The Abuses of Realism and Australian Security Interests (Commentary) (Report‪)‬

The 2007 Defence Update The Defence Update 2007 (1) comes after a decade of constant and still unfinished increases in defence spending, a tripling of domestic security spending, huge weapons systems orders, Australian Defence Force deployments from Lebanon to the Solomon Islands, three large and extremely demanding deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor, and at a time when world politics is turning on the hinge of a massive strategic miscalculation by Australia's closest ally. The Update is a deeply flawed policy document, shaped by double standards and selective learning, shortsightedness and botched use of realism, the aggressive demands of alliance maintenance, and an almost complete failure to consider the real and salient threats to Australian security--both the state and human versions--of global problems such as climate change, health and poverty.