Defending Australia

Australian Foreign Affairs #4

by Jonathan Pearlman (Editor), Michael Wesley, John Birmingham

The fourth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the challenge of defending Australia at a time of regional uncertainty and fast-changing military technology. It explores the nation’s main vulnerabilities and the capabilities needed to secure against them, including the consequences of a nuclear arms race in Asia.

Genres: Nonfiction

140 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2018

Reviews

[Pat Nino]

Enjoyment 5/5

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our politicians are back from holidays and busy trading barbs with each other in preparation for the election due later on this year. At this stage, neither of the major parties have anything on their websites about foreign policy or defence, but you can bet that (apart from securing the defence vote with a shopping list of weaponry), the campaigns are going to focus on the domestic hip pocket nerve and the culture wars. If any of our politicians are seriously thinking about our changing region and the policy changes that are needed, then they're not telling voters about it. (Yet. A good scare campaign is a useful campaign weapon if the national mood veers towards a change of government).

What kind of issues should our government be tackling?

This is the blurb for the most recent issue of the Australian Foreign Affairs Journal:

The fourth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs examines the challenge of defending Australia at a time of regional uncertainty and fast-changing military technology. It explores the nation’s main vulnerabilities and the capabilities needed to secure against them, including the consequences of a nuclear arms race in Asia.

Michael Wesley examines the state of Australia’s security as Asia’s power balance shifts.
Patrick Walters probes the overhaul of Australia’s expanding intelligence agencies.
John Birmingham analyses Australia’s weapons capabilities as the military expands its reach.
Stephan Frühling explores Australia’s options for developing nuclear weapons to protect its maritime approaches.
Jane Perlez discusses the West’s misjudgement of Xi Jinping, China’s leader for life.
Matthew Thompson examines Rodrigo Duterte’s murderous rule in the Philippines.
Tess Newton Cain reports on mining in the Pacific region.



The issue begins with a striking piece of information:

Australia's military has fought almost continuously since the nation was founded in 1901. More than 100,000 soldiers have died in more than twenty-five separate conflicts, and 2400 are currently on active duty in at least seven countries. These various wars and operations are, with one exception, linked by a convenient thread: they have all occurred elsewhere. (Editor's Note, p.3)

(The exception is the Japanese bombing of Australia's northern coastline and the submarine raids in Sydney Harbour in WW2. Neither of these involved landing enemy troops here.).

We send our defence forces overseas, and we spend lots of money on lethal weaponry, but can anyone born after WW2 remember even a rudimentary air raid drill in a major city? We haven't a civil defence program since WW2 because we haven't feared being attacked. We haven't feared being attacked because of our geography: we can't defend our landmass, but Australia has been difficult to attack effectively:

...its major population centres, economic heartlands and government infrastructure are hard to strike and occupy. Australia has 'strategic depth' unlike that of any other country on earth, in that an attack that comes from its northern or western approaches would have to cross thousands of kilometres of uninhabited and inhospitable territory before reaching its goal of the continent's south-eastern corner. A direct attack on Australia's south-eastern coastline faces no less daunting logistical challenges: water-borne forces are vulnerable to defensive action by opposing navies and to shore-based firepower. Any hostile country intending to mount a direct amphibious attack on Australia's south-eastern coast would need to establish sea control and command of the air, while suppressing shore-based defence systems, an almost impossible task in waters thousands of kilometres from possible bases of supply. (Michael Wesley, in 'Dangerous Proximity', p.12)

Add to that Australia's history of relying on alliances with great and powerful nations (the UK till WW2, and then the US) and it's easy to see why domestic defence has long been a low-key political issue in this country.

But things are changing.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/02/03/a...