Labor's reaction to Zomi Frankcom's death compromises the ADF's ability to fight and win future wars. Picture Gary Ramage When Michael O’Neill, a Tasmanian who was helping to evacuate wounded Ukrainians from the frontlines, was killed by a Russian attack in May 2022,...
Vice Admiral David Johnston’s promotion to be Chief of Defence Force reminds me of the campaign slogan from the comedy series Veep, where “Vice-President” Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) runs for the top job under the banner “Continuity with Change”....
The past may be a different country, but has well trodden paths and byways. In 1938 politically peripatetic Winston Churchill seemed a lone voice against British PM Neville Chamberlain’s attempted appeasement with Hitler. Churchill warned against the Axis powers who...
The Defence Strategic Review went a long way to articulating the long-term objectives and capability priorities of the Australian Defence Force in the era of great power competition, but in light of recent developments and the rapidly shifting sands, do we need to...
In an increasingly dangerous world, planning to face the challenges is as important as directly responding. With this in mind, once again we have to ask, is an Australian national security strategy an idea that its time has come? Perhaps, uniquely among both modern...
The defence strategic review brings into sharp focus the challenges faced by Australia with respect to strategic policy, defence planning and resourcing over the coming decades. Its discussion of recruitment and retention of personnel for the Defence...
There are none so blind as those who would not see If CDF-for-life Angus Campbell has his way, seven senior special forces, some of whom served operationally under his command, will be stripped of their distinguished service awards. None has been tried or convicted of...
Opinion: A failure to resource the DSR changes adequately could mean that our deployable military operational capability will in reality be less at the end of this decade than it is today, writes Air Vice-Marshal (Ret'd) John Blackburn AO, former Deputy Chief of the...
The world is back to being a dangerous place. In Europe, Russia is fighting a major war as it tries to capture Ukraine. In the Indo-Pacific, China is building a very large, high-technology, all-domain military force, some say to use very soon,...
AUSTRALIA is not now at war at home or abroad. Greens senator Lydia Thorpe insists Australia has been at war for 200 years, but she talks big and waves a small stick. Community division as Thorpe imagines is alien to the overwhelming majority of...