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Asia Pacific Defence Reporter
Episode 33
Season 2, Ep. 3
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Some very disturbing new information has come to light regarding the fiasco of retiring and burying the Taipan helicopter fleet. Senator David Fawcett (Lib / SA) has confirmed to me that he briefed the government in mid-October that Ukraine was interested in acquiring them. He was in a NATO meeting October 7-12 and met a number of Ukrainian military figures who stated their interest in Taipan, especially for MEDEVAC. It is unconscionable that the government then went ahead with the secret scheme to trash them. And let’s talk cost of living pressures. Getting rid of Taipans and unnecessarily replacing them with older Black Hawks costs around $4 billion, which works out to about $640 for a family of four. Which would you rather have: that money or some buried helicopters? Inflation? What is a major cause of inflation – the war in Ukraine. You want to put downward pressure on inflation then how about giving Ukraine the means to defeat Russia? And a final word about AUKUS. There’s also bipartisan support in the US for Ukraine – and look where that’s got them.
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Episode 132
18:43|The situation in the Middle East risks spiralling out of control with Donald Trump threatening to destroy Iran's electricity grid and that country saying it will retaliate by targeting water desalination plants throughout the region. Australia will not send a warship to the region at the moment, even if one were available, because the nature of warfare is being radically altered. The information about the ship was provided to the public by Transport Minister Catherine King because the PM, Defence Minister and Foreign Minister were all too scared to say anything that might displease the US. Our government's slavish attachment to Washington continues. Australia needs to seriously consider the possibility of being inadvertently drawn into committing war crimes. We conclude with some very wise words from retired AVM John Blackburn, who says AUKUS is a waste of money and should be scrapped.Episode 131
19:23|We discuss the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Australia's reasons for jumping in so quickly in support of the US. But first some words on yet another assault on transparency by the government scrapping the ANAO's annual review of major Defence projects. Ministers Marles and Conroy will be delighted that an important source of scrutiny has been removed - as will the Defence bureaucracy. As for sending a Wedgetail and AMRAAMs to the UAE, it looks like the government was spooked by a 1am Truth Social post by President $Trump - this move by an Australian Prime Minister previously proud of the ALP's 2003 decision not to support the US invasion of Iraq. As for the current air campaign against Iran - it could get much worse and it's not at all clear that the government has thought this through.Episode 130
19:56|The unrelenting aerial bombardment of Iran by the US and Israel continues - with no known end point. Israel would probably like to keep attacking forever and in the case of the US, it might stop when President Trump gets bored. Gulf states have called for assistance from a number of countries to counter Iran's aerial attacks, including Australia. The sad reality is that with an annual Defence budget of almost $60 billion there's not a lot we can send. Army has a good ground based system called NASAMS but it's not optimised for this sort of conflict - and there are likely to be major problems with the resupply of the main weapon it uses, the AIM-120 AMRAAM. In the meantime, South Korea has signed a huge defence technology cooperation agreement with the UAE. This could have been Australia but we are too slow, too dim and too obsessed with the US to take advantage of numerous offers that have been made.Episode 129
20:47|We have to start with the US and Israeli bombings of Iran, even though they have little direct relevance for Australia. The chances of the US achieving regime change is unlikely, no matter how many clerics are killed. Unless the US and Israel have been secretly arming rebel groups within the country, calls for protests will only lead to the deaths of even more innocent civilians. In Australia, the RN Astute class SSN, HMS Anson, arrived at HMAS Stirling for repairs. The government claims this meets a major AUKUS milestone. No it doesn't - it is proof of how desperate the UK is for our cash. Speaking of cash - Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy is in the UK to hand over $310 million to Rolls Royce for some nuclear reactor long lead time items. That money should be spent on Australian engineering companies which have the ability to manufacture the required items right here.Episode 128
20:05|This episode marks the 4th anniversary of Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, which shows no sign of ending. Australia is providing some help - but not nearly enough. The international environment remains chaotic - and we pose the difficult question: if Australian governments are incapable of introducing a digital passenger arrival card, what hope is there that we will ever be able to build a nuclear-powered submarine? Donald $Trump's tariff war with the world continues and Australia has now been hit with a 15% rate, which of course will be met with earnest expressions of concern rather than a meaningful response. If you think Trump's aim of acquiring Greenland is over, think againEpisode 127
20:01|Before we get to the Singapore air show, some more words about US isolationism and a country that seems to be fracturing. Something that Australian politicians seem to be sadly unaware of. There was pushback against the latest report from the US Congressional Research Service - a very authoritative group - that once again raised the possibility of Australia not receiving any Virginia class submarines. This was in the form of a heated response from Defence Minister Marles, that everything is perfect - but where is the evidence for that? The project will receive an injection of an additional $600 million this year, meaning that the path to reaching 2.3% of GDP will be even slower than previously believed. From the air show, some good news about the growth path for Apache helicopters and also a reminder that NH90 helicopters - the parent design of the scrapped Taipan fleet- remain in great demand.Episode 126
19:43|For some variety we start with a few words about China's President Xi Jinping undertaking a further purge of the military leaving him in sole command. In the short term this might make an invasion of Taiwan less likely - but in the medium term the situation could be more dangerous. In the US, chaos continues on both the foreign policy and domestic fronts. A question for Australian politicians and national security figures: if US officials, including the President, lie so blatantly to their own people, why should we believe anything that they say? When it comes to decoupling from the US, we might learn a lot more about how Canada is doing so when their Prime Minister Mark Carney visits in March. Canada is seeking to take advantage of the current self-inflicted US brain drain. Australia seems to be moving in the opposite direction.Episode 125
20:06|More US-caused turmoil with President Trump cancelling his takeover of Greenland because he has reached a concept of a framework deal with NATO but of course hasn't released any details. But he's replaced that with more threats at Canada, including using violent language, if they go ahead with a trade deal involving China. All the world can see what's happening - with the exception of the Australian government. Then Trump insulted all 1,200 non-US soldiers who died in Afghanistan as part of the ISAF mission claiming it was only Americans who did the fighting. This resulted in enraged pushback from people like UK PM Kier Starmer, who called Trump directly. How did our leaders react - by avoiding any direct criticism of Trump. A notable exception was senior Opposition figure Andrew Hastie who has labelled Trump's words for what they are. And a few thoughts on how Trump is gearing up for a third term.124. Episode 124
19:49||Ep. 124Before discussing the Prime Minister's strange reluctance to call a Royal Commission into the Bondi terrorist attack we have to talk about the increasingly erratic behaviour of Donald Trump. Threats from the US to take over Greenland are increasing, with greater tariffs on European countries now also part of the mix. This is because Trump claimed the Europeans weren't doing enough to defend the island so countries have sent small military delegations there to do some research - but the US President now claims this is an escalation. Here, Defence Minister Richard Marles has responded in his usual spineless fashion refusing to comment on US behaviour saying instead he thinks NATO will remain united when all sensible analysis comes to the opposite conclusion. It's time for Australia to have an open, mature debate about the nature of the US alliance and what we expect to get out of it. The country expects leadership - and it isn't getting it.