by Marcus Hellyer | May 2, 2024 | Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Strategy & Capability
On Wednesday 23 April, the Albanese Government released its National Defence Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP). The NDS was foreshadowed in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) and is meant to appear every two years, replacing Defence White Papers....
by Peter Jennings | May 1, 2024 | Defence Budget, Policy
The appearance at the National Press Club of ASIO director-general Mike Burgess and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Wednesday coincided with a massive counter-terror operation in NSW. On Thursday, five juveniles were charged with various...
by Anthony Bergin and Maurice Brownjohn | Apr 22, 2024 | Policy
Pacific leaders have long recognised the benefits to be derived from investing more in ocean science to support national and regional economic growth in ocean sectors. The islands, while small, have huge ocean areas. That makes them large ocean states. Managing the...
by Anthony Bergin | Apr 19, 2024 | China, Policy
After Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s recent meeting with Penny Wong in land-locked Canberra it was surprising he didn’t head to Hobart for a photo op next to the Xue Long, one of China’s three icebreakers, that had travelled to Hobart from Zhongshan in China. In...
by Mike Kelly and Anthony Bergin | Apr 19, 2024 | Policy
The massive and direct aggression against Israel by Iran should wake up the democratic world to the true nature of the geopolitical and terror threat at the heart of the Israel-Hamas conflict. We’re all facing the same rectangle of rogues: Iran, Russia,...
by Marcus Hellyer | Apr 19, 2024 | AUKUS, Defence Budget
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles unleashed a blizzard of numbers yesterday when he launched the Albanese government’s first National Defence Strategy and the first public version of the Department of Defence’s acquisition plan in four years. Those numbers included...
by Peter Jennings | Apr 18, 2024 | Strategy & Capability
At the start of inevitably lengthy police and intelligence inquiries into the terrorism-motivated stabbing at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley, Sydney, it is best to begin by outlining the questions that need to be answered. In an age of increasing...
by Peter Jennings | Apr 15, 2024 | Europe
On Israeli estimates, Iran launched 185 drones, 36 cruise missiles and 110 surface-to-surface missiles against targets in the Negev desert. That’s quite a barrage considering Tehran’s overwhelming objective is to avoid rather than to start a full-scale war with...
by Graeme Dunk | Apr 15, 2024 | Policy, Strategy & Capability
Deterrence has been this Government’s mantra from the early stages of its time in office. Initially promoted under the guise of “impactful projection”, the position was reinforced in the Defence Strategic Review (DSR) with the stated, repeated, need to ‘focus on...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Apr 13, 2024 | AUKUS, China, Defence Budget, Indo Pacific, Podcasts, Policy, Strategy & Capability
Devalued words and dollars damage Australia’s secu | RSS.com The Grumpy Strategists assess the state of public decisions and defence policy making in Australia: the damaging path of ‘profound’ and ‘transformative’ policies that...
