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PODCAST

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter

These podcasts are a way of shedding a bit more light on Defence decisions – particularly acquisitions – because the system has become secretive and taxpayers have a right to know what’s going on.But it’s even worse than that with Defence sometimes putting out information that is misleading and in some cases plain wrong.We discuss the Defence Strategic Review and debunk the claims that it is some sort of radical and positive move. No it is not. We also have a few words about the outrageous decision

government politics

All Episodes

19:08

Episode 118

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/11/17

We start with some more information about the major Indo-Pacific maritime conference in Sydney and the description of it by Defence Minister Richard Marles as a type of Disneyland. Unfortunately, this is emblematic of the trivialisation of Defence topics in this country and partly explains why there has never been a serious discussion about acquiring nuclear powered submarines, or many of the embarrassing details of SEA 3000.Looking internationally, the US is behaving erratically with President

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19:45

Episode 117

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/11/10

The Indo-Pacific Maritime Expo had quite a few submarine related news items and we look at a few of them,including about futureCombat Management Systems. Unfortunately, most journalists continue to act as government stenographers and are either unable or unwilling to ask any awkward questions about AUKUS. It's not clear why when there are many issues that still need to beunderstood. To make sure that never happens, the government and coalition have disgracefully joined forces to block a Senate

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17:51

Episode 116

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/11/03

It's been a big week in South Korea with the Presidents of the US and China meeting on the fringes of APEC. Another related development was the US agreeing to help South Korea develop nuclear powered submarines. The Australian reaction has been predictably snarky and ill-tempered as people to start to realise we aren't as special as we have been telling everyone we are. While it's early days, it looks like South Korea will be building new submarines for themselves, not buying second hand clunkers

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20:35

Episode 115

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/10/27

Before discussing Korean defence industry and the huge ADEX show in Seoul, some words about the state of the US, which seems to be in a political mess. The problem with all the positive coverage of the Donald Trump - Anthony Albanese meeting a week ago is it risks blinding people to the obvious reality that the US might not be in a position to defend anyone. We could be reaching that point much sooner than anyone anticipated - and Australians have to start thinking seriously about that prospect

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20:09

Episode 114

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/10/22

It's happened - the long awaited meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Donald Trump has occurred - and the Australian reporting of it has varied from average to woeful. It could have been much worse - but it has not altered the fundamentals of AUKUS Pillar One. If the US was serious about selling second hand Virginia class submarines to us, President $TRUMP could authorise the deal now with the transfer occurring in the 2030s - but the US won't do that. The critical minerals

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18:15

Episode 113

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/10/13

The big international story is the ceasefire in Gaza - and thank goodness for that. Can US President Donald Trump claim it as a personal success? Absolutely! From what we can piece together, he was somehow able to persuade Hamas to trust Israel and at the same time finally got tough with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Let's hope the peace lasts, but with Israel's current policy settings that looks unlikely. We also preview our PM's meeting with Trump scheduled for October 20 - and let's

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21:04

Episode 112

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/10/07

Better late than never, we start by looking at the Australia-PNG defence treaty, which has now been signed by the Prime Ministers of both countries. While generally a good thing, there are questions about how suitable it is for PNG's needs and whether it could act as a vehicle for a conflict with Indonesia. Then some words about US and Australian military cultures - and what will happen if they become completely incompatible. In the extraordinary meeting on September 30 with the entire US military

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20:07

Episode 111

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/09/29

This week there's a lot to talk about internationally because PM Anthony Albanese has been in the US and the UK. For the latter visit, the attitude of the Australian media has been displaying cultural cringe at its worst.Please understand that Australia does not need to "shore up" AUKUS because it's the UK begging us for our dollars. The PM now has a meeting with US President Donald Trump on October 20 and who knows how that will go because if Mr Trump's rambling, incoherent speech to the United

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20:09

Episode 110

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/09/22

This podcast was recorded in Beijing at the end of a 12 day visit toChina, the bulk of which was spent in the Xinjiang Autonomous region looking at topics such as the Belt & Road Initiative and the status of the Uighur ethnic community. But it has still been possible to keep an eye on events in Australia such as the supposed $12 billion investment in the Henderson maritime precinctand the failure to secure treaties with Vanuatu and now PNG. Plenty of egg on face for those - though the setbacks

