The Next White Paper

It is now more than two years since the current defence white paper was released. Titled Defending Australia in the Asia-Pacific Century, that paper seemed to indicate a shift away from supporting US-led expeditionary wars of choice (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan), towards a more independent strategy of shaping and controlling events in our own region. In the event, however, the Australian Defence Force has remained bogged down in the disastrous invasion of Afghanistan.

According to the then-minister for defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, the 2009 white paper took 14 months to prepare. If work started now, a similar timeframe would see a new paper launched at the end of 2012, coinciding with the next American presidential election. Given that the US is likely to get out of Afghanistan sooner rather than later, especially if President Obama is re-elected, and given the chastening experience of our most recent military misadventures, Defence Minister Stephen Smith would be well-advised to instruct his department to revisit Australia’s strategic outlook, and to develop a new defence white paper as a matter of priority.