Last week’s parliamentary committee hearings confirmed the need for, and the risks of, the Defence Estate Audit. The audit was meant to improve infrastructure efficiency. Instead, it has exposed a deeper strategic problem: Australians are …
Articles by: "Raelene Lockhorst"
While Australia’s defence strategy has moved north at speed, its permanent workforce has not. The latest analysis product from ASPI’s Northern Australia Policy Centre maps the distribution of regular Australian Defence Force members across Australia …
An audit of Australia’s military landholdings and the government’s response to it, both issued on 4 February, mark the most significant reform of the assets in decades. Long expected, the audit lands at a critical …
In 1940, with much of Europe under fascist domination, US president Franklin Roosevelt declared that the United States must become ‘the great arsenal of democracy’. US industry mobilised, producing ships, aircraft and ammunition on an …
In 1940, with much of Europe under fascist domination, US president Franklin Roosevelt declared that the United States must become ‘the great arsenal of democracy’. US industry mobilised, producing ships, aircraft and ammunition on an …
As Defence prepares the 2026 National Defence Strategy, Mungalulu Truscott Airbase should be recognised as a multi-user critical infrastructure asset—a forward node complementing Darwin that enables logistics, personnel dispersal and operational resilience across northern Western …
In 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 and established the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. This formally recognised not only the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls, but also …
Policing in the Pacific has never been about propping up governments; it has always been about serving communities. Yet Beijing’s introduction of Mao-era community policing into Solomon Islands last week was a sharp departure from …
It’s getting on for two years now, and the government is still not saying how it will reconfigure the Defence establishment’s land holdings, known as the Defence estate. It announced an audit of the Defence …
Thirty-three years ago, Deng Xiaoping said that ‘The Middle East has oil, but China has rare earths.’ Today, that rings truer than ever. Critical minerals and rare earths are no longer niche commodities; they are …
Northern Australia’s resilience in the face of crises depends not only on military facilities but on a network of civil infrastructure—ports, liquid-fuel facilities, airfields and logistics hubs that keep people, goods, and equipment moving. Whether …
Australia’s national security is increasingly shaped by the resilience and presence of communities across our remote and strategically significant regions. With more than 10,000 km of vulnerable coastline, northern Australia is a crucial frontline both …