Australia’s Struggle for Security - Mr Cameron Stewart, Associate Editor, ‘The Australian’

Australia’s Struggle for Security Mr Cameron Stewart, Associate Editor, ‘The Australian’ Thursday 28 July, 2011 5.30pm – 7pm Dyason House 124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne

At a time when China’s military rise is threatening to recast the balance of power in Australia’s region, the nation’s security and defence policy is under severe pressure on several fronts.

The 2009 Defence White Paper which was framed to help combat a rising China is now unlikely to deliver on its grand promises.  Instead, Defence is beset by a series of high-profile scandals, multi-billion dollar blow-outs in defence acquisition projects and a budget crisis.

The Navy is struggling to put its ships and submarines to sea, and those it can are increasingly being redirected to other security issues such as intercepting asylum seeker boats.

Now the Government is considering inviting US forces to share its northern bases in a move which is likely to anger Beijing.

How has this happened and what is being debated behind closed doors in Canberra on these key issues?  What can the Government do to break this cycle?

Cameron Stewart is Associate Editor of 'The Australian' newspaper and one of Australia’s leading defence writers.  After starting his career as an intelligence officer with the Defence Signals Directorate, Mr Stewart has written on issues of defence, security, terrorism and international relations over two decades.  He recently broke the story that Australia’s largest defence project, the $8 billion plan to build three new air warfare destroyers, was already two years late, barely a year after the construction of the ships began.  Mr Stewart has won many awards for his work and in 2008 was named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year.