Editorial

Marc Ablong, writing at The Strategist, provides a summary of some of the key issues surrounding the concept of ‘national support’. ‘National support’ is a topic I have often written about, and at its core, is about the integration of the nation’s full spectrum of capabilities into a defence effort – whether they be economic, people, social or institutional in nature.

Marc writes about a world that is in an era of heightened geopolitical competition and where the spectre of high-intensity conflict is no longer a distant possibility. In this new reality, Marc echoes the intent of the 2024 National Defence Strategy that national defence cannot be seen as the exclusive domain of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Instead, Australia must urgently embrace a whole-of-nation approach, making national support for defence a central pillar of our security strategy.

The article presents national support – and the defence of Australia to be certain – as being beyond a military issue; it is a societal one. The ability to sustain our defence forces, mobilise in times of crisis, and ensure the nation is prepared and resilient depends on the integration of government, industry, and civil society. It depends on critical sources of logistics, the right infrastructure, and a workforce with the skills necessary to carry the national economy through a time of conflict. As Marc argues, if Australia is to withstand and respond to future threats, it will be necessary for Defence to access these resources and work adaptively as part of a whole-of-nation effort to protect Australia and its interests.

You can read Marc’s article here.