With Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese failing to meet with US president Donald Trump on his last visit to the United States and G7 meeting in Canada, Australia is heading into a time of isolation.
The recent Ukrainian missile and drone attack on Russia and Israeli attack on Iran signal a radical change in the nature of warfare. An aggressor can now attack another country, separated by other countries or vast land or sea distances, through applying medium and long-range missiles. This signals an urgent need for Australian defence planners to drastically alter the nation’s defence strategy, in the light of changing technologies and new battle tactics.
Australia’s commitment to AUKUS with the United Kingdom and United States requires a review for several reasons.
First, strike platforms like submarines now play only a secondary role in strategic warfare. A submarine just doesn’t carry enough missiles and/or drones to make a difference. Land bases with instant supply lines are most important. In conventional war, based upon Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Iran rely on heavy volume missile and drone attacks to overwhelm an adversary’s air defences. Strategic nuclear- powered submarines with non-nuclear arms just don’t carry enough for battle. Submarines can only play a limited role in such wars.
Second, the cost of Australia building/purchasing nuclear-powered submarines is just too expensive for the utility they can provide. This money could be channelled into much more effective defence initiatives. The cost of the AUKUS commitment is something Australia cannot afford. It’s a luxury for Australian defence, not a staple need.
Too expensive and unecessary for Australia
Thirdly, both the UK and US have policies focused on containment and confrontation in their geo-defence stances. This is too aggressive for a small nation like Australia. Australia should just focus on coexistence with its near neighbours and the rest iof the world. The world is very quickly becoming a very different place than it was just 2 years ago.
Australia is now in isolation
Australia is no longer important to the US strategic world view. With another PLA ship convoy ready to circumnavigate Australia once again, arguably prompted by Australian military air operations with the Philippines in the South China Sea, the US will not be there to interdict any Chinese vessels.
Australia might be a dialogue partner with ASEAN from 1974, but the Australian-ASEAN partnership has not developed much since. ASEAN is now Australia’s third largest trading partner (14.3 percent of Australia’s total trade), higher than Japan or the US. But Australia’s attention to the region has/is being neglected. Today there are less schools than ever before teaching Bahasa Indonesia in their curricula.
Australian bilaterial relations with its closest ASEAN neighbour Indonesia has not gone much beyond a transactional nature, where Australia’s importance to Indonesia is slowly drifting away. In January, Indonesia became a full member of BRICS. Australia isn’t much of a priority for Indonesia anymore as it sees a much larger place in the world for itself. Australia missed the boat with Indonesia.
Australia is being isolated to the point where it even has competition in the South Pacific, an area it took for granted. No nation will come to the assistance of Australia if needed. For far too long, Australians have been duped about China being the ‘big bad boogey man of the north’. Remember the old domino theory and that there were WMDs in Iraq. Realistic analysis is required about what are the real threats to Australia. No one is assessing the threat of liberalised immigration that may have allowed ‘sleeper cells’ of military age people into the country. This exists within the United States today, there is no reason the same doesn’t exist within Australia.
Australia needs a relook at its current defence plans
Facing the realities, Australia has no army, navy, or air force to speak about. Even Australia’s neighbours have larger armed forces today. The wars that are going on now suggest a need to re-evaluate Australia’s current defence planning.
Fighter aircraft are now too slow, drones are a tactical weapon, useful in tactical situations and surveillance. War is now fought by missiles. Countries need plenty of them, as they play a major role in weakening air defences of adversaries.
Australia needs to invest in more research on missiles
Short-range missiles are used to takedown aircraft and shipping. Medium to long range ballistic missiles are the important strategic weapons of today. The new generation of hypersonic missiles with potent non-nuclear payloads are almost as damaging as small nuclear bombs, but without the radiation fallout. The Russian Oreshnik missile has become a massive deterrent in Europe.
That what Australia needs and can afford, indigenously developed and supported by surveillance and tactical drones. Australia’s navy and air force should be concerned with coastal issues and the continental shelf around Australia.
Such an approach would benefit Australia more than the AUKUS commitment.
Australia has a background in rocket research since the 1960s and there is a private Australian company about to launch an orbital rocket in the near future. Based upon today’s changes in geo-political-techno environment, its time for Australia to review where it must go with defence. Australia may need to make a radical departure from its existing track.
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" With Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese failing to meet with US president Donald Trump on his last visit to the United States and G7 meeting in Canada, Australia is heading into a time of isolation. "
Australia, a vast island continent, has long been shielded by its geography and the might of its allies, the United States and the United Kingdom. This isolation, both physical and intellectual—has fostered a nation that, for much of its history, contributed little more than token efforts to its own defence or alliances like ANZUS. The "tyranny of distance" rendered invasions impractical since World War II, with the Pacific's expanse acting as a natural fortress. Yet, this security came at a hidden cost, one buried in unmarked graves and unspoken truths.
During World War II, when Japanese forces threatened Australia's shores, it was not only the Anzacs who stood in defence. Thousands of Indian soldiers, fighting under the British flag, spilled their blood in places like Papua New Guinea, Kokopo, Rabaul, Lae, Port Moresby, and Aitape. Their sacrifice, often three or four bodies piled in a single grave, was denied even the dignity of a marker. For decades, Australia and Britain obscured this truth, only acknowledging it in recent years. These forgotten heroes, who helped secure a nation, deserve better than silence.
Today, Australia's demographic landscape is transforming rapidly. Chinese, Indian, and Arab communities have grown significantly, their children now filling roles in STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, where discipline and focus outpace less-driven counterparts. In contrast, White Australians maintain dominance in law and judiciary, gatekeeping professions through control of standards and admissions. This shift is reshaping the nation, not through force but through numbers and merit, a quiet revolution that cannot be undone without reckoning with uncomfortable realities.
A crude joke captures this cultural tension: "How do you know an Asian burgled your house? The dog and cat are gone, and your kids’ homework is done." It’s a stereotype, yes, but it underscores a deeper truth about discipline and ambition reshaping Australia’s future.
Yet, for all its wealth and alliances, Australia’s defence remains precarious. In a white paper, former military chief General Gracian warned that a large neighbor, be it Indonesia or China, could force Australia to surrender a third of its territory. Even with the might of the US and UK, this is a sobering admission of vulnerability. Australia’s isolation, once its shield, now exposes its fragility in a world where distance matters less, and ambition, both within and beyond its borders, matters more.
It’s time to confront these truths: the debts owed to forgotten defenders, the cultural shifts reshaping the nation, and the limits of relying on others for security. Australia must decide what it stands for, and what it’s willing to fight for.
Do you really believe that "Australia" has a future? Why do you care about the defence of a country that has willingly sown the seed of its destruction by force injecting 90+% of its population with patented bio-weapons labelled "vaccines"?
Studies from South Korea and Japan show clearly that 44% of the injected have spike protein in the brain and at least the same percentage have sub-clinical myo-pericarditis.
Do you believe that Australia is different when 44+% of its population are walking dead?
Sub-clinical myocarditis is a time bomb as reported by many peer-reviewed medical articles.
When is Australia going to investigate why bioweapons were mandated to its own population in 2021?