The extent of Julie's knowledge? :-)

Erm, is anyone else getting a dead link from this page?

so is this a general moan..."labour is bad" or are you talking policy?
Is the new mindless rant by the libs "interest rates will always be lower, defence spending will always be higher"

The US spends more money of defence then the next top 5 contries combined. Yet they don't feel safe.

How much should we spend Julie?

Come on Julie.

This is basic undergraduate level stuff.

How about putting some grunt and effort into these pieces by calling what are the issues that would require us being prepared with greater defence spending.

You say there are no threats on horizon, but why are tensions increasing in our region?

If you CLICK ON "ALL" you will get the text for this article.

Looks like a glitch meant there appeared to be no text for this article - but that is probably due to a blank page 1.

@Kenny - Yes its very true "The US spends more money of defence then the next top 5 contries combined. Yet they don't feel safe." Shows how subjective (feelings of insecurity driven) defence issues are.

People in the US may still be worried about a 9/11 scale terrorist attack recurring. Also the US military, defence industry and politicians argue that massive defence spending - at least enough to beat the next two most powerful militaries (China and Russia) is necessary to keep the US safe.

On the Australian defence budget a Coalition government could not easily and won't draw money from social programs to fund defence. Coalitions Governments always "talk tough" on Defence and Security but consistently do no more than Labor.

Same goes for the Carbon Tax and NBN - the Coalition - if its voted in - will say it is locked into policies Labor-Greens started.

Parties can be relied on to indulge in the Blame-Game. We can expect few good and original ideas.

Julie states: "While there is no obvious threat on our horizon, even a cursory study of our own history will show how quickly the security situation can change."

Really? We have the US shifting its hegemonic intentions to the Asia-Pacific area; China and Japan are at loggerheads, likewise, the Spratley Islands are a highly disputed area of ownership between China, Malaysia, the Philippines and various others. Additionally Indonesia continues to project influence into PNG for its own ends, US and European interests are shifting into Africa chasing ever depleting resources and India and Pakistan (basically a failed state) continue to push each other to the brink of nuclear war over disputed issues between themselves. We won’t even mention the problems closer to home in the Pacific (Fiji).

Add in the continuing disaster in Afghanistan, and why we are there still is completely beyond me. Include the troubles growing in Mali, Libya, Syria, Israel/West Bank and other areas in the broader Middle East and the growing troubles in the European periphery then yes Julie I can see we have no obvious threats on our horizon.

Talk about a missing link.

Perhaps Julie should make herself a little more aware of what is really happening, mainly due to an ever growing population facing a global per-capita decline in living standards world-wide. Maybe then she can revisit this 'junk' post and revise her myopic view of what is really occurring globally.

If this is the purported future Foreign Minister of Australia and her thinking, then god help us all.