AUSTRALIA’S DEFENCE ‘EXPERTS’ THINK WE HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD … MEANWHILE CHINA PREPARES FOR IMMINENT WAR!

By Cliff Reece

Our Defence Minister, Richard Marles, recently announced Australia’s new defence plan, which - with luck - could enable us to defend ourselves in about 10-15 years’ time. Unfortunately, that may well be far too late!

From lasers to artificial intelligence, the Australian Defence Force has unveiled its six priority technologies for times of rapidly evolving warfare.

The 2026 Defence Innovation Science and Technology Strategy was formally unveiled on August 4, setting out a road map for turning research into battlefield capability.

Long-range hypersonic weapons, high-energy lasers, autonomous systems, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence and undersea warfare rounded out the Australian Defence Force’s priority wish list to industry and researchers.

The strategy would allow Australia to stay afloat in an age of rapid technological change and asymmetric warfare, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

“Technology is reshaping warfare at a pace we have never seen before,” he said.

“The lessons from conflicts around the world are clear: nations that can innovate faster and adopt new technologies more effectively will have a decision advantage.”

The strategy seeks to leverage hard-won lessons from ongoing global conflicts and capabilities of Australia’s regional neighbours.

Defence chief Admiral Mark Hammond pointed to the war in Ukraine as a case study, noting a swarm of 117 drones that only cost about $1,000 each had inflicted about $7 billion in damage on Russia’s strategic bombing fleet.

The June 2025 attack, dubbed Operation Spiderweb, was hailed as a strategic coup and demonstration of the ability of autonomous weapons to inflict outsized damage.

Uncrewed surface and underwater vessels had similarly reshaped naval warfare in the Black Sea, Admiral Hammond said.

“Development of technologies that either leverage these capabilities or counter those capabilities is a much-needed value add for the Australian Defence Force,” he said.

Australia is facing a rapidly changing defence environment in which its regional isolation is no longer a major asset.

“Australia’s traditional geographic advantages are eroding as regional military capabilities increase in range, speed, and sophistication,” the latest report reads.

The priorities outlined in the strategy document released on August 4, like its 2024 predecessor, were informed by the National Defence Strategy.

Chief Defence Scientist Tanya Munro said the strategy was less about identifying new priorities than finding ways to ensure the ADF derives benefits from them.

“Today’s strategy marks an evolution, not a revolution,” she said.

“What has changed is the environment.”

Richard Marles (pictured below) said the strategy would build on Australia’s efforts to build its sovereign capabilities and bolster regional security.

It all sounds so good!

In addition, Marles announced Australia would increase its military spend by $53 billion over a decade towards a goal of 3% of GDP by 2035 under the “NATO calculation method”.

But that raises an important issue.

NATO’s method for calculating defence spending as a percentage of GDP faces widespread criticism for using an expansive definition that counts non-combat costs such as military pensions, veteran compensation, and base housing.

So, all this does is make it look like we are spending more on military readiness and frontline deterrence – when in fact we are not.

In short, our new defence review report will not lead to any actual short-term or even medium-term initiatives that will improve our defence capabilities – it’s all spin!

We will therefore remain a sitting duck should Communist China choose to include us in any attack on Taiwan and other nations in the region such as Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea.

The only country that could effectively defend us is the USA – but will they?

Anyone who has studied warfare and especially the build up to WW2 will know that China is on the cusp of starting an offensive against Taiwan.

The Taiwanese certainly know that and are going to extraordinary lengths to prepare their country for a full-scale Chinese invasion.

Ongoing war games test multi-layered coastal defences, civilian urban resilience, and critical infrastructure protection against cyber and military disruptions.

Japan, the Philippines and South Korea are doing much the same.

But the Albanese government and our Defence bureaucrats think we can all just sit back and enjoy life as though there is nothing in the world to worry about!

The reality is we should be extending out liquid fuel supplies to at least 6 months in order to cover the likely closure of supplies from the north, as well as digging for more gas and coal, and urgently working towards refining most of our own fuel – like we used to.

We should also be urgently building up our defence capabilities with drones of all types, missiles, and other proven self-defence materiel that is being so effectively used by the Ukraine military.

The next war we may well be involved in won’t be overseas - it will be on our own shores.

Satellite images and public military disclosures show that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is expanding its infrastructure, testing amphibious assault equipment, and building full-scale mock-ups of foreign government and military targets – including in Australia - to practice potential conflict scenarios.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has told his military to be ready to move against Taiwan NEXT YEAR. He may or may not go ahead with that, but we should certainly be taking appropriate urgent steps in case he does.

That’s what our government should be doing.

But they would much rather spend massive amounts of money on totally unnecessary climate change initiatives that won’t make a skerrick of difference to the perfectly normal period of global warming that our planet is currently experiencing.

It’s time we all woke up to reality before it’s too late.

Appeasement doesn’t work – we need to show strength and resolve!

Thanks to Nick Wilson writing in The Epoch Times (with reference to AAP) together with News.com.au, Instagram and You Tube for the images and Johannes Leak for his cartoon.