Release of an Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Occasional Paper 

Over the next few months the Government will be reviewing Australia’s long-term defence policies. Inevitably it will focus on ways to adapt our policies to the consequences of the terrorist attacks which occurred in New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 

These reviews will be important for Australia’s future defence and security, and there will be significant public interest in them. 

To help stimulate public discussion and input to the process the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has compiled a quick guide to some of the defence and security issues that the reviews will need to address to help stimulate public discussion and input to the process. 

Some of the issues the guide considers include.

• Are the events of 11 September 2001 the start of a new era in global security?
• Where is the United States is heading?
• Has 11September reduced the regional challenges to Australia’s security?
• How much greater is the terrorist threat to Australia now than on 10 September last year? What can we do to respond to the threat of terrorism in Australia?
• Do we need different capabilities in our defence force, or a different defence philosophy? Do we need to spend more on Defence?

Contributions to the debate can be made through a number of ways:

• following the links on our web site at www.aspi.org.au.
• writing to us at the address in this publication.
• attending one of the public seminars which will be held in some capital cities. Details of these seminars will be available on our web site and advertised in the local press.

Later in the year after receiving feedback from the community ASPI will publish some firm conclusions and proposals in our own strategic policy review. 

ASPI’s Operations and Capability Program, headed by Mr Aldo Borgu, prepared the Paper with the assistance of ASPI’s Director, Mr Hugh White, and ASPI’s other Program Directors. 

ASPI is a new federally funded Centre, set up to provide fresh ideas on Australia’s defence and strategic policy choices. We will help to inform public debate by publishing information on the strategic issues that confront Australia, and providing the Commonwealth Government with alternative perspectives on defence policy issues.

The second annual Australia-India Security Roundtable concluded yesterday in Sydney. It consolidated the success of the inaugural Security Roundtable held in New Delhi in July 2001. 

The roundtable brings together leading Australian and Indian defence and security experts from outside government. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is the lead Australian organisation, with generous financial support provided by the Australia-India Council. 

In their Outcomes Statement, participants called on both countries to strengthen bilateral security and defence relations to achieve a level of closeness befitting their common interests. 

They also emphasised the value of this second track security dialogue to support efforts at the government level and promote understanding within the broader community. 

The roundtable will convene again next year in India.

The Minister for Defence, Sen the Hon Robert Hill tonight officially launched the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) at the Anzac Hall, Australian War Memorial. 

ASPI has been set up by the Government as an independent centre of research on strategic and defence policy. Its role is to promote Australia’s security by contributing fresh ideas to Government strategic decision-making, and by helping to inform public discussion of strategic and defence issues. 

In his opening remarks Professor Robert O’Neill, the Chairman of the ASPI Council, drew on the venue of the launch to remind the audience that Australia has been no stranger to conflict over the last hundred years, whether from defending against direct attack or offering support for the rule of international law to re-establish peace. 

“We have not always got it right in our past policies and commitments. Australia and Australians have suffered for these shortcomings and many others over the past hundred years. One common element in these errors of judgement was a lack of objective analysis and unfettered, open debate at the level of strategic policy making by the federal government. They were compounded by a public opinion which was sometimes ignorant and sometimes apathetic.” 

ASPI’s objective is to become the Government’s major source of information, analysis and proposals on strategic policy issues outside the ADF and the Public Service, and as such, a major influence on Government decision making. 

The Institute aims to become one of the most authoritative and widely quoted contributors to public discussion of strategic policy issues in Australia and a recognised and authoritative Australian voice in international discussion of strategic issues, especially in the Asia-Pacific. 

The Director of ASPI, Mr Hugh White, said that ASPI’s work will cover the whole range of defence and strategic policy issues currently facing Government: strategic and international, operations and capability, and budget and management. 

“Australia needs to rethink our strategic relationship with Indonesia. We need to shape a bilateral defence and security relationship with the newly independent East Timor. We face major force-structure decisions on such key issues such as the future of our air combat force and the shape of our surface fleet. 

“There are also big questions to be addressed about the way we fund and support our forces. We need to ensure that capability is delivered as cost effectively as possible, and as quickly as possible. ASPI will have a major contribution to make on all these issues.” 

Further information about ASPI, including its research and publication program, is available from its web-site at: http://www.aspi.org.au

More Information:

Media contact: Ms Janice Johnson 6270 5109 

Senator Hill’s speech is available from his office. 

Phone + 61 6270 5100 Fax + 61 2 6273 9566 www.aspi.org.au ACN 097 369 045

Media Release – Minister of Defence

Hugh White is to be the first Director of Australia’s new strategic and defence policy think-tank, The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). 

ASPI has been established by the Government as an independent source of information and ideas on Australia’s defence and strategic needs. It will focus on practical policy issues and offer specific proposals. 

Australia faces major strategic and security challenges in our own region, in the wider Asia-Pacific and from global trends including terrorism and people-smuggling. 

ASPI will stimulate debate on our defence choices and provide Government with fresh views and perspectives on difficult issues. 

It will introduce a new element of contestability in the policy advice available to Government on defence issues. 

Defence and other Commonwealth agencies provide excellent advice to Government, but more diversity and competition will help ensure that old ideas do not outlive their usefulness, and new ideas are evaluated on their merits. 

Hugh White has worked on strategic and defence issues for many years, as an intelligence analyst, journalist, ministerial adviser and senior Defence official. 

As Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Defence Department from 1995 to 2000, he has been a key adviser to government, principal author of a number of recent policy documents and an important contributor to the Defence 2000 White Paper. 

ASPI has been set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee. 

The directors of the Company are appointed by the Government, but are given full and independent authority to steer the activities of the Institute to achieve its objectives. 

I announced the membership of the board on 5 July 2001. 

The Institute is non-partisan, and enjoys the full support of both the Government and the Opposition. 

One position on the Board is filled by a nominee of the Leader of the Opposition. 

Under a seven year funding agreement, the Institute will receive funding from the Government of between $2.1m and $3m per annum, and will also seek funding from other sources. 

ASPI’s work program will cover the full range of strategic and defence policy issues, including strategy, force development and management. 

It will produce a substantial program of published research and conduct seminars and workshops. 

ASPI will work with a small core staff of around six people. 

Most of its research will be contracted out to experts in academia, the media, industry and elsewhere in the community, as well as from those with experience in Government and the ADF.

Date: Thursday, 11 October 2001 
By: Australian Strategic Policy Institute