The world of former defence minister Christopher Pyne was rocked to its core this week with the realisation that Australia might end up in a war with China within the next five years.

“I would have to say that the possibility is more likely than it was [when I was defence minister],” he told a group of students. “Not a cyber war, but a real one involving loss of life, destruction of military platforms, with aggressors and defenders on different sides.” Who would have guessed?