Defence spending – Here and there

More than an acronym: AUKUS must be an election issue in 2022

21 December 2021 Mike Scrafton Australian focus

When the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines are delivered, they will be expensive white elephants. And this strategically unsupportable and inordinately expensive project will distort defence policy for a generation.

Exaggerated threats and contrived military strategies shouldn’t drive Defence spending: a response to Jon Stanford

2 November 2020 Mike Scrafton Australian focus, By Mike Scrafton, Strategy, defence and security

In a series of three articles, Jon Stanford has argued that Australia needs “a sound military strategy to deter an attack by a great power and careful analysis of how to design the right force structure to deliver it”. An external, more ‘neutral’ review of Australia’s military strategy is proposed. But it is not clear that Australia needs a new military strategy – let alone one that would require a 50 % increase in the Defence budget.