AUKUS is still a toddler with a long way to go

by Michael Shoebridge | Sep 20, 2023 | AUKUS, Strategy & Capability

15 September 2021 seems a long time ago in AUKUS land.  That’s when Scott Morrison (‘that fella down under’ as Joe Biden memorably called him) stood with Boris Johnson and Joe Biden to announce the birth of this new defence technology partnership that is all...

The East Coast nuclear submarine base decision is needed now, not in 2033

by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 24, 2023 | AUKUS, Strategy & Capability

US Republicans in Congress are pushing the Biden Administration to put more funding into US submarine production before Congress agrees to transfer any Virginia Class submarines to Australia. Resolved, this won’t damage but will help the AUKUS deal.  But it...

Ukraine and China: déjà vu all over again for Mr Albanese at NATO

by Michael Shoebridge | Jul 11, 2023 | China, Strategy & Capability, Ukraine

  Anthony Albanese faces a testing trip to the NATO meeting in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, this week.  And it shouldn’t be like this.  Australia has been included in recent NATO meetings because it has provided much-needed military supplies to Ukraine and...

Defence can’t fix itself and that matters for our security

by Michael Shoebridge | Jun 19, 2023 | Strategy & Capability

How trusting of Deputy Prime Minister Marles to receive a scathing report about how broken the Defence bureaucracy is and to then turn to that same bureaucracy to heal itself. And how important for Australia’s security that he reconsiders and changes course. That’s...

Is Albanese serious about tackling Defence reform?

by Peter Jennings | Jun 16, 2023 | Defence Budget, Strategy & Capability

Australia’s defence industry leaders typically operate below the radar when it comes to critiquing defence policy. That’s hardly surprising. The industry has one customer – the government – and business doesn’t complain about the paymaster. This has created a...