Under the watchful eye of deputy prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles, the 2026 Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) Defence Conference opened in the last days of June.
Ghost Bat buffs ASPI marketed its event to senior political leaders, top military brass, select academics, and defence industry executives using the theme “Securing the Region for Uncertainty.” Tucked away in its programme were sessions on “Mass Without Mass: Scaling Military Effect in the Future Force” and “The Social Licence for National Defence: The Role of Media and Public Debate.”
Critics claim that such thinking is designed to soften up the Aussie public opinion to prepare for globalist ‘forever wars’—not least one with positively viewed China—whether as conscripts (defence suffers from an acknowledged shortfall in excess of more than 4,000 personnel) or as believers in bloodless-looking technocratic warfare.
The emphasis on persuasion follows Canberra adjusting its defence spending calculation to align with NATO standards, including by reclassifying intelligence budgets. This could also involve a greater Australian commitment to the AUKUS alliance, for which the government has tried to acquire submarines and listen to proposals to retool the visa system, all while pondering the Trump administration’s apparent growing indifference to the entire scheme.
