No Higher Priority

A blueprint for immediate action on Australia’s defence 2025-2028

By Peter Jennings, Michael Shoebridge, Marcus Hellyer

Published by Institute of Public Affairs;
Dist. by Australian Scholarly Publishing
RRP $43.95 in paperback | ISBN 9781923267367

The tone of this book and its ‘helpful’ recommendations will come as no surprise to readers familiar with the Institute of Public Affairs and its approach to national affairs.

According to the book, decades of federal governments have sought to deliver national security ‘on the cheap’, resulting in an underinvestment in defence capability.

In the most recent Federal Election, there was an acknowledgment that Defence spending will need to rise. Just what capabilities will be prioritised with the additional investment is unclear.

The writers contend that, while Australia’s strategic outlook has deteriorated, in planning for the future, they should be looking to the lessons of the war in Ukraine, for example.

In all there are thirty-six recommendations for the current government.

Some will sound familiar, including changing the culture of the ADF and injecting boldness into the professional ranks of the public service.

They challenge the ‘like for like’ mentality in acquisition and point to the importance of logistics support as critical, especially liquid fuels. And despite the current turbulence in the US, the authors remain wedded to a closer US-Australia alliance.

One thing they do call for is more transparency in Defence, with which many people would agree.

Spending on Defence is not a vote winner. Not in the way spending on health, housing and education is so anyone calling for an increase in Defence spending needs to recognise that governments have competing priorities that sometimes outweigh the ‘national security’ argument. All food for thought.

About the authors: Peter Jennings AO and Michael Shoebridge are Directors of Strategic Analysis Australia. Marcus Hellyer is Head of Research at Strategic Analysis Australia. Scott Hargreaves is the Executive Director of the IPA. John Storey is the Director of Law and Policy at the Institute of Public Affairs.