24 May 2007

Government sources

Australian National Security, Australian Government

“This web site provides a single access point for counter-terrorism information from the Australian Government. The Australian approach to fighting terrorism is based on strong cooperative, coordinated and consultative relationships between the State and Territory Governments, the Australian Government, and their departments and agencies.”

Protecting Australia Against Terrorism 2006, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2006

“Part I describes Australia’s national counter-terrorism strategy. It can be read by itself to gain a broad understanding of the strategy or in conjunction with Part II, which provides greater functional details about Australia’s national counter terrorism capabilities.”

Australia’s National Security: Defence Update 2005, Department of Defence, Australia, 2005

“A major review of Australia’s National security has been released on the 15 December 2005 outlining current threats and challenges facing Australia and the measures the Howard Government is taking to keep Australia secure.”

Transnational Terrorism: The Threat to Australia, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2004

“The White Paper’s main purpose is to present to the Australian public an authoritative view of the international dimensions of the contemporary terrorist threat to Australia and Australian interests. As a Western liberal democracy, Australia faces a serious threat from transnational extremist-Muslim terrorism. It describes how the threat manifests itself internationally and in Australia’s immediate region.”

Australia’s National Security: A Defence Update 2003, Department of Defence, Australia

Defence 2000 – Our Future Defence Force, Department of Defence, Australia, White Paper

“This Defence White Paper, “Defence 2000 – Our Future Defence Force”, represents the most comprehensive reappraisal of Australian defence capability for decades.”

Analysis

Australian Defence and Strategic Planning, STST 8004, Course Guide 2005, Coordinator: Professor Hugh White, Australian National University, Graduate Studies in Strategy And Defence

Provides useful introductory framework by a major bureaucratic architect of defence policy. Helpful references.

A Time for War: Australia as a Military Power, Quarterly Essay 20, December 2005

Excellent long essay on Australian military engagement and strategic thinking post-InterFET. Print only.  

Reformers and Defenders: Perceptions of Change in Australian Defence Strategy since September 2001, Christian Hirst, Australian Army Journal, Volume III, Number I, Summer 2005-6

Useful review of recent debates.

The Howard Government’s Defence White Paper: Policy, Process and Politics, Graeme Cheeseman, The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, Volume 2, Number 1 July 2001

Excellent discussion of the realities of defence policy formation.

“The Howard government’s recent defence white paper was said by its authors to be the result of a new and more open and rigorous approach to policymaking. I argue that, although novel, the preparation of the white paper was not as democratic or far-reaching as government spokespeople suggested. The process was more about politics than policy, driven in large measure by the desires and vested interests of the major actors within the defence establishment and those, primarily within industry and government, who stand to gain from the $160 billion to be spent on Australia’s defence over the coming decade.”

Safe but not secure: Achieving a sustainable future, Graeme Cheeseman, The Drawing Board: An Australian Review of Public Affairs, 3 June 2002

National security or just Defence? The next White Paper, Alex Tewes, Research Note, Parliamentary Library, Parliament of Australia, 10 May 2005, no. 45.

The tyranny of dissonance: Australia’s strategic culture and way of war 1901–2004, Michael Evans, Land Warfare Studies Centre Study Paper 306, February 2995

The Case for The Tyranny of Dissonance, Thomas-Durell Young, Australian Army Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Summer 2005-06

The Case against The Tyranny of Dissonance, Air Commodore Norman Ashworth, Australian Army Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Summer 2005-06

See also:

• ADF – doctrine and strategic planning, Australian Forces Abroad