Australians of all political persuasions have every reason to be proud of the newly-issued Defence White Paper. It lays out a logical, well-reasoned and broadly supportable articulation of the strategic environment likely to develop in …
Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper marks the return of geography to defence planning. Not that it had ever entirely disappeared, although Defence Minister Robert Hill at times tried his best to ridicule the importance of …
Sea State China and Cambodia held their first joint naval training exercise last week, with three Chinese warships docking in Sihanoukville port on 22 February for a five day visit. 70 Cambodian sailors and 737 …
While many of the attributes of the genus Homo are shared by other species, it’s the use of fire which uniquely distinguishes Homo from other members of the animal kingdom. Evolved on the surface of …
SEA 1000 boils down to a straight-forward project for those who know how to deliver submarines in the export market to an overseas techno-culture, and a very difficult project for those who don’t. The project …
China’s role in the world continues to evolve strategically and economically. For those watching from a safe distance—such as the capitals of Europe—China’s strategic trajectory doesn’t even rate a mention amid the scramble for profit. …
The new Defence White Paper is an advance on many fronts. Its appreciation of the changing security landscape is accurate, its logic is mostly clear and it contains a government commitment to spend significantly more, …
Last year, the Defence White Paper expert advisory panel set out to gauge public attitudes to Defence. The community made it clear to the expert panel, chaired by ASPI’s Executive Director Peter Jennings, that they …
The new Defence White Paper outlines spending of up to $80 billion on land combat and amphibious warfare out to 2025–26. In terms of equipment modernisation, the plans have focused on greater protected mobility, situational …
UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura’s background and leadership style (see part 1) have influenced his approach to the Syrian conflict from the day UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked him to take on …
Releasing the Defence White Paper, the Turnbull government followed the unfortunate precedent set by the Rudd and Gillard governments and ignored Parliament. The snub would perplex and provoke powerful Parliamentarians from Oliver Cromwell to John …
It’s been a big week here at The Strategist with yesterday’s release of the 2016 Defence White Paper (PDF). If you’ve been waiting as long as we have for the launch of #DWP2016, prepare to …
The 2016 Defence White Paper emphasises the importance of a potent strike and air combat capability for the defence of Australia and its national interests. Over the next decade, Defence has committed to invest between $44.2 …
The 2016 Defence White Paper represents the most ambitious plan to regenerate Royal Australian Navy since World War II—at least according to the Turnbull government. The Navy will receive approximately $48.75 billion for defence capability …
Read quickly, one could walk away satisfied with how the Government has dealt with Army’s role and force structure in the recently released Defence White Paper. There are some new and frankly exciting additions to …
The new Defence White Paper sets out that ‘Australia’s security and prosperity depend on a stable Indo–Pacific region and rules-based global order’. This is the last of three strategic defence interests identified in the paper, …
That Putinism is in trouble at home isn’t news. Russian economist and former vice chairman of Russia’s Central Bank, Sergei Aleksashenko, estimates that Russia’s GDP fell by 9% in 2015. In a recent poll by …
Modern Defence White Papers are notoriously difficult to craft. As public documents, they’re fragile vehicles that are expected to carry a number of heavy loads. They must be accurate enough in their scan of the …
The Turnbull government’s new Defence White Paper promises to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP by 2020–21—three years earlier than Tony Abbott promised. Better still, they’ve provided an explicit table of Defence funding across …
The strategic narrative of Australia’s new Defence White Paper contains some interesting new aspects. One is the expression of much greater concern about the emerging maritime order in East Asia and China’s growing willingness to …