Interesting little debate going on down here.
Hugh White - quite a respected Govt advisor - has just written a book saying Oz needs to ask itself the question again whether it needs a nuclear deterrent.
For those who can't be bothered to read his carefully worded and soundly reasoned book he's essentially saying:
- Uncle Sam can't be relied on anymore for the nuclear umbrella
- The geopolitical picture is changing more quickly than at any time in the past 50 years
- The speed of military technological development is unprecedented
- China cannot be trusted to be benign
He's suggesting Oz may need to consider a lift to 3 per cent GDP defence spending, a minimal retaliation SLBM force - 24 subs as opposed to the current 12 Collins successors, more JSFs.
Now - before you all jump down my throat - yes - i know - we can't even organise a working broadband network, or agree on coal, wind, solar etc.
But it's an interesting debate... even if I have to ignore muppets like Helen Caldicott surfacing again.
And it's dredged up all the John Gorton era stuff - how Gorton told Dean Rusk he didn't trust the Yanks - and started to build the Jervis Bay reactor etc, etc.
I took the kids to see the foundations when we were down there watching whales - I'm a lot of fun like that!
Personally, I think White is correct.
We're going to be in a world of pain in 20-30 years unless someone makes some hard decisions.
Hopefully by that time - I'll be in some old folks home, shouting at the TV...