Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes Australia's Defence White Paper, issued in 2009, and an article on the Cato Institute Web site, "Following the New Australian Defense Model" by Doug Bandow. The paper shows how the Web site article is much more detailed and balanced, because it is not trying to "sell" the defense plan, but to analyze it instead. The paper discusses Australia's new defense priorities and concludes that Australia is going to have to rethink its alliance with the United States.

From the Paper:

"Since World War II, Australia and the United States have enjoyed a strong defense relationship. A noted Australian historian notes that Australia declared itself a close ally in 1941. The prime minister stated, "Without any inhibitions of any kind, I make it quite clear that Australia looks to America, free of any pangs as to our traditional links or kinship with the United Kingdom.... We are, therefore, determined that Australia shall not go, and we shall exert all our energies towards the shaping of a plan, with the United States as its keystone" (Clarke 2002, 136). This long history is based on the ANZUS Treaty plan that originated in 1951 and allied Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. New Zealand dropped out of the treaty in the 1980s, as an editor notes, "Unless threats could be known and specified, why should New Zealand invest in combat capabilities for its air force and navy in particular?" (Ayson 2006, 249). Today, it only includes Australia and the United States, and there are many who believe that the Treaty should be altered, or the Australia-US alliance be reexamined. However, the 2009 Defence White Paper states Australia wants "A renewed commitment to our relationship with the United States and other key allies, partners and friends" (Editors 2009, 4). The changing relationships in the Pacific area, especially in Asia, are affecting the Australian outlook on defense, and several key publications indicate Australia's new openness toward China may lead to different alliances in the future."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ayson, Robert. 2006, Chapter 16: Australasian Security, in Strategy and Security in the Asia Pacific. Ayson, Robert and Desmond Ball, eds. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.
• Bandow, Doug. 2009, Following the New Australian Defense Model, Cato Institute, viewed 21 August 2009, <http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10353 >.
• Clarke, Frank G. 2002. The History of Australia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Clarke, Michael. "Issues in Australian Foreign Policy: July to December 2007." The Australian Journal of Politics and History 54, no. 2 (2008): 271+.
• Copper, David A. 2002. Competing Western Strategies against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Comparing the United States to a Close Ally. Westport, CT: Praeger.

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