{"id":3688,"date":"2013-01-30T13:36:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-30T03:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=3688"},"modified":"2013-01-31T09:14:01","modified_gmt":"2013-01-30T23:14:01","slug":"the-nss-a-strategy-within-a-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/the-nss-a-strategy-within-a-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"The NSS: a strategy within a strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n

Last week’s\u00a0National Security Strategy<\/a> has attracted a mixed reaction, with many commentators focussing (rightly) on the vagueness of the document and the lack of any concrete spending commitments.<\/p>\n

But the PM\u2019s speech<\/a> on launching the paper was rather more concrete. In particular, she emphasised three big changes in Australia\u2019s strategic environment: a swing back to focusing on states rather than non-state actors, on our region rather than the world, and on diplomacy over other alternatives.<\/p>\n

I think she\u2019s right on each of these. The tensions between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, and between China and almost everyone in the South China Sea, are good examples. Both are all about states, all about our region (and particularly maritime sea lanes and freedom of passage, perhaps the most crucial security issue for Australia) and (hopefully) both can be resolved diplomatically. If not, we\u2019re in trouble.<\/p>\n

This also suggests to me that it will be the intelligence agencies, which have grown hugely in the post-9\/11 era, that will bear the brunt of any funding cuts this time around. The ramp-up in spending in intelligence over the past decade has been very much driven by the \u2018war on terror\u2019. But the PM was unequivocal in declaring the war won: \u2018Osama Bin Laden is dead. Al Qaeda\u2019s senior leadership is fractured. Jemaah Islamiah has been decimated in our region\u2019.<\/p>\n

The other major beneficiary of the loose funding of the past decade, AusAID, could also get a haircut. Given that its now $5 billion annual budget has come largely at the expense of defence and foreign affairs, a serious look at the opportunity costs and national interests inherent in Australia\u2019s emergence as a major aid donor is well overdue. If Australia\u2019s sea-lanes of trade and communication are threatened, it won\u2019t be the aid industry that comes to the rescue.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, a swing back to a more realist rather than liberal strategy for Australia is overdue. But hard power requires hard decisions on spending. As they say in the Pentagon, \u2018show me your budget and I\u2019ll show you our strategy\u2019.<\/p>\n

On this point, the PM\u2019s speech did include one ludicrous clanger\u2014a claim, since amended on the official draft, that Australia is the world\u2019s second largest defence spender per capita. According to 2012 SIPRI figures<\/a>, we are not even in the top 10 on this measure, falling behind the US, Israel, Singapore and even Norway, amongst others.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Reilly is professor of political science at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University. Image courtesy of Flickr user backpackphotography<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week’s\u00a0National Security Strategy has attracted a mixed reaction, with many commentators focussing (rightly) on the vagueness of the document and the lack of any concrete spending commitments. 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