Cliff Reece
The old maxim: ‘if you wish for peace, prepare for war’ has never been more relevant.
Anyone with even a modicum of commonsense and knowledge of history can see that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is preparing for war.
So what is our government doing about it?
The answer is clearly, very little – it seems that our PM would much rather play cricket and tennis than act as our nation’s leader.
And the very little he and his mob are doing is based on plans far into the future, when it will clearly be far too late.
China’s President Xi Jinping has publicly instructed his armed forces to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.
Do we need any further incentive to act urgently than that?
And do we really believe that we won’t be drawn into that conflict should it occur?
The recent Chinese warships live-fire drills just off our east coast and several deliberate attacks on our aircraft are just further proof that the CCP means business.
And it also shows that they consider Australia to be weakly led and incapable of defending itself without US military support.
And they are right, of course, on both points.
We have a weak and ineffectual Prime Minister and totally incompetent government.
We have virtually no military force and a total lack of competency in our Defence establishment.
Our Defence Minister, Richard Marles, is a wet sop who has no sense of urgency.
Fortunately, we do have some expertise available to us from people like defence expert Michael Shoebridge of Strategic Analysis Australia (SAA).
Among other initiatives, he has called for Australia to build Its own Iron Dome Missile Shield.
Recent live fire exercises by PLA Navy warships in the Tasman Sea have exposed an “obvious problem”, says Shoebridge.
He and others believe Australia must develop its own land-based missile defence systems similar to those protecting Israel and Ukraine as it can no longer rely on distance to avoid attack.
“Australia’s geography no longer protects our population or key infrastructure from military threats,” says the co-author of a new paper, ‘The Defence of Australia: A Blueprint for the Next Government’.
Recent live-fire exercises conducted by the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy warships in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand exposed an “obvious and urgent homeland defence problem,” he said.
The trio of vessels named Task Group 107, include the heavily armed Renhai-class cruiser (named Zunyi), a Jiangkai-class frigate (Hengyang), and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu.
Shoebridge says these ships have long-range anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles that pose risks to ships and aircraft. But they also have the capability to attack targets on land.
Added to that is the threat of drones, and long-range missiles that can be launched from Asia to hit Australia.
SAA recommends that Australia adopt “a greatly expanded, layered air and missile defence program to protect bases and key civilian infrastructure and to have some capacity to be sited at key population centres.”
Our government must go beyond protecting military bases and assets “because it will be simply unacceptable … for the Australian population and broader economic infrastructure to be defenceless while our citizens watch our military remaining safe and secure,” he warns.
While successive governments have already spent billions of dollars on upgrading defence sites across Australia, they have focused on just replacing “degraded and aged-out buildings, services, and facilities and accommodating the next generation of ships, aircraft, and vehicles.”
“Nothing has been done to ensure they can withstand missile and drone strikes that could disable them and destroy hugely expensive weapon systems.
“Orders must be placed for Australian counter-drone systems and longer-lead systems like the U.S. Patriot missile defence system.
“Rapid negotiations are needed to bring successful Israeli systems like Iron Dome and Arrow to Australia, where they can address real protection needs.”
Shoebridge also calls for military forces to be able to disperse quickly across civilian ports, airfields, and facilities, and to have the means to turn existing facilities – that support mining and resource sectors – into dual-use sites.
“Our view is that the growing risk of regional conflict later this decade means that Australia no longer has the luxury to plan ‘green fields’ developments of airfields and naval ports as the solution to increasing ADF and allied challenges in northern Australia,” Shoebridge wrote.
Since the ADF will remain powered by fossil fuels until at least 2050, SAA recommends that all the sites from which the military would operate during a conflict – both ADF bases and private facilities – have expanded diesel and aviation gas storage.
Australia currently has only enough liquid fuels onshore to last approximately one month.
Addressing that vulnerability “involves new spending on fuel storage as well as investments in road and rail transport networks, particularly for Australia’s northern bases, ports, and airfields,” it says.
It also warned that “if Australia’s tiny liquid fuel reserves and limited refining capacity are not addressed, its military operations will be able to be brought to a standstill weeks into any major war or crisis.”
SAA and many other expert organisations and individuals both here and overseas also believe we must lift our Defence Budget to at least 3%, preferably more.
And even that may not be enough.
The government also needs to invest in onshore refining of the two key fuels for transport and military use – diesel and aviation gas – at levels that would ensure the nation and its Defence Force could remain operational during a prolonged conflict.
Strategic Analysis Australia says achieving the goals outlined in the report would require lifting the defence budget from the current 2%, not to 2.4% over time as is currently planned, but to at least 3% over a much shorter timeframe.
Can anyone imagine the current Albanese government agreeing with this or any of the other recommendations in the SAA report?
Of course not.
Albanese and his leftie comrades are obsessed instead with ‘saving the planet’ with ridiculous and totally unnecessary ‘Net Zero’ initiatives that will wreck our economy and cause huge additional cost-of-living pressures without any positive impact on global warming.
You can read the full article at Richardson Post and (courtesy of Rex Wilderstrom) the Epoch Times.
