Europe and Australia are connected in many ways. As liberal democratic societies, they share a common normative foundation of values that set the parameters for what the state may or may not do.
Based on that background, in September 2017 a delegation from Australia composed of practitioners, policymakers and academics travelled to Germany and Belgium to participate in the 3rd Australian Strategic Policy Institute – Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Australia–Europe Counterterrorism Dialogue, entitled Transforming the New Threat Landscape.
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Over the past 40 years, Australian governments have periodically commissioned reviews of the Australian intelligence community (AIC). The first such inquiry—the Hope Royal Commission of 1974—was commissioned by the Whitlam government as a way of shedding light on what had hitherto been a shadowy group of little-known and little-understood government agencies. It was also the beginning of a journey that would eventually bring the AIC more into public view and onto a firm legislative footing. The second Hope Royal Commission, in 1983, was partly a response to some dramatic external events, in the forms of the Coomb–Ivanov affair and a poorly judged Australian Secret Intelligence Service training exercise that went badly wrong. But it was also a continuation of the process begun by the previous commission.
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The articles in this Strategic Insights paper, originally published on the ASPI Strategist website throughout March 2017, include analysis about what women, peace and security (WPS) means for Australia’s defence and national security. The authors of individual pieces are Elisabeth Buchan, Amanda Fielding, Jenny Lee, Brendan Nicholson, Sofia Patel, Lisa Sharland, Laura J Shepherd, Amy Sheridan, Leanne Smith and Jennifer Wittwer.
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The call to improve ‘joined-up’ government articulates a principle that is the foundation of effective and efficient public administration. Increasingly, the ability of government to achieve effects that are more than the sum of their parts will determine whether Australia influences its strategic environment or is merely captive to it.
Offshore crisis response requires a higher level of multiagency interconnectedness than ever before. This level of interconnectedness requires the adoption of transformative approaches to recruitment, professional development, leadership and management.
The paper stresses the need for adaptable people, the importance of capturing lessons of recent experience and provides practical actions to strengthen joined-up government.
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The defence of Australia’s interests is a core business of federal governments. Regardless of who wins the election on July 2, the incoming government will have to grapple with a wide range of security issues. This report provides a range of perspectives on selected defence and national security issues, as well as a number of policy recommendations.
Contributors include Kim Beazley, Peter Jennings, Graeme Dobell, Shiro Armstrong, Andrew Davies, Tobias Feakin, Malcolm Davis, Rod Lyon, Mark Thomson, Jacinta Carroll, Paul Barnes, John Coyne, David Connery, Anthony Bergin, Lisa Sharland, Christopher Cowan, James Mugg, Simon Norton, Cesar Alvarez, Jessica Woodall, Zoe Hawkins, Liam Nevill, Dione Hodgson, David Lang, Amelia Long and Lachlan Wilson.
ASPI produced a similar brief before the 2013 election. There are some enduring challenges, such as cybersecurity, terrorism and an uncertain global economic outlook. Natural disasters are a constant feature of life on the Pacific and Indian Ocean rim.
But there are also challenges that didn’t seem so acute only three years ago such as recent events in the South China Sea, North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, and ISIS as a military threat and an exporter of global terrorism.
The incumbent for the next term of government will have to deal with these issues.
Launch Video
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Aserious approach to military modernisation requires countries to equip, train, and organise cyberforces for what has become an essential component of national defence and deterrence. A force without adequate cyber capabilities is more dangerous to itself than to its opponents. As nations move forward in rethinking the role and nature of their military forces, and as they study the problems of organisation, doctrine and use of cyber operations, they need to:
develop the full range of military cyber capabilities with both offensive and defensive application
create a centralised command structure for those capabilities, with clear requirements for political-level approval for action
embed those capabilities in doctrine and a legal framework based on international law.
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The government is about to make a decision on whether to spend between $8 and 10 billion of taxpayer’s money on the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It’s also an important call because it will cement the F-35 as the main instrument of Australian air-power for decades into the future.
The F-35 has a troubled past—management issues and the enormous complexity of the project have caused significant cost and schedule overruns. But now it seems to be on track to come into service with the RAAF in 2020, and to be a very capable aircraft.
The other option is a further purchase of less-advanced Super Hornets, which would come with a marginally lower price tag. But that choice would come at a cost to Canberra’s relationship with Washington as we pulled out of the US-run program, and provide less capability in a region replete with rapid military modernisation.
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The report, authored by Anthony Press, Anthony Bergin, and Eliza Garnsey, argues that the downstream implications of climate change are forcing Defence to become involved in mitigation and response tasks. Defence’s workload here will increase, so we need a new approach.
Heavy Weather makes a number of recommendations including:
Defence should work with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to establish an inter-agency working group on climate change and security. It would focus on addressing climate event scenarios for Australia and the Asia–Pacific to manage the risks those scenarios pose to national resilience and regional stability.
Defence should appoint an adviser to the Chief of the Defence Force on climate issues to develop a Responding to Climate Change Plan that details how Defence will manage the effects of climate change on its operations and infrastructure.
Defence should audit its environmental data to determine its relevance for climate scientists and systematically make that data publicly available. It should set up an energy audit team to see where energy efficiencies can be achieved in Defence.
Australia should work with like-minded countries in the ‘Five Eyes’ community to share best practice and thinking on how military organisations should best respond to extreme weather events.
The recommendations aren’t about Defence having a ‘green’ view of the world: they’re about the ADF being well placed to deal with the potential disruptive forces of climate change.
You can watch authors Anthony Bergin and Tony Press discussing this report here and here.
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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:
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The Almanac is a unique publication that brings together a wealth of information across the full-range of Defence activity in a single, easy-to-use reference source.
It is an up-to-date, fact-filled resource that places otherwise difficult to find Defence information at the reader’s fingertips and presents it in a transparent, highly readable form.
Chapters cover:
Defence and strategy looking at the constitutional and legislative basis for Defence, the military justice system, Australian strategic policy and Australia’s place in the world.
Australian Defence Force which covers ADF command arrangements, order of battle, equipment, arms and weapons, ordnance, platform activity levels, comparative military strength, Defence facilities, establishments and bases.
Department of Defence which looks at the organisation, outcomes and ouputs and management information systems.
People which covers personnel issues such as personnel numbers, ranks, recruiting activity, enlistments, Reserve, separations and salaries.
Money provides Defence outlays, comparative regional defence spending, comparative Commonwealth spending, top 30 Defence projects and top 30 Defence contractors.
Australia and the world considers significant treaties, conventions and agreements, Australian membership of intergovernmental bodies and international organisations.
Counter-terrorism covers counter-terrorism arrangements, governance structures for counter-terrorism, national terrorist situation, budget appropriations for agencies, agencies’ CT roles, terrorist organisations in Australia and terrorist incidents.
