Girt by Sea
Re-Imagining Australia’s Security
Rebecca Strating, Joanne Wallis
Collingwood, VIC: Black Inc Books, 2024
Paperback 304pp RRP $36,99
Reviewer: Bruce Brown, October 2024
National security has always been, and continues to be, a priority for Australian governments. In September 2021 Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a trilateral partnership known as AUKUS ‘designed to strengthen Australia’s security and keep adversaries further from our shores’. In 2023 the Australian government’s National Defence Statement further defined the issue:
‘The AUKUS agreement reflects how the maritime domain has become a frontline theatre over the last decade for ‘competition that operates on multiple levels - economic, military, strategic and diplomatic’ – between China and the United States and its partners.’
The AUKUS agreement has involved Australia’s commitment to acquire, over the next three decades, a sovereign nuclear-powered submarine capability projected to cost up to $368 billion dollars. Commencing in 2027, HMAS Stirling naval base near Perth is to host the rotational presence of US and UK submarines. Supporters of the AUKUS partnership argue that it provides long-term security for Australia in the Indo-Pacific region. Others. however, seek clarity about the interests and scenarios to justify such a heightened and costly defence posture.
In this context, Professors Rebecca Straiting (La Trobe University) and Joanne Wallis (University of Adelaide) have produced a valuable framework through which to examine Australia’s maritime environment and reimagine Australia’s security. They identify six maritime domains central to its national interests: the north seas (the Torres Strait and the Timor, Arafura and Coral seas), the Western Pacific, the South China Sea, the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.
Each domain has its own complexities and dilemmas for policy development, particularly the need to reconcile Australia’s enduring United States alliance with the often-contradictory interests and views of its neighbours. Furthermore, the authors point out that Australia’s maritime domain illustrates ‘the fragmented nature of Australia’s security strategy more generally. In maritime security alone, Australia has over twenty relevant agencies and national security interests spanning multiple seas and oceans.’ (p222).
So how do the authors reimagine Australia’s security? At the heart of their analysis is the need to test the assumptions which have underpinned Australian policy development and to remove ‘the institutional and ideological gap between the Department of Defence and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As they write ‘Both will need to work together to address the complex, multifaceted and interrelated security challenges that Australia faces’ (p230).
Overall, the book meets the needs of both academic and general readers. Its well-resourced and readable text provides a structure and questions to help the reader internalise the relevance of the narrative. Highly recommended.
The RUSI – Vic Library thanks the publisher for making this work available for review.