AUSTRALIA TO REVIEW DEFENCE STRATEGY

30 January 2008

The Australian Government is to commission a new White Paper on Defence and conduct a re-assessment of Australia’s future strategic outlook.

Officially opening the Royal Australia Navy’s Sea Power Conference in Sydney this week, Australia’s new Minister for Defence, Mr. Joel Fitzgibbon, said that the new Government placed a high value on defence and strategic planning, and promoting excellence in strategic policy and capability development.

The Navy Sea Power Conference, which drew several international naval and maritime specialists, was also linked to an international the International Maritime Conference and a Pacific 2008 Maritime Exposition. The Minister said that these special events would make a valuable contribution to addressing the important maritime and naval issues facing Australia in the coming decades.

Mr. Fitzgibbon said that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) performed a wide range of challenging tasks – some very close to home and others much further a field.

Currently, the ADF had approximately 3500 soldiers, sailors and air personnel deployed overseas serving Australia’s national interests. Another 500 ADF personnel were currently undertaking border protection activities.

Mr Fitzgibbon said that one of the new Government’s highest priorities would be to the commissioning of a new Defence White Paper.

“The current strategic document, from which we are working today, was developed in the late 1990’s and released in the year 2000. “The world has changed so much since then,” he said.

Global terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proliferation of nuclear weapons - including North Korea’s nuclear tests and Iran’s emerging nuclear program - emerging fragile states in the South West Pacific, rising tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and paradigm shifts in the global distribution of power, all these developments and events demand a review of Australia’s strategic outlook.

The Minister said that the White Paper would be essential to ensuring Australia had a sound basis for making the hard decisions needed to establish Defence’s mission and what capability would be needed to achieve strategic objectives.

He said that the Government was committed to growing the Defence budget by 3 per cent in real terms over the course of the next decade. On defence equipment procurement programs, the Minister said that delays, cost blow-outs and failure to deliver military hardware on time, would not be permitted.


The Government would ensure that Australian industry, including small to medium enterprises, was given every opportunity to compete for work, based on open and accountable processes, he added.

The Government believed that the growth of the Australian defence industry was also vital to maintaining a strong and effective ADF and Mr. Fitzgibbon said that the Government was committed to ensuring that a competitive defence industry was maintained in Australia so that a reasonable choice of suppliers existed – in particular, a strong, viable and responsive shipbuilding, maintenance and repair industry.

The Minister also focussed on ADF personnel issues saying that the single biggest challenge currently facing the Australian Defence Force was its people and skills shortages. “The Government must establish effective ways of recruiting more people and retaining those in whom we’ve invested so heavily,” he stressed.

He said that the theme of this week’s Sea Power Conference reflected the key role of the Australian navy in maritime security and protecting Australia’s economy and maritime trade.

From a logistical and strategic point, Australia’s waters were extensive, ranging from warm tropical waters in the north to the Antarctic waters in the south, and despite having less than one per cent of the world’s population, Australia had a search and rescue responsibility for more than ten per cent of the earth’s surface. As a relatively isolated island continent, Australia was dependent on maritime trade. Safety, security and freedom of movement at sea were critical to Australia’s economic prosperity and security.

“So Australia must work with other nations to keep global trade moving and to promote good order at sea - not only for Australia, but the entire global community,” he said. “By securing our maritime environment, we protect Australia’s national interests while contributing to regional security and stability.”

Mr Fitzgibbon said that the new Government fully supported the acquisition of two new amphibious ships and three air warfare destroyers. These purchases would increase Australia’s maritime reach, flexibility and adaptability and enable the ADF to carry out the full spectrum of maritime war fighting and security activities with confidence - ranging from high level combat operations through to humanitarian aid missions and civil stabilisation operations.

“The Australia Navy has a fundamentally-important role to play in the defence of Australia and our national interest,” The Minister said.

“We will of course face a series of important challenges in the years ahead, but I am confident that we can move forward together. “Strong links with regional allies are essential as we work collectively maintain regional security and build prosperity.”