APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 8, 2008

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"APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 8, 2008", APSNet Semi-Weekly Bulletin, May 08, 2008, https://nautilus.org/apsnet/apsnet-8-may-2008/

APSNet 8 May 2008

  1. Defence Review to Drive down Costs
  2. ADF Capability Review: Australian Army
  3. Pentagon Considers Adding Forces in Afghanistan
  4. [Indonesia] Govt to Shoot Fish Poachers
  5. Taking a Punch: Building a More Resilient Australia
  6. Sinking Without Trace: Australia’s Climate Change Victims
  7. [PNG] Northern Exposure
  8. NZ Undoes $1m Whale Case against Japan

1.  Defence Review to Drive down Costs, Patrick Walters, Australian, 2008-05-07

The Rudd Government has ordered a sweeping review of the Defence Materiel Organisation, which manages projects worth $100 billion, in a move likely to see it split from the Defence Department. As well as considering whether the DMO should become a separate executive agency from Defence, the review will examine how public-private partnerships could improve defence procurement practices.

2. ADF Capability Review: Australian Army, Mark Thomson and Andrew Davies, ASPI, 2008-05-02

With over 27,000 permanent and almost 16,000 part-time Reserve personnel, the Australian Army is small by regional standards and tiny given the size of our continent. The most significant current capability shortfall for Army is the lack of a modern ground-based air defence that can deploy with land units.

3. Pentagon Considers Adding Forces in Afghanistan, Steven Lee Myers and Thom Shanker, New York Times, 2008-05-03

The Pentagon is considering sending as many as 7,000 more American troops to Afghanistan next year to make up for a shortfall in contributions from NATO allies. Senior Bush administration officials said the step would push the number of American forces there to roughly 40,000, the highest level since the war began more than six years ago, and would require at least a modest reduction in troops from Iraq.

4. Govt to Shoot Fish Poachers, Erwida Maulia, Jakarta Post, 2008-05-06

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry is seeking a license to shoot on sight poachers trying to flee or resist arrest, in a bid to get illegal fishing by foreign-flagged vessels under control. Poachers have shown no fear of Indonesian sea patrols, who are either outnumbered or poorly armed, director general of monitoring and control at the ministry, Aji Sularso said.

5. Taking a Punch: Building a More Resilient Australia, David Templeman and Anthony Bergin, Strategic Insights 39, APSI, 2008-05-07

The focus on disrupting the planning of terrorist acts, or to disrupt them once underway has obscured the potential for much greater deaths and casualties caused by extreme natural disasters. A terrorism attack in Australia remains without question a distinct possibility, but assessed against the risk of probability, we have more to fear from natural disasters, which are not exceptional events.

6. Sinking Without Trace: Australia’s Climate Change Victims, Independent, 2008-05-05

Like Kiribati and Tuvalu, the islands of the Torres Strait are slowly being submerged. But although the Torres Strait is considered the most vulnerable area of Australia (to climate change), it is barely on the radar, either as a subject of scientific research or a focus of government policy.

7. Northern Exposure, SBS, 2008-05-07

Australia and Papua New Guinea are set to crack down on border control in a bid to prevent disease epidemics in the Torres Strait, where health services are stretched as Papuans illegally enter Australia seeking medical care.

8. NZ Undoes $1m Whale Case against Japan, Dennis Shanahan, Australian, 2008-05-08

Australia is likely to abandon its $1 million attempt to take Japan to the international court over whaling after New Zealand gave up its plans to use legal action to stop the annual cull. The Rudd Government embraced the use of the UN’s international court soon after the election. But the New Zealand Government has since discovered “significant difficulties” with taking Japan to the international court.

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Richard Tanter,
Project Co-ordinator