Ian McPhedran

A desperate Coalition government, facing likely defeat, has thrown everything at Labor’s national security credentials.

The first priority of a red or blue book is to win the trust of the minister, for without trust there can be no frank and fearless advice.

Defence waste is one of the great challenges of government and none in recent memory has been able to solve it, or in some cases, to even acknowledge it.

When it comes to ‘hard’ power, taxpayers should be nervous about handing more than $60 billion-plus per year by 2030 to Defence.

Images of a 60km long convoy of Russian military vehicles stalled along the road to Kyiv have invoked memories of the the first Gulf War’s ‘highway of death’.

With an election looming, the coalition could be tempted to up the ante in the quest for votes, and not just with ‘drums of war’ rhetoric: Ian McPhedran.

The announcement that Australia will build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines has not only angered France and antagonised China, it raises serious questions about nuclear safeguards and supply chains.

America has a long history of selling under-performing weaponry to Australia at vastly inflated prices. Dutton is unlikely to succeed where others have failed.

The idea that, left alone, the rag tag and unmotivated Afghan National Army would be able to take on and defeat hardened and zealous Taliban fighters was always ludicrous.