Stephen Kuper of Defence Connect in an interview with Dr. Ross Babbage held before the recent Federal elections discussed the changing global order.
The pair discussed a range of subjects following Babbage’s recent trip to the United States, including:
- Australia’s need to prepare for a more direct involvement in kinetic regional conflict in the Indo-Pacific – including recognising that we are no longer on the periphery of geopolitical competition.
- The multidimensional depth and facets of the challenges being posed by the People’s Republic of China: Babbage emphasises that China’s strategy includes economic coercion, hybrid conflict and soft power, and that Western assumptions about China’s integration leading to liberalisation have proven wrong.
- How Western governments have failed to effectively communicate the strategic risks to their populations: Babbage argues that public awareness is essential for national resilience and policy support, and that many in the public are willing to act once properly informed.
- Australia’s urgent need to expand and rethink its defence and industrial capabilities to meet the growing expectations of the new US Trump administration.
You can listen to this interview below: