While Albert Palazzo’s response to ASPI’s Beyond 2017: The Australian Defence Force and Amphibious Warfare adds another dimension to the amphibious debate in Australia, it highlights another quite interesting characteristic within Defence. Language creates a …
Both Kevin Andrews, the Defence Minister, and David Feeney, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence, were kind enough to respond to my criticisms of the Government’s naval shipbuilding program in a recent column, and especially its …
As a member of the Defence Minister’s White Paper panel, I’ve had many discussions about issues that paper will wrestle with (and a few that it certainly won’t, but that’s a post for another time). …
Sea State Last week Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced a new $89 billion domestic shipbuilding program, which includes the continuous build of surface warships in Adelaide. Here on The Strategist, Andrew Davies and Mark Thomson …
Andrew Davies and Mark Thompson have pointed out problems with the Government’s recently announced $89 billion naval shipbuilding programme. In an earlier piece on naval shipbuilding, they thought the Government had ‘the tail wagging the …
With the Abbott government’s announcement of a new ship building program in Adelaide, there will be plenty of argument over the logic and strategic basis of the decision, on top of the ongoing domestic shipbuilding …
We read the recent SDSC–CSIS report The ANZUS alliance in an ascending Asia (PDF) with interest. We agree with much of their analysis of alliance strengths and possible points of divergence in the face of …
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). It will, of course, be an important and solemn day for the families of the 38 Australians killed. For Australian …
Sea State In a move that’s shocked the Asia–Pacific and rattled the US, Thailand’s military government has announced that it will purchase Chinese submarines. There are several likely reasons for this decision, which effectively moves …
At the ASPI land power conference a few weeks ago, the PM promised an enterprise-level naval shipbuilding plan based around a rolling-build program. This will bring joy to the hearts of the burghers of South …
Trilateralism is on the rise across the Asia–Pacific as states seek safety in numbers, diversifying their relations in response to an increasingly uncertain regional security environment. On 8 June 2015, senior foreign affairs officials from Australia, …
Claims that a destabilising ‘arms race’ is underway in the Asia–Pacific have become commonplace and are supported by reports that regional defence spending has surpassed Europe for the third consecutive year. As my ASPI report released …
