Articles by: "Mark Thomson"
The best of times …

For the past 16 years, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of working at ASPI. But the time has come to say goodbye. To mark my retirement, the editors of The Strategist have invited me …

The wickedness of China

The Chinese Communist Party exercises sovereignty over 1.4 billion people. In doing so, it suppresses free speech, regulates political activity and exercises a pervasive program of propaganda in education, the arts and the news media. …

The Budget that was

The 2017 ASPI Cost of Defence will be launched tonight. Here’s the executive summary, and here’s a copy of my remarks at the launch event in Canberra. Regular readers of The Strategist will have seen my analysis of …

Smart buyer: just saying it doesn’t make it so

A key metric for the delivery of the 2016 Integrated Investment Plan is the approval of defence procurement projects. However, after years of uninterrupted transparency, the government has stopped disclosing what it approves. While that …

Defence exports—best bang for the buck?

Back in March, the Minister for Defence announced the results of a study of JSF-related exports by PwC. She said that the ‘Joint Strike Fighter program will create 2,600 extra defence industry jobs by 2023, …

Australia and War To-Day (part 2)

Last week, I argued that Australia needs stronger defence. Today I suggest how that might be achieved. Current plans strengthen Australia’s defences slowly. For example, the first of our ‘future submarines’ won’t enter service until …

Australia and War To-day

Sometimes events move quickly. In December 1998, John Howard wrote to his Indonesian counterpart B.J. Habibie, suggesting that East Timor should vote on self-determination. Fewer than ten months later, Australia was leading a UN sanctioned …