ttbn- I don't see you as a waste. You are part of the solution. Thank you for your service.

It surely must be that the Government feels the need to show China that we don't go every time we're requested to. The drone vulnerability has simply supplied a plausible excuse. The Americans will surely see this.

Even the best of goodwill cannot produce a warship out of thin air.

If not ships, then I do hope that Australia at least secretly holds some nukes in the ready for doomsday.

{t was a logical decision to not send a ship to the Red Sea Flotilla.
Any ship we have is unable to defend itself against against the drones
that the Houtis are using let alone merchant ships.

About time we just went out and bought some suitable ships.
It is like paying for an insurance policy.

I agree with the governments decision not to send a warship but I don't know for certain what the governments reasoning was.

"We always paid our 'insurance premiums' as they became 'due'."
- This would be all well and good if America was a moral and decent nation, but it's not.

Your argument that we pay our insurance premiums when due is essentially a blank check to back America up on whatever military misadventure they embark upon, no matter the cost.

Blindly following America is far more likely to get us into a war, rather than provide us defense in the event of one.
What makes you think this 'insurance policy' would actually pay out anyway?

US congress is controlled by the Israel lobby.
There's a risk of being dragged into a war that benefits Israel, but does not benefit neither Australia or America.

Many nations pulled out of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
I think what many nations first thought was just escorting other ships was actually a planned attack on the Houthis, and they didn't want any part of it.

The Houthis can launch $2000 drones and force the navy to launch 2 million dollar missiles to intercept them, it's expensive.
Beyond this, they could launch drones, and force a ship to expend its air defense missiles resulting in forcing the ship back to port to rearm.
At which point they could then launch a swarm of drones including underwater drones and possibly sink a warship.
Houthis have drones, anti-ship and ballistic missiles and are not scared to fight.
They only want the Israelis to stop killing innocent people and allow aid in, which are not unreasonable demands.
It's not worth risking the loss of a warship and naval officers simply because Israel wants to keep bombing women and kids whom it's already trying to starve.

It's not like the ships can't get to their destinations, they just have to take a longer route.

Israel are starving the Palestinians on purpose.
They're using food and water to bribe / blackmail to try to gain intelligence in regards to the hostages.

It seems that certain posters on this blog are still quite content to kowtow to the military will of the USA 82 years after WWII. They don't think that it is prudent to resist the call to blindly join, what is potentially yet another war lead by the USA, considering the historical disasters and consequences of doing so during the last 82 years. Nope, just blindly follow where the industrial war machine dictates. After all, they deserve unquestioned loyalty because they saved us 82 years ago. Get over it. Grow a spine and start to really believe in the value of Australia and stop pretending you do.