The $1 billion failure of the Super Seasprite helicopter project was a low point in Australian government procurement. It seems incomprehensible that the Department of Defence could ever replicate it. In detailing a rapid deterioration …
Articles by: "David Fawcett"
‘When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.’ — Edmund Burke, ‘Thoughts on the cause of present discontents’, 1770 The only …
The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed weaknesses in Australia’s supply chains and manufacturing capacity and prompted a re-examination of the concept of sovereignty more broadly. One prominent contention is that globalisation has been steadily eroding Australia’s …
Competition between Australian states is nothing new, but the claims about the Land 400 program by Victoria and Queensland in the past few months have taken it to a new level and highlight a disturbing …
‘The goalposts weren’t just moved, they were cut down and used for firewood.’ That’s how former Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson characterised the impact of defence budget cuts as the three-year political cycle drove the …
When Prime Minister Gillard announced the National Security Strategy in January this year, she said: ‘national security is the most fundamental task of government’. Indeed Section 51 of the Constitution provides the Commonwealth with powers …
Have we been sold a dummy pass on the impact of the defence budget cuts? Statements by the Defence Minister that that future plans are merely delayed may seem reasonable when money is tight and …
Who is really in charge of the Defence Department? Many would guess the military chiefs, which is logical enough. Some would even say the Minister—civil control and all that. Or perhaps, given the recent discussion …