Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

MARLES (—) (): I thank the member for her question and acknowledge her commitment to Australia's defence and also acknowledge the poignancy of asking a question about Australia's strategic posture on the 81st anniversary of the fall of Singapore. Yesterday the government received the Defence strategic review from Sir Angus Houston and Professor Stephen Smith. It is a fundamentally important document. It runs to 157 pages in length. It contains 108 recommendations, many of which will obviously be classified.

More importantly, the Defence strategic review articulates a new strategic posture for our nation. With apologies to those from the past for the crude simplification, over many decades Australia's strategic posture has been centred on the defence of the continent, being a significant actor within our region and being a good global citizen—if you like, three concentric circles. This frame has served us very well over a very long period of time, but, quite obviously, in 2023 this is no longer fit for purpose, because today we live in a globalised networked world where, as a trading island nation, so much of our national income is dependent upon trade, so any potential adversary can do our country enormous damage without ever having to set foot upon our shores. So our national interest lies in having a clear set of international rules of the road, around trade and around freedom of navigation—the global rules based order—along with having the capability to hold any potential adversary at risk much further from our shores. In order to achieve both of these objectives we need a defence force that has the capacity for impactful projection across the full spectrum of proportionate responses.

The theory is important, but what is absolutely critical is that we now build a defence force that has the capacity in its specific platforms and people to be able to achieve this strategic posture. This is exactly what the Defence strategic review examines. Time will tell, but I believe this document will be a blueprint for defence thinking for many decades to come. The government will consider the review over the weeks ahead before we release an unclassified version of the review, along with the government's response to it. Far from being the culmination of a process, this is really the beginning of a new era in strategic thought, which will build a strategic posture for our country, which will protect our national interests, protect our way of life and keep Australians safe.

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