and Japan – I think Continue reading »
-
Government must stop militarising our biggest challenges
Proposed legislation to enable the PM to declare a national emergency and call in the troops appears to be yet another example of the government’s dangerous tendency to militarise our biggest challenges, including climate change. Continue reading »
-
The atrocious foreign interference law – It doesn’t add up
When, for example, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) receives grants from the US State Department to undertake research projects it is an admission that it is engaging in conduct on behalf of a foreign principal. Continue reading »
-
The militarisation of Australian history: its origin
C.E.W. Bean’s account of Australia’s entry into World War I is misleading. It has a deliberate imperial bias. It was propaganda. Continue reading »
-
Defence settings – Have we got it right?
Recent articles on our defence and security postures, and their impact on civil society, have preferred pacifism over a more defensive tone. While pacific sentiment is noble, we should never underestimate harsher realities. Continue reading »