While Australia Sleeps, Our Situation Becomes Dire

Sailors from the Royal Australian Navy stand behind flags aboard the Australian Navy ship HMAS Canberra in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 20, 2024. (David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles has finally spoken to his Chinese counterpart about the outrageous People’s Liberation Army (PLA) manoeuvres against an Australian military helicopter in international waters.

The actions of the Chinese pilot—targeting a helicopter with flares—could have brought down the Australian aircraft with fatal consequences.

So why did it take Mr. Marles 27 days to speak to Beijing’s defence minister? Was it his tardiness—or a refusal by the Chinese official to take his call? Did he even attempt to make previous contact?

Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese assured Australians that representations had been made at all levels, but this did not include either he or the foreign minister endeavouring to contact their counterparts.

It transpires that Mr. Marles only spoke to his counterpart when both were attending the annual Shangri-La Defence Dialogue in Singapore.

The conference is the major event of its type in the Indo-Pacific region, and one of the most important in the world.

Defence ministers from all regional nations attend.

When I attended as defence minister, I met with my counterparts from many regional nations, Europe, and the “Five Eyes” intelligence group. I also had a meeting with the Chinese and other defence ministers.

We have been informed by the government that it will raise the issue when the CCP’s premier, Li Qiang, visits Australia this month.

Frankly, this is too little, too late. Australia looks weak when our security is as challenging as it has been for decades.

Defence Spending Needs to Catch Up

On a related note, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute recently released a concerning report on the defence budget.

“Australia needs to spend more on defence—and it needs to do so immediately. The strategic imperative has been firmly established in the government’s own major defence documents,” it stated.

ASPI (the Australian Strategic Policy Institute) noted that the Albanese government and the Coalition opposition agree that we are in the gravest geopolitical period in generations and this is only going to intensify.

But the Cost of Defence report finds “the rhetorical urgency is not being matched by action in the form of defence investment. The May budget is the latest demonstration of this mismatch, lacking spending for swift increases in capabilities that the Australian Defence Force would need if our region were to deteriorate quickly.”

“In particular, this year’s budget priorities are not directed towards strengthening the Australian Defence Force’s ability to fight in the next decade. This is not doom-mongering; the government has acknowledged that the warning time before any conflict, which had long been set at 10 years, has shrunk to effectively zero time.”

This is an indictment on the Albanese government’s policies, which makes regular announcements about defence, but allows real expenditure to plateau; even decline.

What Do Regular Aussies Think?

It comes with the results of the latest Lowy Institute annual poll of the attitude of Australians to international relations.

Six years ago, more than half of Australian trusted China to act responsibly in the world. Today that number is 17 percent.

Seven in 10 Australians consider it likely that China will pose a military threat to Australia in the future.

Half the population say we should place more emphasis on deterring the CCP’s use of military force, compared with 45 percent who say we should prioritise a stable relationship.

Most Australians (83 percent) see the U.S. alliance as important to our security—one of the most consistent findings across the poll’s 20-year history.

About two-thirds of the population support the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, which has remained steady since its announcement three years ago.

Given the attitude of Australians and the expert assessments about the threats to national security, it is difficult to understand why the Albanese government appears to continue to appease Beijing.

The Coalition should grasp the opportunity to stake out a clear alternative policy. Increasing defence expenditure to a minimum of 3 percent of GDP should be the starting point, along with the quicker acquisition of necessary military equipment.

In 1938, Winston Churchill published a collection of speeches from 1932 to 1938 entitled “While England Slept” in which he highlighted the United Kingdom’s lack of military preparation to face the threat of Nazi Germany.

Two years later in 1940, future U.S. President John F. Kennedy—then still in college—authored an appraisal of the tragic events of the 1930s that led to World War II. It was an account of England’s unpreparedness for war and a study of the shortcomings of democracy when confronted by the menace of totalitarianism.

That is a worrying parallel affecting Australia now.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.