2023 Year in Review: A global order in turmoil, a mixed bag for Australian defence

There is no escaping that the world is running full tilt towards a number of concurrent regional conflagrations, whether an expansion of the Russia-Ukraine war or the Middle East conflict, which has been reignited by the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, or the potential for armed conflict in South America or in the western Pacific.

The Albanese government’s Defence Strategic Review and shift towards developing a “Focused Force” and emphasising “National Defence” has proven immensely prescient as the post-Second World War order increasingly strains under the emergence of a new, multipolar world.

For Defence Connect’s senior analyst, Steve Kuper, 2023 has left us with more questions than it had answered, “2023 has definitely been an interesting year for Australia’s defence and national security ecosystem, both in isolation at home, and more importantly abroad with the increasing deterioration of global stability and security”.

“The ongoing conflict in Europe, coupled with the increasing deterioration of circumstances in the Middle East, South America and the western Pacific, mainly the South China Sea and around Taiwan, has really reinforced the need for Australia to take its own defence and capabilities more seriously,” Kuper said.

In recognising this, the government’s Defence Strategic Review identified six “priority areas for immediate action” designed to secure Australia in this era of great power competition and rising multipolarity, including:

• Acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines through AUKUS to improve our deterrence capabilities.
• Developing the Australian Defence Force’s (ADF) ability to precisely strike targets at longer range and manufacture munitions in Australia.
• Improving the ADF’s ability to operate from Australia’s northern bases.
• Initiatives to improve the growth and retention of a highly skilled Defence workforce.
• Lifting our capacity to rapidly translate disruptive new technologies into ADF capability, in close partnership with Australian industry.
• Deepening of our diplomatic and defence partnerships with key partners in the Indo-Pacific.

Additionally, the Defence Strategic Review “directed Defence” to immediately begin to:

• Remove unnecessary barriers to acquisitions.
• Streamline strategically important projects and low-complexity procurements.
• Make faster decisions in the delivery of Defence projects.
• Develop practical solutions in close consultation with defence industry.

Kuper added, “The Defence Strategic Review reinforced a lot of the findings of the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and Force Structure Plan, and critically reinforced the government’s commitment to Australia’s acquisition of a nuclear-powered submarine capability as part of what it describes as having the capacity to “unilaterally deter any state”.

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“This is a major departure from the status quo of Australian defence planning and many would be forgiven for seeing this as a return to the Cold War-era policy of ‘Forward Defence’, alas, despite the mounting tensions close to home and across our areas of strategic importance, it isn’t,” he explained.

Industry has responded to the Albanese government’s Defence Strategic Review and its subordinate reviews – mainly the independent analysis into Navy’s surface combatant fleet announced at the release of the Defence Strategic Review – with a degree of emotions, ranging from initial optimism, to now frustration, as they struggle to make ends meet.

Kuper said, “The shift in industry’s optimism expressed widely at the Avalon Aerospace Exhibition in February compared to the frustration expressed by industry at the Indo-Pacific Exhibition and Sea Power Conference in November is very, very noticeable and understandable.

“Repeatedly, we heard industry is struggling to make ends meet as they ‘hurry up and wait’ for government to make decisions on critical capabilities all while stressing the importance of having a self-sufficient and resilient defence industrial base, particularly as we ramp up to deliver AUKUS Pillars 1 and 2, our naval shipbuilding agenda, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled howitzers and the Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance enterprise,” Kuper explained.

This was only further reinforced by the delay to the government’s Defence Industry Development Strategy (DIDS) which the government stated would be released “later this year” during the release of the Defence Strategic Review, with DIDS designed to establish:

• The strategic rationale for a sovereign defence industrial base.
• More targeted and detailed sovereign industrial capability priorities.
• A plan to grow industry’s workforce to deliver a viable industrial base and increase Australia’s defence exports.
• Reforms to defence procurement to support the development of Australian defence industry and respond to the review.
• Mechanisms to improve security within defence businesses.
• A detailed implementation plan.

Set against this backdrop is the increasing deterioration in the global security order and post-Second World War paradigm reinforcing the sense of urgency that both the government and Australian public seem to be blissfully ignorant of.

“I think it is safe to say that the world is going to hell in a handbasket and very, very quickly. We in Australia, in particular, need to prepare and respond accordingly. We have the framework, now it is time to execute,” Kuper said.

Kuper added, “2024 is shaping up to be a major turning point for the future of the global security paradigm, something we haven’t seen for many people in lived memory and the emerging order isn’t necessarily benevolent to our values, our interests and way of life, so we need to act accordingly, because currently, there seems to be a disconnect between the rhetoric and the action”.

Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..