Special Report Issue 43 – More than good deeds: Disaster risk management and Australian, Japanese and US Defence forces

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This report, authored by Athol Yates and Anthony Bergin, suggests that Asia–Pacific states need to allocate greater resources to risk reduction activities and increase the speed and effectiveness of relief efforts.

Australia, Japan and the US are active in promoting disaster risk management as a key component of their Asia–Pacific relations and regional military engagement strategies.

This report argues that the three states’ militaries will continue to play an increasing role across the disaster risk management spectrum.

The primary justification for dispatching defence forces to help another country experiencing a disaster is usually humanitarian.

But for Australia, Japan and the US, there are several other drivers: reinforcing alliances and partnerships, advancing foreign policy agendas and providing knowledge of operational military capabilities.
To better match the three nations’ defence forces’ disaster assistance capabilities with government expectations, the report recommends:

Watch a video of Anthony Bergin discussing this paper on ASPI’s YouTube channel.

Strategic Insights 54 – Keeping the home fires burning: Australia’s energy security

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In this paper, Andrew Davies and Edward Mortimer look at Australia’s energy security. Energy is the lifeblood of modern economies. The correlation between energy consumption and prosperity is strong—and that’s unlikely to change. Those simple observations have some profound implications.

Australia, like all modern economies, needs an assured supply of energy to function effectively. As a net exporter of energy, Australia is well placed in most respects. But we are still reliant on external sources of oil. The first part of this report examines Australia’s vulnerability to interruptions in the oil supply over the next few years.

Over the next couple of decades, externalities will reshape the world market for energy. In particular, the sources of oil will be increasingly concentrated in the hands of OPEC producers. At the same time, greatly increased consumption of energy by the developing economies of India and China will increasingly concentrate consumption in non-OECD countries. So the mechanisms for managing world energy markets—such as the International Energy Agency—will increasingly reflect a historic view of energy production and consumption. The second part of the paper looks at mechanisms by which Australia and other developed economies can adjust to the new realities.

The last part of the paper looks at the potential for renewable energy to meet a substantial proportion of Australian and global energy requirements. The conclusion is that current technologies are unlikely to meet demand.