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20:37

Episode 109

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/09/09

A correction to start with - Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles have a range of 3,000km, not the 1,000km mentioned in the previous podcast, giving rise to the question: if Ukraine can develop their own long-range cruise missiles, why can't Australia? Next we have the comical renaming of the US Defense Department to the War Department, as if this will do anything other than expose the Trump administration to more ridicule. Make no mistake, continuing pro-Russia actions make it abundantly clear that

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19:41

Episode 108

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/09/01

We start with some thoughts about the still unexplained visit to Washington DC in the final week of August by Defence Minister Richard Marles. The exact circumstances of his meeting with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth remain unclear. Perhaps the visit was a substitute for the annual AUSMIN talks, which might not go ahead because of a lack of interest on the US side. The Australian government does not seem to realise that most of the world is rapidly realigning to minimise dependence on the erratic

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19:54

Episode 107

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/08/25

Unfortunately the prediction in the previous podcast that the Trump administration will continue down the path of being an unreliable security partner is proving to be correct. US politics is swerving in a dangerous direction of dismantling many aspects of how a government functions - a process that has historical roots. Practical manifestations are things like on the one hand approving the sale of weapons to Ukraine, but on the other hand severely limiting how they can be used. The results of the

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20:31

Episode 106

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/08/19

- The dominant international security event was the disgraceful Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, with the US President fawning and grovelling in front of his war criminal Russian counterpart. The result was nothing positive for Ukraine - no ceasefire and no new sanctions, only talk of territory being given to Russia. It is impossible to comprehend why President Trump cannot understand that it is Russia that launched an unprovoked, illegal invasion of Ukraine. This event has profound implications for

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18:55

Episode 105

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/08/11

Congratulations to Japan and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for their success in being selected as the supplier of General Purpose Frigates under SEA 3000.The attractive features of the Japanese ship are well known - stealth characteristics, high levels of automation, a fixed-face radar array and 32 VLS cells. However, this was followed by a deceitful background briefing by senior Australian figures that was full of provable untruths. This included information suggesting that the losing bid from German

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19:29

Episode 104

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/08/04

We promised some analysis of the UK-Australia AUKUS submarine agreement and to describe it as a framework would be generous.It has a lot of standard legal boilerplate about tariffs and tax refunds, but the substance has many gaps. It can be cancelled with 12 months notice and seems to leave all of the power in the hands of the UK government. Next - the US seems to be becoming a less reliable ally on a daily basis.President Donald Trump is now using tariffs as a political cudgel, not just an economic

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19:15

Episode 103

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/07/28

There has been quite a bit of news about AUKUS Pillar One based on the visit to Australia of a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and a couple of Ministers. Apparently there's going to be a 50-year treaty about the AUKUS submarine between our two countries, with the document soon to be tabled in Parliament. This is probably because we can't get a treaty with the US, so let's have one with the UK instead - but it's strategic nonsense and all of the talk of industrial cooperation are just empty words. We buy

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18:53

Episode 102

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/07/21

Details have come in about the latest US military aid package for Ukraine and it looks to be a disappointment.President Donald Trump has given Russia 50 days to start peace negotiations but that coincides with the start of the Autumn rains when ground campaigning grinds - or bogs - to a halt. Also for the weapons part of the equation - nothing is being given to Ukraine, all of the systems are being sold at normal commercial rates to NATO allies, who will in turn transfer them. In the last few days

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19:41

Episode 101

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/07/14

This episode coincides with the release of the July-August edition of APDR so there will be some cross referencing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has started his 6-day visit to China which has sparked the usual conservative talking points about why he has met President Xi four times but has not yet secured an audience with US President and human wrecking ball Donald Trump. PM Albanese is wise avoiding him - any meeting runs the risk of going off the rails and becoming a forum of personal abuse

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19:40

Episode 100

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/07/07

For the centenary podcast we have chosen a theme - Ukraine. The ongoing fightback against the Russian invasion is relevant to Australia in several ways, including the reliability of the US as an ally and also for the future direction of military technology. The US has again suspended some military aid, and how Vladimir Putin must be rejoicing. The bureaucrat responsible is also the one currently reviewing AUKUS and he may well figure out a way to extract even more cash from gullible Australian

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19:51

Episode 99

Asia Pacific Defence Reporter ·

2025/06/30

The US airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities continue to dominate defence coverage - and in terms of Washington politics everyone has to agree with Donald Trump that they were obliterated. In a future joint operation, Australia would be expected to sing from the same song sheet. Let's not forget that he is continuing to support Russia - and that could have major implications for Australia. But the main theme is the TKMS bid for SEA 3000, the details of which have not come from the company because

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