Taiwan play

Australia has long had a policy of “strategic ambiguity’’ when it comes to Taiwan, but this was tested ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China this week. A well-placed article in the Financial Times by none other than US undersecretary of Defence Elbridge Colby urged Australia and Japan to support the US in any future potential conflict with China over Taiwan. The US has been pressuring Australia to lift its defence spending and the story looked like a Trump administration play by Washington to put more pressure on Australia. Colby also heads up the US AUKUS review which is examining one of the most vulnerable tenets – whether the US should sell Australia three to five Virginia class submarines from 2032. Colby has previously argued the US should not sell submarines to Australia it needs for its own defence, particularly if Australia cannot guarantee it will support the US in any conflict with China over Taiwan. However Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not take the bait saying Australia simply supported the status quo in relation to Taiwan and would not reveal what it might do in the event of some hypothetical future conflict. If the ploy was designed to embarrass the Australian Prime Minster on his visit to China, it backfired. Prime Minister Albanese and Chinese President Xi Jinping did discuss Taiwan, but it was apparently a low-key affair with Mr Albanese restating Australia’s longstanding position. Under the One China policy Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of China. But President Xi has asked the Chinese military to be ready to take the island by force by 2027 if necessary. Australia and the US support the One China policy but oppose any retaking of Taiwan by force.

Exercise Talisman Sabre kicks off

While Chinese and Australian leaders were talking in Beijing, Australia’s largest annual international military exercise kicked off this week. Exercise Talisman Sabre, which goes for the next three weeks and involves some 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations. According to the ADF’s Chief of Joint Operations, Vice Admiral Justin Jones “Exercise Talisman Sabre remains a powerful demonstration of Australia’s enduring commitment to strengthening relationships between trusted allies and partners, in support of a peaceful, stable and sovereign Indo-Pacific’’. Over the next three weeks, military personnel from Australia and partnering nations will deploy across several Australian states as well as Christmas Island. In addition to the United States, forces from Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, and the United Kingdom are involved. This year’s exercise involves live-fire exercises and field training activities, incorporating force preparation, amphibious landings, ground force manoeuvres, and air combat and maritime operations. There was much media debate over whether China would send a spy ship to observe the exercise but if there was one on station Defence officials were so far keeping mum on the topic.

Defence Industry input to Procurement Roundtable

Former rugby international and ACT Independent Senator David Pocock invited AIDN CEO Mike Johnson to a Procurement Roundtable at Parliament House this week. The roundtable was dedicated to the next moves in ensuring a more level playing field for Australian SME’s in procurement. In changes implemented last year by the Albanese Government, supported by Senator Pocock, a new definition of an Australian business was added to the Commonwealth procurement rules. Under the government’s changes the definition of an Australian business included having at least 50 per cent Australian ownership or being principally traded on an Australian equities market, having Australian tax residency and the principal base of the business being in Australia. AIDN CEO Mike Johnson welcomed the move but urged that such a definition be applied to the Defence sector. Senator Pocock suggests that far too often Australian firms face unnecessary barriers to winning government contracts. Whether it is onerous tender requirements, a lack of transparency, or procurement processes that favour incumbents, Senator Pocock says the system needs ongoing reform.

AUKUS nuclear watchdog input to close

Time is running out to provide a submission to the Federal Governments’ review of the establishment of Australia’s new Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator. This consultation allows for the development of the highest standards of nuclear safety and radiological protection for the nuclear-powered submarine program as part of AUKUS. The consultation period closes on July 30 with key stakeholders and the Australian public invited to provide input. The draft regulations focus on licensing the facility and material activities necessary to support work associated with the current stage of Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program. Regulations for submarine-specific activities will be developed at a later stage. The new regulator and supporting regulations will build upon Australia’s nuclear stewardship credentials, while drawing on the experience of AUKUS partners. The new regulator, which will safeguard people, the public and environment will be established from November 1, 2025.

Space making a comeback

Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh has announced the Australian Defence Force will establish a purpose-built space workforce. To meet the demands of the evolving space domain, Defence will soon begin targeted recruitment and training for highly specialised roles to grow its existing space workforce across areas including satellite communications and operations, position, navigation and timing, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. This purpose built space workforce would continue to work alongside Australian industry and commercial operations to deliver the capabilities and outcomes required. The development comes after the $1.2 billion satellite program was cut in the August 2023 budget raising fears for the future of the industry in Australia. Defence is also supporting Australia’s sovereign space industry with a partnership to develop and launch a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite. Through a space innovation, science and technology agreement between Defence and Optus, the innovative satellite project will include Defence research equipment as well as additional research equipment developed by the University of Southern Queensland. Defence is contributing $4 million to the project under a co-funded arrangement.