1. Australia: We Want You: $10bn to Raise Army Recruits
2. Australian Army Decision Just Right
3. PM Hits a Trouble Spot
4. Police to Return to PNG
5. Army to Reduce E Timor Troops
6. 100 Delegates from Papua and PNG to Hold Meeting in W Kalimantan
7. Tokyo Company Accused Of Exporting Parts for Nuclear Weapons
8. United Nations Taking A More Visible Pacific Role

1. We Want You: $10bn to Raise Army Recruits, Brendan Nicholson, Age, 2006-08-25

   The army will be increased by 2 battalions, at a cost of $10 billion. One would be relocated to Adelaide and the second to S-E Queensland. Mr Howard said they are in addition to the extra personnel promised under the program to “harden” the army. Mr Howard said Australia needed a bigger army because, “This country faces ongoing and in my opinion increasing instances of destabilised and failing states in our own region”.

   • To Defend Australia: A Long Term Plan to Defend our People, Interests and Values, Department of Defence Budget 2006-07 [PDF]

   • A Larger Army, Order of the Day, Chief Of Army, 2006-08-24

      

2. Army Decision Just Right, Geoffrey Barker, AFR*, 2008-06-28

   The announcement of a major boost in the size of the army will end a bitterly contested argument over whether land forces should be structured and heavily armoured primarily for distant urban warfare, or whether they should be light mobile forces designed primarily for regional missions to fragile states closer to Australia. The substantial army increase – 2600 more troops and two new battalions – will all be light infantry forces.
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3. PM Hits a Trouble Spot, Craig Skehan, SMH, 2006-08-25

   Sensitivity over Australia’s proactive response to regional strife surfaced yesterday when PNG objected to being described as “inherently unstable” by the Prime Minister, John Howard. A spokeswoman for PNG’s Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, said, “We see what he said as being too pessimistic.” Howard, also cited internal problems in Fiji, East Timor, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

   • PNG Editorials Slam Howard on Army, Australian, 2006-08-28

   • Howard Justification Rejected, Editorial, National, 2006-08-28

   • What is Australia’s Role in Defence? Editorial, Post Courier, 2006-08-28

      

4. Police to Return to PNG, John Kerin, AFR*, 2006-08-28

   Justice Minister Chris Ellison has said that Australia might deploy operational police in PNG to help with a law and order crisis, after announcing a boost in numbers for the Australian Federal Police.
   * Subscription required.

   • A Stronger AFP: Responding to Regional Challenges, AFP Media Release, 2006-08-25

      

5. Army to Reduce E Timor Troops, Mark Dodd, Australian, 2006-08-28

   The Australian army expects to start reducing its military numbers in East Timor following agreement on a new UN mission that gives Canberra, not New York, control of the troops. The UN Security Council voted at the weekend to support a new six-month UN Integrated Mission in East Timor. The shake-up includes a UN leadership change in Dili. Under the new UN mandate, a 1600-strong international police force will be deployed to help rebuild East Timor’s shattered national police command. It will include 130 Australian Federal Police.

   • UN Backs Down Over Timor Force, Mark Coultan, SMH, 2006-08-26

   • Security Council Establishes New, Expanded Un Mission In Timor-Leste For Initial Period Of Six Months, Unanimously Adopting Resolution 1704 (2006) Security Council, Press Relaease SC/8817, 2006-08-25 [Includes the full text of resolution]

      

6. 100 Delegates from Papua and PNG to Hold Meeting in W Kalimantan, Antara, 2006-08-26

   The first of 8 new UN offices in the Pacific is to open next year. It follows a request from leaders in the north Pacific that the UN step up its presence there. UN agencies will shortly begin establishing offices in Majuro, Pohnpei, Koror, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Palau, Tuvalu and Nauru. A bigger office is also to be established in Solomon Islands.

    

7. Tokyo Company Accused of Exporting Parts for Nuclear Weapons, Deborah Cameron, Age, 2006-08-26

   The international black market in nuclear weapons parts involves a Japanese company that is one of the world’s biggest precision-instruments makers, according to Tokyo police who have made a series of arrests. Five executives of Mitutoyo Corporation, including its president, are accused of illegally exporting instruments that were convertible for use in nuclear weapons.

    

8. United Nations Taking a More Visible Pacific Role, RNZI, Tahiti Presse, 2006-08-26

   The first of 8 new UN offices in the Pacific is to open next year. It follows a request from leaders in the north Pacific that the UN step up its presence there. UN agencies will shortly begin establishing offices in Majuro, Pohnpei, Koror, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Palau, Tuvalu and Nauru. A bigger office is also to be established in Solomon Islands.

    

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