Our previous analysis of the US Presidential election was wrong – and by a wide margin. Obviously there’s a huge level of anger, resentment and frustration in the American system. Donald Trump has won a bigger victory than in 2016 – and the consequences for Australia are unknown. Any Australian politician assuming it’s business as usual runs the risk of making a major mistake. What do we do if Donald Trump jacks up the cost of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines by a lot? Has anyone in Defence or the government thought through those consequences? And please don’t say it could never happen.
A quick summary of SEA 3000 – and it’s between Germany and Japan. Then the Submarine Institute of Australia conference where Chief of Navy mistakenly re-read his 2023 speech and during which journalists were told they would be kicked out of the venue if they approached anyone at morning tea to say hello. The Virginia class program is in big trouble because of supply chain issues – but you will never hear that from an Australian official. Finally, Army’s campaign of deception about the performance of Black Hawk helicopters continues. Someone has to put a stop to this outrage – it’s wrong at every possible level.
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So, ADF members are willing to undermine our greater defence strategy to push their own narrow agendas.. Not just in the Navy it seems but in the broader Defence force. Collins vs surface fleet, Taipan vs Blackhawk, Tiger vs Apache, Patrol boats vs Luerssen OPV’s, C130J-30 vs C 390 the list is long and abominable.
Their narrow points of view and service rivalries win out over actual Defence structure and policy. Traitors indeed, the ADF needs a clean out, root and branch. The defence of Australia and it interests MUST come before all else.
On another note, the lack of accountability and transparency in the ADF is truly appalling. To threaten or harangue journalists is beyond the pale. A defence force in a democracy must have transparency and accountability and journalists are those who we trust to ensure that is maintained. Without these, are we really in a Democracy were the people have the power, or is it just the Elites and their petty squabbles and turf wars determining how we spend our precious billions?
Excellent as always Kym, thank you once again.
Regards
Thanks for the feedback. The internal Defence / ADF culture keeps deteriorating with deceit, obfuscation and misdirection standard tactics to avoid even the slightest scrutiny. There are some exceptions, but they are few and far between. Having said that, the overall tone of media engagement is set by the government of the day.
Always appreciate the podcast.
With SEA 3000, is this a case that we are now left with the option that Navy prefers (MEKO200) given the potential continuation of legacy sensors, combat and weapons systems vs the option that the National Security Committee prefers given their desire to add the letter J to AUKUS? If it was just about maintaining competitive tension during negotiations, you wouldn’t have Japan in the final two.
Thanks. I honestly can’t figure out what’s going on – and I agree that commercially Korea would have made it a very interesting race.
Thank you (again) for another glimpse into our Defence, I totally agree with you about Trump and AUKUS, he will look at it as he would a business deal, If it impinges on USN Capability, he will not sell us Virginias . If he thinks he can get more out of Australia, he will jack up the price. He is a business man first and foremost and he will do what ever he thinks is in his best interest . As for Sea 3000, I’m not entirely unhappy with TKMS being short listed, we have experience with the design and some of the systems are what we already use and being a modular design upgrades can be achieved with less drama. As for the Army Aviation not being totally honest, I’m not surprised, if they had there way they’d still be flying Hueys ,ironically I know of several members that said very un complimentary things about Blackhawks when they were introduced. Army hates change. The outrageous treatment of Journalists at the SIA conference sounds ominous. Australia has had its share of, shall we say, less than scrupulous Journalists But in the main has kept a very high standard. It takes guts to release a story people may not like but has a right to know. Things kept in the dark tend to fester. If Defence wants to defend its decisions, speak up .Keep up the good work Kym. P.S. I believe the chap you spoke off was actually Promoted.