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Today's Topics:
1. Australia must be prepared to, "launch combat operations from
its own soil." (Stephen Loosley)
2. InfoAge: ' ... Microsoft-backed unicorn implodes' (Roger Clarke)
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2025 01:08:25 +0930
From: Stephen Loosley <[email protected]>
To: "link" <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] Australia must be prepared to, "launch combat
operations from its own soil."
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
ADF chief warns Australia must be ready to launch combat operations from home
By political reporter Olivia Caisley and foreign affairs reporter Stephen
Dziedzic
Topic: Defence and National Security Wednesday 4 June
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-04/defence-chief-warns-australia-must-be-ready-for-combat/105374804
{Photo: Admiral David Johnston acknowledged defence spending had to be balanced
with other government priorities.]
In short:
Admiral David Johnston says the nation needs to be prepared for the possibility
of launching combat operations from its own soil, which he calls a "very
different" way of thinking to Australia's approach since WWII.
The ADF chief defended the current level of defence funding after calls from
the US government to boost spending, acknowledging the Australian government
needed to balance competing interests.
What's next?
Australia's Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston, says the nation
must be prepared for the possibility of having to launch combat operations from
its own soil ? a significant shift in military thinking not seen since World
War II.
Speaking at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Defence Conference in
Canberra on Wednesday, Admiral Johnston said Australia needed to "reconsider"
how it thought about war, resilience and national preparedness.
"Perhaps finally we are having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which
we will conduct combat operations," he said.
"That is a very different way ? almost since the Second World War of how we
think of national resilience and preparedness.
"We might need to operate and conduct operations from this country ? everything
from our northern infrastructure, our supply chains ?"
Admiral Johnston also pointed to the rapid evolution of modern warfare,
highlighting that military technology could become obsolete in as little as 12
weeks, as seen in the Ukraine conflict.
"The cycle is somewhere about 12 weeks before tech investments become
irrelevant because of counter strategies," he said. "We need to be very clear
about where we make investments in our technical capability."
Johnston responds to US spending request
His remarks come amid growing international pressure for allies to lift their
defence budgets, with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urging Australia over
the weekend to boost spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP.
Asked about the national conversation around funding, Admiral Johnston laughed
but acknowledged the strain on resources and defended the current approach
shaped by Labor's recent strategic review of defence.
"The Australian community wants education, a health system to look after the
elderly, so making sure we do the best we can to present the issues of national
security issues in our country, and we do that unambiguously and without
avoiding some of those key areas of risk.
"Frank advice is key but knowing that's not the only issue the government
contends with and working with our partners ? where are our common interests ?
where our interests intersect so we can push outcomes that meet multiple
objectives."
US demands Australia lifts defence spending to $100b
The United States wants Australia to lift spending on defence to about $100
billion a year, with its Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warning of a "real and
potentially imminent" threat from China.
Pressed specifically on Mr Hegseth's request and the Coalition's calls for
higher spending, he said it was an important debate and acknowledged the
associated challenges.
"Defence is fully expending its budget at the moment," he said.
"That's a good thing as we've uplifted our acquisition delivery, [our]
workforce is improving ? It does put pressure on the budget we need to make
choices on."
He said it was "helpful" that the government had moved to a biannual strategic
review cycle, noting that it allowed Defence to continually update its case
about where resources were most needed.
"It's unlike in the past ? where the frequency or structure of reviews was an
open-ended proposition," Admiral Johnston said.
"We keep coming back, reviewing the strategy and looking at the opportunities
or where the investments are required."
Admiral Johnston said he would continue to give frank advice to the government
to inform its spending decisions and flagged that Defence was working on a
fresh strategy to be released next year.
Defence minister lashes report
Later in the conference, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy lashed out at a
recent report by ASPI that warned Australia could be left with a "brittle and
hollow defence force" if funding was not increased.
Mr Conroy suggested the report ignored the government's "historic" investments
in defence.
"We want a healthy debate but contributions need to be factually balanced ?
You're entitled to own views but not your own facts," he told the conference.
He went on to suggest that ASPI was biased against Labor, alleging that its
reports on the former Coalition government were excessively favourable.
ASPI was quick to reject that, with its head Justin Bassi saying the
organisation was "not one sided but singly focused on analysing the
capabilities, numbers and policies of the government of the day".
"We will continue to do so," he said.
Meanwhile Papua New Guinea's Defence Minister Billy Joseph also told the
conference that his country's decision to negotiate a defence treaty with
Australia "sent a message" to the region that it would "choose our traditional
partners" on defence cooperation.
In unusually frank comments for a senior Pacific minister, Mr Joseph also
responded to a question about the debate over defence spending by observing
that China's recent naval exercises near Australia highlighted "threats" facing
the region.
"We all appreciate the threats. The circumnavigation of Australia by the PLAN
vessels, they came through our space as well, they did some live drills in the
Tasman Sea," he said.
"So we're not ignorant of what we're dealing with, but have to respect each
sovereign state, how they each make these [decisions] on how much they want to
spend on defence."
He said while Papua New Guinea valued its economic ties with Beijing, it would
continue to partner on defence with Australia and countries "that share the
same values".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to attend the G7 summit in Canada
in a couple of weeks, where defence spending will likely feature in a potential
sideline discussion between Mr Albanese and US President Donald Trump. That
meeting is not yet locked in.
--
------------------------------
Message: 2
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2025 17:41:22 +0100
From: Roger Clarke <[email protected]>
To: Privacy List <[email protected]>, apfmediaarchive
<[email protected]>, link <[email protected]>
Subject: [LINK] InfoAge: ' ... Microsoft-backed unicorn implodes'
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
[ The story of a fraudulent claims by a technology CEO, eventually
culminating in exposure, and then bankruptcy, isn't very important.
[ But the closing lines of the article are more interesting. ]
The company whose ?AI? was actually 700 humans in India
Disaster as Microsoft-backed unicorn implodes.
Information Age
David Braue
Jun 05 2025 01:15 PM
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/the-company-whose--ai--was-actually-700-humans-in-india.html
...
Reports suggest that around 90 per cent of AI startups fail within a
year, whether due to a lack of market demand, financial instability,
operational challenges, or AI?s technological complexity ? and the
demise of the likes of Artifact, Shyp, Tally, Eaze, and Ghost Autonomy
are prima facie evidence.
Even major firms have struggled to get AI right, with McDonalds, Air
Canada, Sports Illustrated, iTutor Group, and Zillow among those that
have backtracked after wrongfooted AI implementations.
Gaps between AI hype and AI reality are regularly proving disastrous ?
as when the surprise debut of Chinese generative AI venture DeepSeek
sent share markets tumbling in January, or when Microsoft and AWS
announced in May that they would pause their expansion of AI data centres.
...
--
Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected]
T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Visiting Professorial Fellow UNSW Law & Justice
Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University
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