THE CASTLE AND THE SIEGE

The AUKUS public inquiry held a hearing in Adelaide today.

AUKUS is a boondoggle of the highest order. Look at the actual defence logic: the submarines are there to keep our sea lanes open and to close China’s. In a real contest, all the lanes close. It comes down to who can outlast having their supply lines cut.

Think of siege warfare. This island nation is a castle. An adversary does not storm the walls — it surrounds us and shuts the sea lanes. Good castle defence means having the supplies inside, and being able to last.

So what do the submarines do? They do not open sea lanes. They close them. They cannot get supplies into our castle.

Which leaves only one real defence: internal production, stored food and fuel, and building the walls. Instead the plan spends hundreds of billions on second-hand and yet-to-be-built nuclear submarines, takes twenty years to deliver, and buys the wrong capability for the war that would actually decide this country.

We need to build infrastructure. We need to be self-sufficient. We need to move to electric transport where it makes sense, and to explore, drill and refine where it does not. And we need to focus the defence effort on defending this place.

The work behind this: America First, Australia Loses — a net assessment · The Proof of the Hormuz Pudding · The Island Castle.