Joel Fitzgibbon recalls being shocked when he became defence minister in 2007 to discover that after years fighting in Afghanistan Australia did not have access to NATO’s planning documents for military operations there. In a …
Tag Archive for: "defence minister"
Sometimes, says former defence minister Brendan Nelson, ministers must make decisions that run contrary to the advice they receive from their departments. That’s why his concerns about delays in developing the F-35 joint strike fighter …
Former defence minister Robert Hill says it’s clear now that, in the lead-up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein had complied with UN Security Council orders to dispose of his chemical and …
Former Australian defence minister Ian McLachlan has made a timely plea for genuine bipartisanship in defence planning to provide advice based on experience and to ensure continuity across successive governments. McLachlan, who was defence minister …
Kim Beazley recalls the 1980s when he oversaw a restructuring of Australia’s military establishment comfortable in the knowledge that no major attack was likely in the coming decade. That luxury is gone, he says. Beazley, …