BLUF

The Australian Government's 2020 Defence Strategic Update superseded the 2012 review; however, this ASPI article argues that a new review is urgently needed to consider Australia's strategic position change over the last two years.

Summary

This article by Marcus Schultz, writing for ASPI, makes the following points:
  • Australia’s strategic environment has rapidly deteriorated in the past two years.
  • Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently said Australia was confronting ‘one of the most challenging times we have known since the 1930s and the early 1940s’.
  • The update noted that Australia must be able to adjust its military capability and preparedness in response to new challenges posed by major-power competition, coercion, grey-zone activities and accelerating regional military capabilities.
  • It also tasked the ADF to be prepared to respond to the prospect of high-intensity military conflict in the Indo-Pacific, if necessary, with credible force.

References

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