On Thursday 01 July 2010 Andrew Davies, Program Director, Operations and Capability, Australian Strategic Policy Institute spoke on 'The Australian Defence White Paper - One Year On' from 10:30am-12pm at the IISS-Asia Meeting Room.
Australia’s 2009 Defence White Paper set out the government’s view of a shifting power landscape in Asia and the consequences for Australia’s strategic posture. In many ways, it represented the Australian government's thinking about an Asia-Pacific region in which American primacy cannot be taken for granted in the long-term. While the military strategy outlined in the White Paper is couched in terms of operations near the Australian continent, the force structure that emerges—particularly its naval aspects—are well-suited to supplement US forces in coalition operations. The presentation recapitulated the main points of the White Paper before outlining the likely future evolution of Australia’s forces and strategic outlook.
Andrew Davies is a theoretical physicist by training, and joined the Analytic Studies Group in the Australian Department of Defence in 1994. He worked on a range of scientific studies in support of Defence decision making, including Army firepower options and RAAF stand-off weapons effectiveness. He was the manager of a major study into the ADF’s Anti-submarine Warfare capability. He led the Capability Analysis Branch within Defence Headquarters for a time, before moving into the world of signals intelligence and information security with the Defence Signals Directorate. Andrew joined the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as director of the Operations and Capability Program in 2006. He has written extensively on ADF capability, acquisition programs and the military capabilities and policies of regional nations.
