ONE of Australia’s most experienced military Generals has backed Prime Minister Scott Morrison as capable of running – and winning – a “serious war”.
Retired Australian Army General Jim Molan AO DSC said this week the Australian Prime Minister displayed the type of leadership you’d expect in war time.
Molan, who now serves in the Australian Senate, shared his observations during a Northern Forum address on Tuesday evening.
BEST
Speaking at the online event, Senator Molan said Australia’s defence capabilities were the best he’d seen during his 40 years of service.
“I would suggest to you with this government we could run a serious war,” he said.
“We have a Prime Minister who shows the type of leadership you would expect in war time.
“We have a bunch of ministers and bureaucrats now who have been tested through the fires, tested through COVID – they are extraordinarily experienced from my observation and know what to do.”
RESILIENCE
Senator Molan retired from the Australian Army in 2008 after having served, among other postings, as Chief of Operations of the multi-national forces in Iraq, where he oversaw 170,000 allied troops.
He attended this week’s Northern Forum to provide an assessment of Australia’s current resilience and security status. [see video below]
“We’ve had bushfires, we’ve had flood – certainly around where I live – we’re well into COVID and now we’ve had the strange actions of China,” he said.
“We’ve certainly had a significant event for national security only two weeks ago when the Prime Minister and Defence Minister launched the 2020 Strategic Update and the Force Structure Plan.
“And they are extraordinary documents.”
Senator Molan said Australia had the capability of deterring a direct attack on its mainland in the midst of a wider regional conflict.
“It’s key that we stay with the United States alliance,” he said.
“We can not deter a war between the US and China, that’s impossible for Australia.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
“We can not sustain a direct attack by a country as big as China but what we can do, we can deter a direct attack on this country in the midst of a war between China and the United States.
“We don’t want to be collateral damage to that.”
In outlining Australia’s strategic security position, Senator Molan highlighted a lack of manufacturing capabilities as a concern.
“Manufacturing is really the problem in national security. If you look at liquid fuels, pharmaceuticals and fertilisers as examples, 90 per cent of those three items come from oversees.
“Spare parts, IT, weapons all come from oversees.”
Senator Molan said if Australia was to properly address its national security, a higher degree of self-reliance was required in these areas.
The Northern Forum holds a Speakers’ Bureau event each quarter showcasing senior policy makers. They are advertised via the Politicom website and by direct email invitation.PC
Every word from Senator Molan makes sense, he’s an astute man with great life experience and that is why I put in my small, local effort in his campaign to regain his Senate seat. He should have been number one on the ticket; Australia needs this sort of person in the Parliament.
Of course Australia must be self-reliant, arm herself strongly and have real strategic deterrents in place. But just as VITALLY important, is the rapid ramping up of our manufacturing capabilities; its insanity writ large, to be so over-reliant on imports.
I tend to think that China will incline towards using insidious viral contamination, (both bodily viruses and computer-generated ones), to weaken rivals and gain the upper hand. Look at how easily our Western Economies, (and social stability), have been weakened by the China-emitted Covid-19 Virus!
China knows full well how completely our world, how every country, could be devastated by a full-on arms conflict.
Goodness me, cometh the hour, cometh the man.
I really wasn’t impressed by Scomo in 2019, but in 2020 he appears to have matured into a statesman at a time when Australia needs leadership more than ever.
One might argue that if we are in fact in a cold war with China, which appears to be the case is it still in the best interests of Australia to continue the flow of huge numbers of Mainland Chinese citizens? It is hard enough to protect our existing large local Chinese population from unwanted coercion from the CCP. Would it not be more prudent to replace that incoming population with Hong Kongers instead to support the oppressed and marginalised whilst at the same time ensuring that the Mainland has less leverage over our population.
Totally agree, we are in a time of military shortfall right now and we need to fill that gap yesterday.
The sooner we get industries and innovation going and direct it to our country’s protection the better. We have the means we just need to bite the financial bullet and set things in motion.
This Defence should of been quietly happening when Australia was booming, not last minute.