Australian Defence and Deterrence: A 2024 Update

In this book, Dr. Laird provides an update on the ADF or the Australian Defence Force from the perspective of changes introduced in 2023 and embodied in the 2024 Defence Investment Plan. The core of the book is built around the Sir Richard Williams Foundation April 2024 seminar on multi-domain operations in support of an Australian maritime strategy.This book is the second in the series on Australian Defence and Deterrence the first having been published in 2023.Laird is a research fellow with the Sir Richard Williams Foundation and has been writing their bi-annual seminar reports since 2014. And in support of these reports has conducted interviews during his visits since 2014 with the ADF and strategists about the evolution of Australia’s defence and security strategy. As such, these reports provide unique insights into the evolution of Australian defence and security policy.The book begins with a contribution by John Blackburn and Anne Borzycki who look at the broad impact of Australian politics on the nature of the Australian defence effort and argue for the need for a comprehensive national defence strategy to deal with the new historical era facing Australia and the liberal democracies.Rather than a world of multi-polarity or great national power competition, a key aspect of the new historical epoch we have entered is multi-polar authoritarianism. Authoritarianism is clearly globally ascendent, but these regimes or groups do not share a common ideology or action program.Many of these authoritarian states or groups have roots deeply inside Western democracies and through various means operate within Western societies, rather than simply being an external threat. The key challenge facing Australia is whether or not the government and the country shape policies and a strategy to prevail in the new historical epoch.How does Australia generate a credible deterrent strategy against a power that is their major trading partner?How does Australia shape a national security and defence strategy which engages the nation