Girt By Sea

Re-imagining Australia’s Security

By Rebecca Strating and Joanne Wallis

Published by LATROBE UNIVERSITY PRESS

RRP $36.99 in paperback | ISBN 9781760644512

Reviewed by Ewen Levick, Publisher, Australian Defence Magazine

As Australia commits to its most expensive defence acquisition in history – nuclear-powered submarines – Girt by Seaoffers a different vision: a national security strategy that is not defence-led or addicted to the US alliance, but holistic across all arms of power.

One that bridges DFAT and Defence; addresses climate change in the Pacific; builds our merchant fleet, our fuel stockpile, our renewable energy infrastructure; a nuanced, balanced, and self-aware strategy.

It is a timely argument that – as the authors themselves acknowledge – is likely to be ‘dismissed as impractical, idealistic and naïve’ in Canberra. For Australian strategy is shaped not on its own merit but instead by the individual egos, desires and worldviews walking the corridors of Parliament House and Russell offices. This led us to AUKUS – and in all likelihood will consign this book’s argument to academia.

But as the authors implicitly ask: how many submarines does it take to put out a bushfire, or stop the oceans rising?