Ever since Covid-19 started cutting a swathe through global supply chains, countless column inches in Australia have been devoted to the need for sovereign manufacturing capabilities as a defence against future disruptions. To its credit, …
The Strategist on: "North of 26° south"
The Australian Defence Force and all three levels of government should work together to establish and maintain ‘mounting’ bases in Australia’s north from which overseas operations could be launched. The ADF has home bases, mounting …
To make sure that northern Australia is ready to support a range of defence contingencies, the region must have socially and economically prosperous communities. Supporting the development of these kinds of communities is no easy …
Australians’ daily reliance on digital communications infrastructure—from smartphones and social media platforms to the National Broadband Network—is changing the nature of national security risks. Just like our networked communication patterns, contemporary security risks are becoming …
The Australian government says its new foreign relations bill is about one thing: ensuring foreign policy consistency by reviewing state and territory deals that could undercut Canberra. Fair enough. Foreign policy is a federal—and constitutionally …
Northern Australia can expect to see more visits from US forces, which will create both economic and strategic benefits for Australia. Two recent US government decisions are set to change how the US military, and …
China has dominated the world’s supply of rare-earth elements for decades. Over the past year, however, there has been a growing recognition among the US and its allies (including Australia, South Korea, Japan and India) …
The government’s continuous shipbuilding program has provided a fillip for defence industry in South Australia and Western Australia, but benefits are also set to flow to other parts of the country. Importantly, Australia’s north, particularly …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison released the 2020 defence strategic update to define Australia’s evolving challenges and provide guidance on defence policy, capability and force structure. The new strategic objectives are to ‘shape’, ‘deter’ and ‘respond’. …
Development and industry investment in the Northern Territory has long been hampered by the cost of energy. The territory’s focus on natural gas and liquefied natural gas for almost all of its energy exports has …
It isn’t news that diverse workforces are a key to producing high-quality, innovative and competitive results. There’s no shortage of evidence from both the private and public sectors that diverse teams solve problems more effectively, …
I read with interest the recent Strategist posts by John Coyne and Graeme Dunk in which they apparently took different stands on the importance of northern Australia for our defence. With better definition of how …