In today's Defence Minister Richard Marles' announcements about relocation of the hitherto Adelaide-based defence forces over the next 5-6 years to Darwin, Townsville and Brisbane some new gobbledygook emerged. See if you can work out the following phrases mentioned today:
"1st Brigade will be light, agile and quick to deploy in the littoral environment. 3rd Brigade will be an armoured brigade designed for amphibious operations with the Royal Australian Navy in order to secure decisive terrain. 7th Brigade will be motorised and optimised to project by air and sea to respond to regional contingencies. To achieve this, the Albanese Government is announcing key changes to Army’s units and formations as well as changes to equipment locations. These changes will support Army to lift its capabilities, preparedness and projection."
Clearly someone in military was scripting Marles. Haven't heard such gobbledygook since an episode of Utopia where the military - comedically -could only talk in jargon and failed to identify China and the South China Sea.
So what did Marles mean?
Power projection (or force projection) is a term used in military and political science to refer to the capacity of a state to conduct expeditionary warfare, i.e. to intimidate other nations and implement policy by means of force, or the threat thereof, in an area distant from its own territory. Any state able to direct its military forces outside the limited bounds of its territory might be said to have some level of power projection capability, but the term itself is used most frequently in reference to militaries with a worldwide reach (or at least significantly broader than a state's immediate area).
Read that again. So what Marles is actually talking about is equipping Australia to "intimidate other nations" "in an area distant" to Australia.
Defence or provocation?
Marles went on to say “This will mean Army has a concentration of people and capabilities in Australia’s north, making it easier to deploy for training, major exercises or to support our partners and allies in the region.”
So a "projection" in support of the US? Not our war. Not actually defending Australia but supporting other countries with "worldwide reach".
Acting Chief of Army, Major General Richard Vagg had this to say: "“These changes will deliver world class, relevant and credible combat capabilities that are focused and optimised for operating in the littoral environments of our region, on land, at sea and in the air."
Careful choice of words: "Our region", not our country. With the release of the Defence White Paper 2013 on 3 May, Australia officially has a new region, the ‘Indo-Pacific’: a strategic arc ‘connecting the Indian and Pacific Oceans through Southeast Asia’.
The Indo-Pacific region is not just the geographic countries in that area. The United States is an Indo-Pacific power. The region, stretching from the US Pacific coastline to the Indian Ocean, is home to more than half of the world’s people, nearly two-thirds of the world’s economy, and seven of the world’s largest militaries. More members of the U.S. military are based in the region than in any other outside the United States. It supports more than three million American jobs and is the source of nearly $900billion in foreign direct investment in the United States.
So the US has alliances with Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea (ROK), the Philippines, and Thailand. Oh, and Taiwan is a key U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific. Though the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, they have a robust "unofficial relationship" (aka a "like minded partner") which as of September 2023 included military funding. An enduring alliance with the United States (US) remains Australia's most important defence relationship and continues to act as a crucial force multiplier for Australian Defence Force (ADF) capability.
So let's unpack what Marles and Major General Richard Vagg actually actually said: All of today's announcements were about Australia preparing for intimidatory actions in support of the US and its allies and partners - including Taiwan.
Not about defending Australia.
Provocation.
Enough of the gobbledygook .
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