Agenda for change: strategic choices for the next government

The next government has a primary requirement to be well briefed on the challenges inherent in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the policy options available to it. ASPI is publishing this report to layout our strategic choices and to provide recommendations. Contributors are Peter Jennings on strategic policy, Mark Thomson and Andrew Davies on defence, Anthony Bergin and Kristy Bryden on homeland security, Russell Trood on foreign policy and Ryan Stokes on economic security. This body of ideas makes a compelling contribution to the discussions which ought always to characterise the Australian strategic and defence debate

Reassessing Malcolm Fraser

Overview: Malcolm Fraser, Australia’s 22nd Prime Minister, died on 20 March 2015 aged 84. This Strategic Insights, drawn from posts on ASPI’s blog The Strategist, examines Fraser’s foreign policy record as well as his approach to defence policy making and his evolving attitude to the US alliance. Fraser reorganised Australia’s defence establishment and the 1976 defence white paper foreshadowed the move towards the defence of Australia strategy adopted by the Labor government in the 1980’s. Fraser’s strong commitment to human rights and his support for the Commonwealth as a useful multilateral forum were enduring features of his prime ministership

A stitch in time: preserving peace on Bougainville

A decade after the successful peacekeeping mission, and a year and a half before the window opens for a referendum on Bougainville’s political status, the peace process is dangerously adrift.In this paper, Peter Jennings and Karl Claxton set out a plan to help deliver a sustainable solution for next steps in the peace process. An Australian-led preventive development effort, conducted in close cooperation with our regional partners, is needed to avoid the future requirement for a larger, costlier, riskier, and more intrusive peacekeeping mission than the limited intervention appropriate in 1997-2003.The new Government’s decision to link aid more directly to our strategic interests could assist. While the initiative would require a significant initial investment, it could create a substantial longer-term cost saving and avoid serious military, diplomatic and reputational risks

Should ministerial arrangements for domestic security be changed?

Are Australia\u27s ministerial arrangements for managing domestic security optimal? This paper examines this question as a debate. Overview The recent increase in Australia’s terrorism alert, reported prime ministerial concern over national security arrangements, major increases in counterterrorism funding and operational success against people smuggling have raised a new question in Canberra: are our arrangements for managing domestic security optimal? This paper examines this question as a debate. Presenting the case for change is ASPI senior analyst David Connery. He gives five reasons why change is needed, before proposing a new split in which a Minister for Security and Resilience takes over responsibility for enforcing Australia’s domestic security and emergency management laws. Peter Jennings, ASPI’s executive director, presents a case for the status quo, arguing that the National Security Committee of Cabinet (NSC) is more important in ensuring coordinated security policy than the division of responsibilities among its ministers

Facing west, facing north: Canada and Australia in East Asia

This report, published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), calls for Canada and Australia to deepen their regional security cooperation in East Asia. The risk of regional instability is growing, due to China’s re-emergence, continued speculation about US strategic engagement in Asia and increased competition over disputed maritime boundaries. These developments provide opportunities for collaboration between countries like Canada and Australia. Non-traditional security threats, including natural disasters, climate change, food security and cyber security, point to a range of areas where the two countries can work more closely together. The report contains several policy recommendations for Canada and Australia to: strengthen regional security bolster regional governance mechanisms enhance bilateral defence cooperation boost defence industry and economic cooperation

Something new under the Rising Sun: expanding Australia–Japan defence cooperation

