by Anthony Bergin | Mar 2, 2024 | Indo Pacific, South Pacific
As Papua New Guinea is our closest neighbour, we’ve got direct security interests in the country’s maritime and border security. Porous borders and poor law and order in PNG waters poses risks to Australia, whether it be from illegal immigrants, biosecurity hazards or...
by Anthony Bergin | Feb 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Hamas and its supporters are calling for a full pull-out of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip as part of any ceasefire. But as far as the legal situation is concerned, there’s no requirement in any ceasefire agreement for Israel to withdraw fully or to partially...
by Michael Shoebridge and Tom Loveard | Feb 29, 2024 | Podcasts, Strategy & Capability
Grumpy Strategists – The Makers’ Series Episode 1 | RSS.com This new Grumpy Strategists series talks with makers & leaders in Australian industry who are key to our security. Tom Loveard, Chief Technology Officer and one of the founders of C2 Robotics...
by Anthony Bergin and Greg Rose | Feb 27, 2024 | Policy
American comedian Will Rogers once quipped that, “People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke”. It’s still true. A proof was laid out recently in the joint statement by the prime ministers of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, who...
by Marcus Hellyer and Michael Shoebridge | Feb 22, 2024 | Defence Budget, Podcasts, Strategy & Capability, Ukraine
A new plan for Australia’s Navy – money, frigates & floating missile trucks, but no lessons from the Black or Red Seas | RSS.com The Grumpy Strategists review the Australian Government’s “Enhanced Lethality Surface Combatant” Plan,...
by Marcus Hellyer | Feb 21, 2024 | Defence Budget, Strategy & Capability
The Government has released the broad brushstrokes of a plan for the structure of the Royal Australian Navy’s surface fleet and for the approach to naval shipbuilding to deliver that fleet. This plan is based on the independent review of the navy’s surface fleet that...
by Michael Shoebridge | Feb 21, 2024 | China, Defence Budget, Strategy & Capability
It has taken two reviews and 19 months for Defence Minister Richard Marles to understand the Royal Australian Navy is broken. The plans it had to get new warships into the fleet were delivering too late to matter, and the navy’s eight elderly Anzac-class frigates have...
by Michael Shoebridge | Feb 19, 2024 | Defence Budget, Strategy & Capability
The Government’s challenge is to get new, properly armed warships into the Royal Australian Navy before the ageing ANZACs break and well before the first underarmed, over budget Hunter class frigate makes its way into service sometime from 2033 – and have these ships...
by Peter Jennings | Feb 18, 2024 | Defence Budget, Policy, Strategy & Capability
Richard Marles and Pat Conroy, our Defence and Defence Industry ministers, are living the lonely nightmare of seeing their careers sputter from a succession of policy and implementation failures. They are hardly alone. Marles is the 10th defence minister since the...
by Marcus Hellyer | Feb 13, 2024 | AUKUS, Defence Budget
This brief has been updated since Senate estimates hearings on the Defence portfolio on 14 February 2024 to incorporate discussion at that forum. What do we know about the budget for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine (SSN) program? Much commentary has focused on...
