If this is all true, then some very serious alarm bells must be ringing.Welcome news. I wish they would annouce the subs sooner too.
The head of the Albanese government’s strategic review has outlined an accelerated timeline for delivering its final report, dictated by the darkening circumstances Australia is confronting.
The review has the potential to transform the Australian Defence Force by recommending new capabilities it must acquire, and old capabilities that it could dispense with.
Former defence minister Stephen Smith, who is heading the review with former chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston, told a Perth security conference on Friday that he intends to deliver a big-picture interim report to the government by November 1, and their final report to Defence Minister Richard Marles by February 1.
It had previously been widely assumed that the report would not be delivered until the end of March.
But Mr Marles wants to be in a position by the end of March to make announcements about which nuclear-powered submarine option Australia will pursue and what Defence Force restructuring it will implement arising from the review.
The review will occur in tandem with the government’s review of the subs acquisition being led by Admiral Jonathan Meade. Authors of the two separate reports are expected to consult each other frequently.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is “very confident” Former Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Former… Defence Chief Sir Angus Houston are the “right people” to perform the defence strategy review. The review, announced by Mr Albanese, looks to ensure the Australian Defence Force is well positioned to More
“The sense of urgency in the review is helping the quality of submissions and also helping us in our deliberations,” Mr Smith told the Perth conference.
He emphasised that he and Sir Angus were mandated to consider force posture, which means where defence assets should be deployed, as well as the more basic issue of force structure, which refers to which defence platforms should be acquired and developed.
He also said the review would examine defence capability “now and into the future through the lens of the current strategic circumstances”.
This raises the serious possibility that the Australian Defence Force could be transformed, with the possibility that legacy projects of limited relevance to the maritime security challenges Australia faces over the next decade possibly being sidelined in order to free up funds for more relevant and urgent defence acquisitions.
Mr Smith said the review was examining all options and had not ruled anything out.
When the review was first announced, Sir Angus said the strategic circumstances of today were the worst he had seen, or which had ever applied at any time during his lifetime.
The rapid pace of the review, which is all but unprecedented in Defence terms, indicates the Albanese government is keen to make big decisions on Defence Force structure early in its first term, with a view to creating increased military capability over the next few years.
Mr Smith said it would have been open to the government to follow a traditional path for a new government of commissioning a full white paper, which could take 12 or 18 months, and look at capabilities over the next 25 to 30 years. He has often argued that Defence is at its best when it is forced to act quickly.
Stephen Smith is heading the strategic review with former chief of the Defence Force Angus Houston. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage
The government announced the strategic review on August 3, and Mr Smith and Sir Angus have completed several weeks of intense consultations in Canberra, with government agencies as well as outside stakeholders such as defence companies and think tanks.
“It was clear we needed and wanted to undertake consultations in several important parts of the country,” Mr Smith said.
He was already scheduled to speak at the Indian Ocean Defence and Security Conference in Perth, which is supported by the West Australian government.
He and Sir Angus visited HMAS Stirling in Fleet Base West in Perth as well as the Henderson defence precinct. They will visit defence and ship-building facilities in Adelaide as well as making a series of consultative visits to military bases in northern Queensland, Darwin and northwest Western Australia.
These bases include Darwin and RAAF Tyndal in the Northern Territory, the so called “bare bases” of Curtin and Learmonth in Western Australia as well as RAAF Scherger in northern Queensland.
Defence facilities in northern Australia were a key subject of a review carried out a decade ago, and Mr Smith and Sir Angus want to examine the extent of improvements of changes made to them in the past decade.
Mr Smith told the conference that one feature of the review would be to examine “with forensic intensity” the situation of the nation’s energy infrastructure in the northern parts of Western Australia, as this is now “critical infrastructure” for Australia.
here you go guys:
No time for a Defence White paper, but rather a rapid defence review, which in turn has had its delivery date brought forward.
What is going on?
This is concerning language.
Regards S
