It’s late, so Defence must command all our energies

Defence must be the government’s top priority. Ukraine has shown us the degree of help we can expect from the US. In the past few months there seems to be emerging a theme from your defence writers that as a country we are stark-naked in contemporary weapons. Announcements galore, reality nowhere.

Ministers come and go to seemingly no great effect, the large corpus that is Defence runs itself by its own outdated blimpish rules. Whoever wins the next election, that needs to change with lightning speed. Dare I say it, but Hamas is better equipped to fight a war today than Australia.

To turn around the Defence Titanic, a person of great administrative skills and authority is needed – an unlikely find in the public service, preoccupied as they are with not rustling others’ dovecotes. My suggestion is that a call be made for someone like Gina Rinehart, Andrew Forrest, Lang Walker, Ziggy Switkowski or others of that calibre to be asked to serve as head of Defence under the minister. Reconstructing Defence will be painful, as I suspect much dead wood will need to be trimmed, cultures dating back to Waterloo and Trafalgar defenestrated and very quickly. Someone of authority is needed to outstare the phalanx of brass hats. We don’t have the luxury of time.

Paul Everingham, Hamilton, Qld

Defence of the nation is the prime obligation of government. We need hardware now and a lot of it, not announcements (“How many missiles are we actually going to get?”, 6/4). The horrors in Ukraine bring to mind a statement many years ago by British Labour defence secretary Denis Healey: “Once we have cut expenditure to the extent that our security is imperilled, we have no houses, we have no hospitals, we have no schools. We have a heap of cinders.” Whoever wins the coming election, take heed.

Iain Rae, Palmwoods, Qld

China is upset at our colonial attitude regarding Solomon Islands. Well, as parking warships at a friend’s place appears perfectly acceptable, according to the Chinese, can I suggest Australia, Britain and the US send the Pacific fleet and a few Australian and British warships to be parked in Taiwan on a rotational basis so that we always have a presence in our friend’s ports? I am sure the PRC will understand.

Ross Dillon, Maleny, Qld

History repeats itself. May I remind my fellow Sydneysiders that Fort Denison (also aptly named Pinchgut, the first health farm on Sydney Harbour) was built to repel another Russian imperial invasion that time in the mid-19th century. These bastards don’t give up, do they?

We were better prepared then; at least we made an attempt. Now all we do is shuffle paper around.

Alexander Haege, Tamarama, NSW

Australia’s dependence on imported fuel for domestic transport, aviation and agriculture has come under the spotlight due to the war in Europe. Defence analysts have warned that this heavy reliance is a security risk and have called for a rapid transition to electric vehicles. John Blackburn, a retired air vice-marshal, has said our economy would “grind to a halt” within weeks of a disruption to fuel supply, given that 90 per cent is imported. But, for the Coalition, securing energy independence takes a back seat; precedence is given to acquiring nuclear-powered submarines that may or may not be delivered in 20 years. Why is the government not prioritising transition of the transport to renewables as a matter of urgency?

Fiona Colin, Malvern East, Vic

Defence Minister Peter Dutton’s welcome announcement of a military cadet system (7/4) is long overdue. Unfortunately, politicians of all colours steer well clear of mentioning the C-word, even though they realise Australia is woefully unprepared to defend our nation if required. To do so would burst the utopian bubble of pacifist snowflakes and expose them to the real world.

I urge the government to seriously consider reintroducing conscription for military training to provide a pool of able-bodied, combat-ready citizens who will be available if required to support our regular and volunteer troops in protecting our sovereignty. It will be a brave but realistic political party that includes this intention in their policy platform. Keeping heads in the sand will not protect our nation.

Daryl Binning, Bull Creek, WA