As the world grows more unpredictable, Australia’s defence should be focused on people, not purchases | Julianne Schultz

AAustralians have long taken some comfort in the protection provided by geography The tyranny of the distance. Iman’s article was that Australia would warn 10 years of preparing for any conflict, and that the nation that the Defense Minister calls our capital-our ally. Spring for our defense.

The temporary store was exposed for a period of 10 years in the defense review for the year 2020, and the update was concluded two years later that the Australian defense force “was currently formed and equipped Not perfect for the purpose“.

Since the American administration is defending many acceptable criteria in the past eighty years, and urges all its allies to spend more money on Al -Omair, the reliability of our ally has now become an intense public debate issue.

But this is not just a geopolitical dilemma, or an abstract discussion about scenarios.

A recent report issued by the Australian National Audit Office highlights the shortcomings of the Ministry of Defense in the administration Contracts and even investigation of bribery claims. It was also found that it failed to provide official and regular ministerial surroundings about Imminent threat.

This indicates that the greatest security will not necessarily be guaranteed by spending the additional billions on the large, shiny weapons that cost them more than expected, and almost inevitably, failed to raise the level of sales embodied in the bid document.

The shortcomings that cause concern about security lie even closer to the home. The number of people working in ADF was The fall for decades. in The last issue There were only 57,226 employees in the army, the navy and the Air Force, another 32,560 in reserves and a similar number of civilians in the department. Compared, Woolworths employ 210,000 people.

If the epidemic does not teach us anything else, then this is that food security is important. But as well as national security. This takes many new dimensions these days on Earth, sea, air, space, and online space, and most importantly, security in our homes, cities and societies.

Australia is still low in the list of countries facing an imminent invasion or attack, but attempts to neutralize the continent can reach the devastating ghost.

Natural disasters and war are fixed these days so that it is easy to forget that when they land, they broke out in a flash. One day, you are walking in your normal life, then suddenly changed, all you took as a Muslim.

For years, the consequences of these disasters have provided an unwanted background for daily life. Pictures of death and destruction provided by the terrifying military machines in Ukraine, Gaza, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Iran are flashing through our screens, competing with pictures of life and societies destroyed by floods, fires, bulldozers and hurricanes.

It is amazing that even in the documents available to the public on defensive alert, climate change is a major point of discussion.

When reading between the lines, it is not difficult to see that the devastating regional effect of climate change – amazing islands, destructive economies, and shattered life – keeps defense strategies at night. The experiment showed that when natural disasters strike, flexibility is tested to the collapse point.

We are used to hearing that ADF is spread to help during the disasters raised by the climate, and sometimes with unintended tragic consequences, such as 2020 Kanpera fires and A tragic accident near Lesmore During the former hurricane of the Alfred pink.

The defense capacity review showed that ADF should only be used as “the last resort” during disasters, a recommendation that the government agreed to “in principle.”

In the past three years, one of the disaster has accumulated from another and the forces were put up to support the volunteer services workers to a large extent. But there is no general sign of the debate about developing an alternative civil defense force – people who have skills to find out what to do when the disaster occurs.

It was one of the most important notes in the review that did not reach the recommendations about social flexibility. Flexibility is the word Ibn Arms excessive use, but making it real means “preparing societies to accommodate shocks, adapt to new conditions, and (potentially) transform itself as a result of certain shocks.”

Looking at all over the world, there are lessons on how to do this, and the ANU National Security College A national consultation started About the Australians believe that security may appear, along with missiles, drones, kiga, combat aircraft and submarines.

Countries that share the limits with potential aggressors, such as Finland Poland has maintained the active civil defense operations, or those who suffer from a threat, such as Taiwan and Israel, have built warehouses, Parking lots Which turns into hospitals to protect citizens.

Approximately One third of the money The NATO countries have agreed to adhere to the increase in defensive spending that the United States demands is to go to this civil security, and to protect the infrastructure that makes life possible.

In Australia, we hardly started this conversation, although we were told daily that the threat is growing. The epidemic and natural disasters highlighted the gaps, but we usually stopped the following steps. Activating real civil flexibility can be the main performance indicators of the Prime Minister’s progressive patriotism, as did his predecessor John Cortin once.

This may be more effective than shipping more dollars abroad to buy more sophisticated machines that can, as we see at night on the news, destroy them by another larger machine.