A number of recent policy documents signal the Australian Government’s intent to deepen defence engagement in the Asia–Pacific, and future defence policy statements are likely to reinforce that objective. The Australia in the Asian century White Paper clearly established Asia as our primary economic and strategic focus. Australia’s first National Security Strategy gave as the first of its three priorities ‘strengthening regional engagement to support security’, and the 2013 Defence White Paper—released in May 2013—sets out an ambitious plan to strengthen defence relations with Japan. There are several factors working to make the strategic environment more uncertain for Australia and other countries in the Asia–Pacific. First, and more quickly than was expected, there’s been the emergence of a sharper-toned China–US strategic competition. Military-to-military relations, in particular, are difficult. Second, there’s a curious blending of elements of cooperation and competition in Asia–Pacific affairs. The region’s tied together by economic and trade relations, but in important respects there’s an absence of trust between countries, particularly on military matters. Third, a number of middle-sized powers are emerging with stronger voices on security matters, particularly Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, India and even Australia. Fourth, there’s been a broad increase in the capabilities of many regional military forces and with it the growing risk of military incidents, particularly in the maritime domain. Taken together, these developments point to an increasingly complex region where competitive multipolarity is the defining characteristic of international engagement. Even with an ensured American presence, because Australia’s resources are limited we can’t hope to achieve all of our strategic objectives in the region without engaging other players and finding innovative ways to develop a cooperative approach to building security. As the most capable of American partners in the region, Japan offers much as a closer partner to Australia. The bilateral relationship’s already strong—Japan’s now one of our closest Asian security partners

One Defence: one direction? The First Principles Review of Defence

Overview: The recently released report of the First Principles Review of Defence, Creating One Defence, is set to reshape the Defence enterprise over the next few years. This ASPI special report explains the review’s recommendations and analyses the consequences for Defence. It provides three perspectives on the forthcoming reforms: Peter Jennings, ‘One Defence–root causes, risks and values’; Andrew Davies, ‘The capability development life cycle’; Mark Thomson, ‘One Defence in two parts’

A versatile force: the future of Australia's special operations capability

This study aims to provide an understanding of the Australian Defence Force\u27s special operations capability and what it offers to government in both peace and wartime. Summary Over the past decade, the demands of the ADF’s global and regional operations saw an unprecedented growth in Australia’s special operations capability. Indeed, Special Operations Forces became the ‘capability of choice’ for the Australian Government. However, as the ADF enters a period of transition from almost constant high-tempo operations to what might be a ‘soft power decade’, there’s a need to consider the future of the capability. Against this background, this study aims to inform policy decisions by providing an understanding of the special operations capability and what it offers to government in both peace and wartime. It argues against possible temptations to cut the capability. In a changing strategic environment, Special Operations Forces will continue to be an important instrument of Australian defence policy. The study entails a number of concrete policy recommendations to strengthen and readjust the special operations capability for a new era

A shared agenda for the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, South Korea, 2013

This briefing is ASPI’s distillation of the thoughts of a group of prominent members of the Australian cybersecurity community. We held a workshop in Canberra on the key panel sessions that will take place at the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace, South Korea, in October 2013. Workshop participants included the Australian Government departments with a stake in cyber issues and members of the private sector, including the banking and IT sectors, defence and security industries and representatives from the wider business community. The aim of the workshop was to provide creative Australian perspectives to take to the Seoul conference

Expanding alliance: ANZUS cooperation and Asia–Pacific security

Is an alliance conceived as a bulwark against a resurgence of Japanese militarism and which cut its military and intelligence teeth in the Cold War is still relevant to today’s strategic concerns? Overview The alliance between Australia and the US, underpinned by the formal ANZUS Treaty of 1951, continues to be a central part of Australian defence and security thinking and an instrument of American policy in the Asia–Pacific. How is it that an alliance conceived as a bulwark against a resurgence of Japanese militarism and which cut its military and intelligence teeth in the Cold War is still relevant to today’s strategic concerns? The answer is partly—and importantly—that the core values of the ANZUS members are strongly aligned, and successive Australian governments and American presidential administrations have seen great value in working with like-minded partners to ensure Asia–Pacific security. Far from becoming a historical curiosity, today it’s not just relevant, but of greater importance than has been the case in the past few decades. To explore new ideas on how to strengthen the US–Australia alliance, ASPI conducted a high-level strategic dialogue in Honolulu in July this year. Discussions canvassed the future strategic environment; the forthcoming Australian Defence White Paper; budget, sovereignty and expectation risks; and cooperation in the maritime, land, air, cyber, space and intelligence domains. A key purpose of the Honolulu dialogue was to help ASPI develop policy recommendations on the alliance relationship for government. This report is the product of those discussions