INDO-PACIFIC CONFERENCE IN PERTH

Former chief of the Australian, Army Peter Leahy, believes the lessons of World War 2 about having a substantial defence presence in WA has been largely lost by defence planners centred in the East.

Now a professor at the National Security Institute (University of Canberra) he has called for a more serious approach to being an Indo-Pacific country.

Leahy, writing recently in the WA Defence Review, said that while the Navy ‘have got it about right, although being positioned well to the South….the RAAF and Army are in the State in limited numbers.’

The recent Defence Conference in Perth, at the end of October, run by the Perth US Asia Centre brought a number of political, military, business and academic figures together to discuss the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as an area of importance.

The Chief of the RAN, Vice Admiral Michel Noonan said that the $1.6 trillion Australian economy depended on the security of international trade routes.

Accordingly the Stirling base would remain a major fleet base and would see a the introduction of a larger submarine base , Hunter class frigates and Offshore Patrol Vessels, leading to an increase in infrastructure construction and upgrades as well as greater sustainment activity associated with larger and more complex vessels. New capabilities would be added to the base, including simulation training facilities and class specific support facilities.

As Gordon Flake (CEO Perth USAsia Centre) identified, strategic thinkers are now thinking of the Indo Pacific primarily to integrate India into the Asia Pacific and as WA has 78 per cent of its trade with the countries of the Indo Pacific it is positioned to capitalise further as an integral part of the region,

Kim Beazley, WA Governor and a former Defence minister, said in opening the conference, WA is already a defence state, industrially and militarily and must become a focus of defence strategy as force majeure has come to the fore, as evident by China’s South China seas ambitions.

India was an important part of the economic and defence equation in the region “as a fellow democracy,” Richard Marles, the Opposition Defence spokesman, said. “We also loom large in the consciousness of Mauritius and Seychelles and there is a huge opportunity for Australia in deepening our ties with Africa.”

That theme was echoed by Senator Linda Reynolds (Liberal, WA) who said that African nations are working on becoming the largest free trade zone in the world. “WA has 168 ASX-listed mining and METS companies operating across 33 African nations and our ability to contribute is only as limited as our vision.”

However, Marles was critical of a $100m allocation to WA, in February 2017, (prior to WA State Election) on defence because it lacked specificity. “There was a certain contempt in that announcement, WA needs a proper narrative.”

Perhaps part of that ‘proper narrative’ should be overcoming Labor’s blinkered view on nuclear submarines.

Military historian, and a former naval officer, Tom Lewis, has argued that ‘the Australian public has been sucker- punched by the green movement into not understanding nuclear power,’ (The Spectator,17/11).

Lewis argues that the US Navy’s Virginia-class submarines would cost about half of the $50billion French Barracuda re-model (using diesel engines) and that the immense speed and ability to stay under the surface gives them a clear advantage.

The US, France, Britain, China, Russia, India all have nuclear subs and Pakistan will  have them soon.

As the likely minister after the next federal election, Marles said WA should be the premier place for maritime servicing with Henderson being a global centre. “Patrol boats and small vessels should be Perth based and that WA should be a centre for military exercises. “It needs considered thought not just money thrown at it,” he said.

Indeed, the WA Government under Premier Mark McGowan is keen to advance the defence sector in the state. The Premier had slammed the Federal Coalition Government earlier in the year for WA’s minor share of contracts when it was announced that the $35 billion frigate program would be built in Adelaide.

In a clear swipe at Defence Minister Christopher Pyne (Liberal SA), McGowan said, at the time, that “Western Australia, has the only internationally competitive shipbuilding industry in Australia but the Federal Government is giving it to South Australia.”

McGowan launched his six point strategic plan at the conference that included the case for WA to be the principal location for the maintenance and sustainment of frigates; expand industry capability beyond the maritime area to focus on industrial, educational, and financial resources onto new defence procurement activities; developing strategic infrastructure and a defence science centre; a workforce plan and supporting veterans.

However, while the Navy and ships featured prominently at the conference  Professor Leahy’s written arguments about greater army numbers, both in WA and nationally, needs greater attention. Leahy has argued that with the growing operational use of Helicopter Docks these big ships can provide joint force capabilities and need support and sustainment which includes embarked troops.

The call for a greater spread of army resources is backed by Guy Duczynski (Strategic Defence Advisor, Edith Cowan University) who believes ‘meth consignments’ on lonely NW beaches has proved beyond the capacity of law enforcement to solve. Reservists are not the answer but rather regular forces in the North are needed.