“Australia was ill-prepared for war in 1941. In 2025, we’re making the same grave mistake”. (historian Geoffrey Blainey).

“Australia stands at a crossroads. The world is more unpredictable and dangerous than at any time in recent memory”, writes Marc Ablong of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute after spending a year investigating Australia's preparedness for crises. And, Australia remains dangerously unprepared.

It seems Australia is not prepared for very much at all: not just defence. We have no national risk assessment, when we should be looking at everything from natural disasters, cyber attacks, economic coercion, and the prospect of war. There is a “strategic failure” putting every Australian at risk. Government and the bureaucracy are complacent. There is no way that the country could switch quickly from peace to war. On that note, our deindustrialisation comes to mind: particularly the loss of a motor industry, which could have switched from cars to military vehicles and weapons in an emergency. Our enemies wouldn't let us import such things.

The author states the bleeding obvious (obvious to all but Australian politicians) that is prudent and essential to prepare. He suggests that Finland is the country to emulate; a country that involves the entire population with what will happen if they are ever involved in a war. If you are familiar with Finnish history, you will know why.

Australians are uninformed, unless they take the trouble to inform themselves because, to date, our governments are either deliberately keeping us in the dark, or they too are shockingly uninformed and as ignorant of history as most Australians now are.

Australians need a comprehensive national assessment, publicly available, and readily upgraded, and a clear governance framework for preparedness. Adequate funding is needed. Some of the bribes to vote for our lacklustre politicians and the free stuff Australians like could be diverted to their security.

Currently, any steps Australian governments have taken are “neither visible or sufficient”.

http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/learn-from-finland-australia-doesnt-assess-its-risks-isnt-ready-for-them/

The enemy is within and can’t be defeated by military means: Save your money.

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Dear ttbn,

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I fully agree with you, ttbn. I’m afraid we’re in for a rude awakening.

The world is becoming more and more dangerous, and our “protectors” are becoming less and less reliable.

If we want peace, we must prepare for war.

We must do it seriously. We must do it urgently. And we must do it based on the worst possible scenario : that we are all alone.

That is the reality today. We have no protectors we can rely on 100%.
We have no nuclear submarines, and the 6 diesel-electric submarines we have will soon be obsolete.

We are David, a shepherd with no armour, who faces Goliath armed only with a sling, our courage, faith, determination and intelligence.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyAy13C0vAQ&ab_channel=C.JohnO%27BrienSPINAFEX

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BJ

I'm glad you get it. But I'm merely reporting on what the ASPI says. They are the people who spend their days investigating such things.

I hope that people out there who don't say much also get it; but I'm afraid that Australians are pretty naive when it comes to the state of the world now. Too young, or too uninterested in history to know that the world is looking like it did 80 years ago.

Both sides of politics have let us down badly when it comes to defence.

ttbn,

Eighty years ago there were no atomic weapons. (Trinity was detonated on July 16th 1945.) Are you of the opinion that the United States would abandon Australia if China paid a big enough bribe to Trump?

If you want peace, you must be peaceful. I agree with defence, what I don't agree with is a policy of aggressive militarism, nuclear submarines fall under that latter category. Where has aggressive militarism led the world, the answer is simple... war, not one but many.

There is no evidence that the build up of arms has made the world safer, or less prone to war, history shows, the countries with the most weapons have engaged in the most wars.

The reality for the whole planet is we are all at the mercy of the warmongers. AND regardless if we spend no dollars or $100 Billion the reality wont change.