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I would agree. The Aussies are in for a turbulent ride in the next decade due to the emergence of China and India. A dozen Destroyers and a dozen non-nuclear Submarines is a joke. The country is an island for crying out loud. They should have a wooden wall mentality that would require more than what is being proposed. Plus as good as the F-35 appears to be, it is not a long range Interceptor. The new revamped F-15 would be better, leaving the F/A-35 for internal invasion repealing duty. Also cutting the small Aircraft Carriers is a mistake as well. Especially if they are serious about foreign deployments.

Also for a country with a small population compared to it’s neighbors, they really should be implementing a mandatory two year service for all 18 year old males. After that an eight year mandatory active reserve, followed by a twelve year inactive reserve. That is the only way they will have enough trained manpower if they had to go to war with either China, India, or Indonesia.

Plus they need tight military alliances outside of the US.

We’re not about to go to war with a neighboring nation.... and certainly not with China or India. Why would we?

Indonesia might be a bit recalcitrant but they don’t pose a military threat.

India would never go to war with Australia. Imperfect as India may be, it is a genuine democracy and hence the goverment and the populace of that country is not prone to wars. They have a healthy checks and balances system.

There was a famous saying about how two democracies dont go to war with each other. While this has not always been true, it basically summarizes the fact that in an open democracy it is very hard to declare war without being attacked first.

What they should be doing is hiring our veterans away from our military at the end of their terms of service. They would get a double whamy with excellently trained troops and some of the newly employed would have children while there, making them Australian citizens.

“After that an eight year mandatory active reserve, followed by a twelve year inactive reserve.”

And I believe they should allow those reservists to keep their personnel weapons and a combat load of ammunition at home.