The Echidna Strategy
Australia’s Search for Power and Peace
By Sam Roggeveen
Published by La Trobe University Press with Black Inc
RRP $34.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781760643683
Sam Roggeveen, a director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, was previously a senior analyst at the Office of National Assessments, a writer well placed to examine Australia’s approach to national defence and a future in which Australia’s alliance with the US diminishes in importance.
But why use the spiny echidna to frame his arguments? Its sharp quills warn larger animals to keep their distance and that’s the stance he believes Australia should adopt, as we approach a time when we can no longer rely on a super-power friend.
He raises many interesting questions, for example, does US security really rely on a stable, secure Asia-Pacific?
He argues that increasing Defence spending and aligning ourselves with the US, particularly the AUKUS pact, makes Australia less, not more, secure.
And the push for greater defence spending, he argues, appears to have been arrived at ‘in a state of near panic’, reminding us that defence spending ‘is a huge weight on a budget that could always be better used to improve the wealth and wellbeing of the Australian people’.
Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described this book as ‘essential reading for anyone interested in our nation’s security in an uncertain world where the enduring supremacy of the United States cannot be assumed or assured.’
I think what is assured is that this book will provoke discussion. But will it change minds?